Posts Tagged ‘Srinivas Rao’

Shortly after I posted my take on Jamie Varon’s Twitter Should Hire Me site, I received a request to take a look at a similar site called 100 Reasons You Should Hire Me. While the creator (Srinivas Rao) openly admitted that he was inspired by Jamie’s success, he thought his site was worth a review. Let’s take a look:

The Goal:

The goal is pretty simple. Try to use a guerrilla marketing gimmick (similar to Jamie’s) to attract the attention of recruiters and land a job.

The Good:

Personally, I like his bravado. He seems to be the outgoing type who will do whatever it takes to get noticed. This will be an asset to his job search when competing in a tough economy. While I wouldn’t necessarily use the same techniques that he is using, if he plays his cards right, it just might work out for him.

I also like (what I perceive to be) his sense of humor. A number of his 100 reasons are laugh-out-loud funny. They include:

57. You see tremendous potential in me

79. If I were determined enough, I could probably find a way to eat at no cost for seven days a week

82. I dare to dream

94. My sister is in med school. So, if we are hanging out in a social setting, and you have some sort of near death experience, and she happens to be there, she can save your life. Hopefully, that will never be necessary

At least, I hope these are an attempt at humor.

The Bad:

One of the things that is included on his list of 100 Reasons is…

You are sick of reading boring cover letters

While I agree that this site is a unique tactic which will likely garner him more attention than the average cover letter, I don’t see any reason for someone to hire him based on this site alone. Yes, he talks about his skills and what he can bring to an organization, but he doesn’t provide any concrete details on how he will fit into the organization or how his previous track record projects future performance.

More importantly, this site lacks the one thing that a cover letter must do: explain how you will fill the need for a company. Your cover letter needs to let the employer know that you can step in and solve their problems. A targeted cover letter will accomplish this in a way that this site cannot.

Unfortunately, when I see this site, I see only a marketing gimmick and I don’t feel any connection to him at all. You need an employer to understand what you bring to the table and know that you are keenly interested in what they are doing and what they have to offer. Without these key ingredients, it becomes a publicity stunt.

The Ugly:

The Facebook profile picture of him holding a drink and wearing sunglasses. These are the types of pictures that employers look for when vetting candidates. He’s just made the process easier for them by including one on the main page.

Oh yeah, and a Twitter widget which displays Tweets like:

Few more hours till my last class ever. Zoned out in strategic management

Nothing impresses an employer like “Zoning Out”.

The Result:

Only time will tell. It appears that as I write this, he is still in school and will be pushing hard for a job in the near future. I hope he posts information about his job search on this site. I’m interested to see what happens.

Lessons Learned:

If you take anything away from this, know that publicity is a double-edged sword. Properly used and controlled, it can be a powerful tool. But a poorly executed campaign will ruin your chances.

Everyone I’ve talked to has found this site polarizing. Leave your thoughts and comments below.