Wait….who? Here is the story so far, Nina Mufleh is a Jordanian girl who wanted one thing: to work for Airbnb. She had recently moved to San Francisco and desperately wanted to work for the multimillion dollar startup.
She applied via email and job application forms and yet, no luck. She didn’t give up hope. Instead, Nina took matters into her own hand and created a very smart online resume and practically interviewed herself for Airbnb.
She then sent the link to the founder and directors of Airbnb simply via Twitter.
She didn’t just write her education and work experience info, instead she created a full blown report on how Airbnb can tap into the Middle East from her experience as a native and as an expert in Tourism.
She then tells Airbnb the position she wants and ends her one page resume at that. That was in April, 2015 and her resume has been going viral since then.
This week, Mufleh told Business Insider that “Airbnb decided she wasn’t the right candidate for the marketing role she had been considered for.” That didn’t seem to stop her.
“I took that hard,” she said. “But I didn’t want it to affect opportunities I was having with other companies.”
Because her resume was very creative and knowledgeable mixed the way she used professional networking to get the message across to decision makers, Nina was literally bombarded with interview requests from some of the top names in Silicon Valley, Europe and the Middle East such as Uber, LinkedIn, and Dropbox. She has finally decided on joining Upwork which is a platform that connects freelancers with startups.
So why did that happen to Nina?
Let’s examine:
1- She left the traditional path of dropping her resume and waiting for a call, Nina knew the world is filled with applicants and she needed to stand out.
2- She demonstrated her added value for the company instead of listing her own perceived merits. Instead of saying how great her education and personality are, Nina gave an extensive report about what her ideas can do for the company. Nina Mufleh was thinking like an employee not an applicant.
3- She did her research. Nina knew that Airbnb was considering expanding massively in the Middle East and she gave them an expert native opinion backed by numbers.
4- She was dedicated. She spent hours and days creating the report then went and created a dedicated website (nina4airbnb.com). That is time, effort and money invested.
5- She was casual in her language, she didn’t use resume templates and more importantly, she knew Airbnb is a startup with a casual culture so Nina used the same culture in her presentation.
6- Nina used Twitter to mention the CEO and CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Airbnb. She went directly to their personal account and dropped the link to her CV. Nina used the principals of professional networking instead of waiting for an HR person to go through a million resumes. Nina tapped on the shoulder of the real decision makers and the internet helped her.
Why does this matter to you?
Remember when we told you to stop dropping CVs? Nina Mufleh is a prime example of how far you can go with creativity and untraditional thinking coupled with the basics of professional networking.
What are you waiting for? Get on Jobzella and talk to the decision makers of the companies of your dreams and don’t forget, show the employer what you will be doing to the company and stop focusing on your past experience. Think like an employee and not like an applicant.