An Interview with Jeff Browning (Austin Ventures) and Liz Handlin (Ultimate Resumes)

An Interview with Jeff Browning (Austin Ventures) and Liz Handlin (Ultimate Resumes) I get Liz Handlins newsletter.  She gave me permission to post this from her newsletter I thought it was interesting. Liz says these are her questions and his answers over coffee (learn more about Jeff Browning here): Do you read profiles on resumes?No. Most of them are not useful to me. I want to know about specific domain experience, scope of job, and your accomplishments. Metrics matter. Add metrics to your resume.   I also want to see some information about your employers  because I havent heard of every company in the world. What does the company do? How large is it? Is it public or private? When someone sends you a resume how long do you look at it to determine if you are interested in reading more of it? About 5 seconds. What are you looking for in resumes that are submitted to Austin Ventures for jobs in your portfolio companies? Well first you have to understand that most of our job descriptions are VERY granular and specific.   Domain (industry) experience is the most important thing I look for so if you dont have the domain experience we are looking for at the moment you may not be a fit for the immediate need we have, but could be at a later time. We also look for individuals who have actually worked in early-stage start ups before. We want someone has seen this movie before and knows how it goes because we need our executives to be able to hit the ground running.   If you have never worked in an early stage start up before you just dont know what you dont know. Individuals who have spent an entire career in large corporations sometimes think they could easily make the jump to early stage start-ups but its just not usually the case. Do you think that someone who has spent their entire career in Fortune 500 companies could be successful at an early-stage start up? Well anything is possible and large company executives have many talents and valuable experiences. It also depends on the stage of the company.  But, generally speaking, we find that executives who are the most successful in leading start-ups have previously been employed by other start-up companies. What advice do you have for big-company executives who want to switch gears and work in a start-up environment? If you are an executive at a large company like, say, IBM, and you want to work in an early-stage start-up, my advice is to take it in steps.   The analogy I use is diving. You learn to snorkel first and then you slowly learn to dive deeper and deeper.   The same can be said of the start-up world. If you are a big-company executive you might try transitioning to a mid-sized company before diving into the world of early-stage companies.   Start ups and large corporations are totally different professional experiences. What DONT you want to see in a resume? I dont like to read functional resumes because they are confusing.   I want the resume to be simple, straightforward, and to the point.   No graphs. No charts. No hard-to-find dates or metrics.   Think about how to make the resume easy for me to get the information I need to decide whether or not to call you. Dont make it confusing or colorful because its distracting and I dont have time to try to decipher confusing resumes. What surprises you about the job seekers to whom you talk? I am surprised at how many people contact me about jobs and when I tell them that I dont have a position for them currently and dont really have any ideas for them about job openings they have no other questions for me. They dont ask me about the Austin marketplace which I know well. They dont come prepared with questions other than do you know of any job openings.  I enjoy executives that have done their homework and come prepared with thoughtful questions.   Its also really nice when they end the conversation with is there anything I can do to help you? Liz says Jeff may see more resumes than any other recruiter in Texas so his perspective on what a resume should say and how it should look is crucial information for job seekers. Thanks for sharing Liz and Jeff! An Interview with Jeff Browning (Austin Ventures) and Liz Handlin (Ultimate Resumes) I get Liz Handlins newsletter.  She gave me permission to post this from her newsletter I thought it was interesting. Liz says these are her questions and his answers over coffee (learn more about Jeff Browning here): Do you read profiles on resumes?No. Most of them are not useful to me. I want to know about specific domain experience, scope of job, and your accomplishments. Metrics matter. Add metrics to your resume.   I also want to see some information about your employers  because I havent heard of every company in the world. What does the company do? How large is it? Is it public or private? When someone sends you a resume how long do you look at it to determine if you are interested in reading more of it? About 5 seconds. What are you looking for in resumes that are submitted to Austin Ventures for jobs in your portfolio companies? Well first you have to understand that most of our job descriptions are VERY granular and specific.   Domain (industry) experience is the most important thing I look for so if you dont have the domain experience we are looking for at the moment you may not be a fit for the immediate need we have, but could be at a later time. We also look for individuals who have actually worked in early-stage start ups before. We want someone has seen this movie before and knows how it goes because we need our executives to be able to hit the ground running.   If you have never worked in an early stage start up before you just dont know what you dont know. Individuals who have spent an entire career in large corporations sometimes think they could easily make the jump to early stage start-ups but its just not usually the case. Do you think that someone who has spent their entire career in Fortune 500 companies could be successful at an early-stage start up? Well anything is possible and large company executives have many talents and valuable experiences. It also depends on the stage of the company.  But, generally speaking, we find that executives who are the most successful in leading start-ups have previously been employed by other start-up companies. What advice do you have for big-company executives who want to switch gears and work in a start-up environment? If you are an executive at a large company like, say, IBM, and you want to work in an early-stage start-up, my advice is to take it in steps.   The analogy I use is diving. You learn to snorkel first and then you slowly learn to dive deeper and deeper.   The same can be said of the start-up world. If you are a big-company executive you might try transitioning to a mid-sized company before diving into the world of early-stage companies.   Start ups and large corporations are totally different professional experiences. What DONT you want to see in a resume? I dont like to read functional resumes because they are confusing.   I want the resume to be simple, straightforward, and to the point.   No graphs. No charts. No hard-to-find dates or metrics.   Think about how to make the resume easy for me to get the information I need to decide whether or not to call you. Dont make it confusing or colorful because its distracting and I dont have time to try to decipher confusing resumes. What surprises you about the job seekers to whom you talk? I am surprised at how many people contact me about jobs and when I tell them that I dont have a position for them currently and dont really have any ideas for them about job openings they have no other questions for me. They dont ask me about the Austin marketplace which I know well. They dont come prepared with questions other than do you know of any job openings.  I enjoy executives that have done their homework and come prepared with thoughtful questions.   Its also really nice when they end the conversation with is there anything I can do to help you? Liz says Jeff may see more resumes than any other recruiter in Texas so his perspective on what a resume should say and how it should look is crucial information for job seekers. Thanks for sharing Liz and Jeff!