“Be weird. Be random. Be who you are. Because you never know who would love the person you hide.”

#BoldLines

From Cringe to Career: Resume mistakes my eyes saw and wept

I have seen over 300 resumes/CV that were coming in on our HR email of our startup, these are some of the mistakes I have seen in most young professionals that made the team move on with other applicants.

Picture: This isn’t Tinder—your skills should be swiping right for you, not your selfie.

Marital Status: Unless you're proposing to your potential boss or manager, no one needs to know if you’re single, married, or “it’s complicated.”

Unprofessional Email: If your email reads like “[email protected],” it’s safe to say you won’t be getting the invite to the interview, let alone the job.

Religion: Unless the job description says “Saint or Sheikh needed,” keep your faith between you and your higher power, not you and HR.

High School Info if Attended College: Listing high school is like bragging about your middle school science olympiad win. Cool story, but no one cares.

Irrelevant Work Experience: Including your summer gig as an ice cream scooper when you’re applying for a tech job is like bringing a spoon to a knife fight. Just, no.

Typos and Grammatical Errors: Misspelling your own job title is a great way to show you’re detail-oriented—said no one ever. Proofread, people!

Objective Statements: Starting with “I want a job” is like showing up to a date saying, “I don’t want to be single.” Desperation isn’t a good look. Know your value.

Personal Pronouns: Using “I” in your resume is like talking about yourself in the third person on a date. Weird flex, but okay.

Overly Fancy Formatting: Using ten different fonts and rainbow colors? This isn’t an art project, keep it clean and professional. Less is more!

No more than a page: If your resume spills over one page, it’s like submitting a thesis when an abstract would suffice. Keep it short and in a single page.

Send PDF: Sending your resume as a Word document is like saying, "Here’s my application, now please do the editing for me!" Keep it in PDF format—it's the professional way to say, "I’m done, no touch-ups needed!"

In higher level corporations, you don't even make it to HR review if you have one of these mistakes. Because AI will be scanning your resume and it picks up a certain number of resumes for a review.

To make your life easier, I have the template that I used to get an interview from Wall Street Oasis.

Comment below "Yes" with one of the mistakes you have in your resume from the list and you will find the template in your inbox.

#Career

If you want to take IELTS or SAT or want StudentHunter partially cover your tuition fee of the university.

You still have 2 hours to take the test and win one of the prizes.

For more info, visit StudentHunter.

#Lifehack

This is one of the longest posts I have written so far. But do give it a read especially if you are incoming or current college student.

#LifeHacks you should know before starting your college journey:

1. Make friends with older students. They can tell you what classes to take (or avoid).

2. Subscribe to club emails for the inside scoop on events and free food. I was always on NYU engage to check on networking events. But look sharp as you will never know who you might meet.

3. Use your smartphone calendar (and sync it across devices) to stay organized. I know you don’t want to miss office hours, group project planning or the events just above.

4. Say "hi" to someone new every day. You never know whom you might meet and have lunch with different people (students, profs, staff or just a random people).

5. Take a leadership role in a club of your interest. This can help you get in touch with alumni. It will later pave the way for a referral and get hired.

6. Attend social events with friends every week. And no, you don't have to drink. Although this is not what I did, it might help with getting to know more people deeply.

7. Develop a workout routine (gym). It can help with your energy, health, focus, and confidence. You will also be amazed by your look and physique after 3-4 months.

8. Learn to skim when you read for efficiency. People in the “real world” do it, too.

9. Don’t go home too quickly. Work in common areas to meet new people. Stay in the library.

10. Plan for life after college early. Pay attention to deadlines and requirements.

11. Hunt for college discounts. Look for the free or cheaper option before you pay full price. We had haircut, coffee discounts that I knew in my second semester from a senior. Follow lifehack #1.

12. Build relationships with professors in your field. You may need their references later.

13. Work on a passion project. It can help you build your resume and even your career. Don’t leave it out, sell it or make it run even if you leave.

14. Grades matter but don't obsess over the last decimal point (sometimes email prof for a better grade). Your internship and extracurriculars matter more.

15. Don't hesitate to ask for extensions or exceptions. Professors want to help you. My whole statistics class assignments were with extensions and the prof was really helpful.

16. Check your email regularly and respond promptly. Opportunities wait for no one.

17. Always send personalized thank-you emails. Explain why you’re grateful especially to professors.

18. Plan summers strategically to help build your resume and explore your interests.

19. Get a credit card and an on-campus job (esp. if you’re an international student so you get a social security number).

20. International students: Research your OPT (Optional Practical Training) and STEM extension.

21. Picking between two classes? Look for one that satisfies multiple requirements AKA double and triple-dip whenever you can. For example, my next semester Business analytics class satisfies both my business core and Algorithmic Thinking req.

22. Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Add everything you’re doing in terms of clubs, internships, and jobs to your profile so recruiters can find you. Have it before college.

23. Find your “people.” You won’t be friends with everyone and that’s okay—what matters are those close friends, the ones you can call out of the blue.

24. Eat healthy and an actual whole food. You don’t want to mess with your health especially in exam seasons. Start taking Vitamins and supplements.

25. Use your insurance. Read what are the perks and use it for your benefit. I get my skincare products, supplements for free and get a massage ?‍♂️ twice a week.

These are the what I have for now, I will leave more under #Lifehack tag.

? Current students and college graduates, what’s the life hack you wish you knew in college?

#College

Being unhappy or a cheat day

I have just ate my first fast food after nine months time. To justify it, I called it a cheat day (going to punish myself tomorrow in the gym anyways). But the thing is I can feel how unhappy I am inside (my stomach), damn I feel guilty now, how do you guys live with this guilt lol. Keep a strong diet to stay happy both inside and outside.

When was the last time you ate fast food?

#fitshape

#Finance

Is Poytakht Bank going to be the first Islamic bank in Uzbekistan?
Recent M&A transaction:

UAE based Das Holding's subsidiary Bond Investments LLC aquires 100% of Poytakht Bank from UzSama for USD 10 mn.

What’s next?

Bond Investments Limited — known for establishing successful banks, including Islamic and digital banks — plans to modernize Poytakht Bank with advanced mobile and digital financial technologies. The investment firm has drafted a comprehensive development plan to upgrade the bank's infrastructure.

Advisors: Deloitte oversaw the tender and led the evaluation process for UzSAMA, while KPMG was the bank’s independent appraiser.

More on this link

For DoorDash Financial results release, it turns out they are actually growing 23% year by year, by decreasing their net loss. Last year Q1 net loss was $162mln.

Doordash

DoorDash Releases First Quarter 2024 Financial Results

DoorDash, Inc. (NASDAQ: DASH) today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. In Q1 2024, we set new quarterly records for Total Orders, Marketplace GOV, and revenue, while improving our net loss compared to a year ago. An evergreen…

#Biz

What is a startup?

First off, Startups are NOT smaller versions of big companies. Because startups search while big companies execute. What startups search for is a solution that is iterative. If the product is not what solves the problem, they pivot. Most startups change their direction after analyzing the customers, their needs and whether the product is right. Startups have high risk and high return for investors and they aim for rapid growth (scaling) over profitability. I mean they do not really care about Shareholder value in the early stages. Since 2013, DoorDash has not been profitable for its investors and they posted $25 mln net loss in Q1 of 2024. You might ask why do people still invest in something that is not making any fortune for them. The answer is investors care about the future of the startup, that is why the most used valuation method of startup is DCF (Discounted cash flow) which is basically predicting the valuation of a company based on its assumed future cash flows. Even if DoorDash lost $25 mln, their projected profit is $391mln in 2025 and that is where the return is.

Difference between Startups and SMEs:

Startups: prioritise market share over profitability (scale quickly) (Empire)
SMEs: prioritise profitability and operational efficiency (Cash cows) basically smaller versions of big companies

When you are building your startup (solution), be problem/customer obsessed instead of product obsessed. Because you have to Focus on the real WANTS.

People don't want skincare, they want clear skin.
People don't want dating apps, they want a relationship.
People don't want weight loss supplements, they want to lose weight.

What did you think a startup was before reading this post?

Wait, NYU is out, what’s up people?