
Google Please Hire Me - PStamatiou
http://googlepleasehire.me/
======
ThomPete
As someone who is known to hire people once in a while I always get really
suspicious when "What other say about me" sounds like the stuff I see further
down the page.

Who would ever actually say something a long the lines of

“Matthew brought a combination of vision, strategy and execution that can
rarely be found in one individual. His brand development and messaging at
launch resulted in demand that exceeded expectations…an ideal talent for the
product marketing executive that is looking for the next rockstar to add to
their growing team.”

I mean "his brand development..." really?

That is so written to sound serious not to actually sound like something other
people would say about Matthew.

I would much rather trust stuff like:

"Matthew is one of those guys who get it. He is fun to work with and very
knowledgable and have a good track record of successes"

~~~
nielsandersen
In my experience it's not uncommon for a boss to have people draft up their
own recommendations when it comes time to find a new place to work and then
just sign them afterwards.

~~~
dsmithn
I'd say more often than not that's the case I see. Is it ethical, though?

------
mrich
As a programmer this resume repells me, it is full of bullshit marketing terms
and this appears to be the kind of guy who wants to earn top dollar just for
being an important marketing guy who supposedly can do wonders, of which there
are droves.

~~~
corin_
Just for the record, there are good marketers and bad marrketers; the good
ones don't talk like that, and don't live their life around buzzwords.

~~~
hluska
In my experience, using buzzwords is really useful...if you want to work for
the kind of company that is impressed by buzzwords. On the other hand, if you
want to work for thoughtful, innovative people, it is best to be genuine,
passionate, and knowledgeable about the product(s) you wish to market. I'm
also a firm believer that marketers who want to work in technology should
learn to program - inevitably, they will have to learn from engineers and a
little bit of experience programming makes that process so much easier.

Unfortunately, when I suggested those things at a recent alumni meeting, the
response was less than positive.

------
rednum
I've downloaded this guy's resume ([http://googlepleasehire.me/wp-
content/uploads/2011/07/Resume...](http://googlepleasehire.me/wp-
content/uploads/2011/07/Resume-of-Matthew-Epstein-Product-Marketer-Digital-
Strategist.pdf)) and while I'm aware he's doing something that I don't know
much about, I am puzzled by the 'technology' thing in his skills chart. Can
someone give me a hint what does he mean by giving himself 6 skill points in
it? Same question for 'research & analytics' and 'social media' - these terms
are so vague that their meaning is close to none for me.

~~~
Udo
Generally, I do like skill charts that look like RPG character sheets (so much
so, I've been using this paradigm for my own skill profile
<http://udos.name>), however as you said this particular one seems indeed a
bit devoid of actual information. Even if the categories were meaningful,
what's the point in having a scale of 1 to 7 when the lowest outlier rating
you give yourself is 4?

~~~
JoshWillis
I just signed up for an account just so I could post how awesome that skill
profile is. Some site really needs to copy this idea.

~~~
sarcasmatron
After reading this post, I decided it was a good time for an inaugural post.

Here it is. How am I doing?

Your skill profile incorporates two of my favorite things: P&P RPGs and
employment.

------
lovskogen
In norwegian we have a word for this, 'kleint'. In danish 'kikset'. Which
means a high level of embarrassing.

~~~
troels
I think the English word would be _awkward_

~~~
SeamusBrady
How about cringeworthy? Def: Causing feelings of embarrassment or awkwardness

I could feel my toes curling at certain points. Funny, but not perhaps what
was intended...

~~~
lovskogen
Cringeworthy describes the feeling very good :)

------
danilocampos
"request an interview" has an odd tone given how eager this guy is for a gig
at Google.

Also, one thing I wonder about these reverse applications: you're screwed when
it comes time to negotiate your package, aren't you?

~~~
td
So, am I the only one here who feels like this is an obvious (and funny)
parody? Or are all the "serious" comments critiquing the video/website/C.V.
just another level of irony?

~~~
theDoug
It seems to be done either genuinely or as part of some larger campaign to
promote himself / see if he "could" get an interview: <http://matthew-
epstein.com/land-a-job-at-google-journey/>

~~~
leif
the "waah I didn't get to play all my cards" thing is weird. he wanted a
google interview, he got a google interview, holster your guns matthew, the
fight's over

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gbrindisi
I don't really know about this kind of reverse applications. Looks like the
guy would work for Google just for the name.

    
    
        I invested over $3,000 of my own capital to create a
        marketing campaign that would get you to notice me.
        I haven’t been that desperate to get someone to notice
        me since my first highschool crush.
    

Desperate? Really? What if Google calls to offer an under payed job?

But, hell, marketing is a so different universe that this could really work.

~~~
atomicdog
This kind of 'fanboyism' for companies seems kind of unhealthy to me.

~~~
dbattaglia
Unhealthy yet totally not surprising. From lowest-common-denominator pop
culture all the way down to some obscure programming language community you
see the same thing.

------
smcl
These are getting a little long in the tooth, wonder if they'll continue to be
effective for much longer.

~~~
atomicdog
He should have recorded a Youtube video asking Eric Schimdt out on a date.

~~~
ristretto
You mean, on a g+ Gangout.

------
PaulJoslin
Was this an attempt at a Rushmore parody? As that's what it felt like.

On a serious note, it concerns me slightly that over the entire website the
moustache is mentioned more than any credible reason why Google would actually
want to hire him.

Equally, on his resume - his top ranking skill is 'Using Microsoft Office' -
when compared to his other attributes ranking, I would say that's slightly
worrying. i.e. You rate yourself more of a master of Microsoft Office, than
you are of digital marketing skills.

Finally, this seemed to be released on the 29th of July, and only has 506
views - currently, it seems to be failing slightly on a digital marketing
front. (Although this may change now with a top of hacker news / inevitable
post on Techcrunch, effect)

~~~
mkr-hn
506 is plenty if one of the 506 is the one the poster was trying to reach.
Reaching the right people is more important than reaching a lot of people.

------
seymores
Hmmm being desperate used to be a bad thing. Maybe I am old school.

~~~
ristretto
Exactly. Being modest was a virtue too. I am definately old.

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w1ntermute
A guy tried something similar (called "Can Google Hear Me") a few years ago:
<http://www.cangooglehearme.com/>

~~~
sarcasmatron
Aaron Stanton actually has a product, which is what he was trying to get in
front of Google - www.booklamp.org

It's an interesting concept - Pandora for books. I spent some time looking at
it as a potential complementary technology for a reader app I worked on a few
years ago.

Fairly rudimentary algorithm at that time, but it's conceptually interesting
and worth burning a couple of cycles watching the intro video.

------
AlexC04
I tried sending a reverse resume to Google. I sent in cupcakes with the URL of
the custom-domain-resume-website on it. Got lots of hits from Mountain View
and Atlanta on the day, but in the end didn't even an email saying "no
thanks".

Oh well.

This guy's app is clearly way better than mine was :)

------
xd
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel these "please hire me" news stories
are irrelevant on a site that is centered around people starting their own
companies?

Still, I wish him the best of luck.

~~~
Mafana0
I don't agree. Interviewing and employment are vital for any start-up company.
And those reverse applications certainly have some ideas that enrich that
field.

------
g123g
I think there is a need for a reverse job portal which is open. So candidates
can post their resumes, profiles, videos etc. to this portal and also select
the categories or companies for which they want to be considered. Any employer
can search for the candidates on this portal and contact them.

The idea is that the data is open and not in control of a job portal. There
can be some security measures to keep the data safe and stop the spammers.

Not sure if something like that is already there.

~~~
superted
Sounds like <http://linkedin.com> to me.

~~~
g123g
Not sure about linkedin. First of all you need an employer subscription to see
the data for all the users. Also, for most of the users the data they put on
linkedin is not very structured. It is mostly the dates of employment and
sometimes a very general description about them. The features that can
distinguish such a site is that candidate data can be open and there is more
structure to it and the primary purpose of the site is getting a job rather
than business networking.

~~~
viandante
This is interesting. You could also add things like geolocation, matching a la
okcupido and other.

------
fosk
I don't know if he'll be hired by Google, but I can see him working in the
film industry as an actor: it reminds me Borat!

~~~
berserkpi
I'm not the only one... sweet. :P

------
danso
in the skills section of his rrsume, apparently SEO and web design are
basically the same thing: "Web Design/SEO"

That speaks volumes.

~~~
CraigRood
They both go very much hand-in-hand. Not saying they should be a single
entity, but when you are at-least designing a website you should be aware of
what "SEO" tricks are good and bad for the site.

SEO is so bad anyway in my opinion - should be more about User Experience and
Usability

------
wisty
My understanding (from what I've read on HN, and similar sites) - getting a
Google interview isn't too hard. A PhD helps, a stunt like this helps, but you
really just need to convince them that you _might_ be useful.

Getting through Google's possibly broken interview system is the difficult
part.

Still, this looks like more fun than writing a traditional resume.

~~~
jturly
Yeah what was running through my mind when watching was why Google? Why not
something a bit more challenging? I read that they are hiring 6,000 people
this year. Why not start a startup instead, and try and get into a great
incubator program?

------
uladzislau
It already worked for him (well, if it's true). "Day Two: Google Contacted Me.
Well, that was quick."

<http://matthew-epstein.com/land-a-job-at-google-journey/>

------
andyv88
Would have been better without the video...

~~~
marcovena
Totally agree!

------
larrys
But was it even his idea and execution?

You can't really tell that much from this video. He had others involved (for
shooting at the very least) and we don't know if he edited it, wrote the
script or if any of the ideas were his or a friend. Not that anything was
spectacular of course.

He should have at least put at the end some "credits" or even commentary on
what part of it he was responsible for.

The video is trying to say "I'm creative and resourceful enough to do this
video" but we don't know his actual role in the video other than that he was
able to appear in this part.

~~~
hiremeaccenture
He has credits of people who helped him at the bottom of his website. We live
in the same city and I have a similar website out as well
www[dot]hiremeaccenture[dot]com

------
rjd
Well I think I'll be plagiarizing that resume layout, slick and precise.

------
sachinag
I'm an intern on the Mid-Market Product Marketing team. I reached out to
Matthew to see if I can give him any help/advice now that he's already got the
referral in.

~~~
tdfx
I'm sure he appreciates it, but I'm fairly certain his primary interest is
with the Market-Making Pre-Market Product Marketing team.

------
Gullanian
Are Google going to be interested in SEO? Anyway, good luck!

------
johnx123-up
Not gonna _judge_ his skills or resume. But, I'm sure that he'll get a call
from Google. Only very few guys can do _anything_ like this. What if Google
rejects? Will any other employer be able to work with him then?

------
czzarr
the video is very off-putting.

~~~
localhost3000
too much "ron burgundy"

------
tomerico
For more details, see his blog post: <http://www.matthew-epstein.com/land-a-
job-at-google-journey/>

Google contacted him a day after publishing it.

~~~
gaius
I get:

"Your browser (Internet Explorer 6) is out of date. It has known security
flaws and may not display all features of this and other websites."

Which is funny as I have the latest Firefox...

------
rwan
Those questions were reasonable. It is supposed to test your strategic
thinking skills. The attitude seems a little cold, according to your
description in the article.

I used to work for Google in Sales.

------
hiremeaccenture
I also have a site that I am using to try and land a job.
<http://www.hiremeaccenture.com/>

------
vrikhter
Update to the story is here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2844001>

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ZoFreX
I'm getting a 503 error. I would hope Google would hire people that can keep a
site online.

I know, usually it would be very mean. But given the purpose of this site, for
it not to be able to withstand the "HN effect" (is there a term for this?
Penny Arcade have "wanged", which is my personal favourite) seems like a
fairly gross oversight.

------
berserkpi
Matthew Epstein: Cultural Learnings of America for getting the job you
dreamed.

------
vidar
For gods sake, its a parody.

~~~
rimantas
I really hope so.

------
thorwawy99
title should be "how NOT to get hired by google"

------
berserkpi
Wait wait I've seen this guy before... Is he Borat?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat> Hahahahaha.

------
akvlad
He reminds me of Stephen Colbert.

------
known
Why Google? Why not Apple?

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oceanician
server is down

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pablohoffman
Did it work?

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mars
what a c __t. bad bad bad borat parody. not funny at all isn't it?

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Mafana0
I don't see his online marketing savvy reflecting on the way he chose to
promote his own skills in the market.

Especially that he's saying "In this case the product is me, Matthew
Epstein.". You're calling yourself a _product_ and yet you don't market that
product remarkably, IMO.

Best of luck anyway, hope you'll get a good offer out of this.

------
Mafana0
Isn't the "LATEST TWEET" section supposed to show an actual tweet? It's blank
and only has a twitter icon that links to his twitter account.

------
jamesbrewer
Lol.

------
gaetanomarano
ok, work for Google, but, be very careful to reveal high value ideas to
Google! \-- ghostnasa.com/posts/008moonprize.html \--

