Fortune favors the brave

On September 21st, I will be in Tokyo for Shibuya Pixel Art 2025!

There will be a booth with my merch, and I’ll be giving an artist talk about my experiences! The main topic will be “Between Independence and Commerce.” If you’re planning to attend and have any related questions, you can use this form to submit them. However, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to answer all of the them.

The artist talk will be available only to Early Premium Ticket holders, which you can get here: https://pixel-art.jp/spa2025

Curriculum Vitae: The Story of My Life. AKA a Resumé.

Anyway. I changed mine up, used Google Doc’s temp[late. And All the callbacks dried up.

So today I reverted it back to a simpler layout, and… all of a sudden I’m getting responses.

I put this down to the software being used to triage CVs… So I decided to play clever.

Here’s my layout:

OK.

So you’re having to play silly games to get your CV in front of people. Most of the time it’s someone who’s not in the mood to plough through it all - So two pages is the best.

Once in a job, I watched the two senior IT staff go through a literal cardboard box of CVs and basically throw any away that were too hard to read, in a weird fond, didn’t vibe well…

And if you can add bullet points… do so. You’re appealing not to someone who’s picking your CV for it’s content, but how easy it was for them to read it.

Sigh........... yeah.

Of all AI's crimes, I think that what it's done to the job searching experience is one of the most heinous. Employers are using AI to screen through applications, making it even less likely that you'll break through, let alone get a form rejection letter. Not that that's the totality of the problem. Employers just don't fucking feel any obligation to job searchers.

So, here's some of our advice on how to break through:

Our Best Secrets for a Successful, Strategic, and SHORT Job Search 

Post a Salary Range in the Job Description, You Fucking Cowards 

Ask the Bitches: How Do I Prepare for a Job Interview on Zoom?

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Getting a Job, Raise, or Promotion 

“Why do you want to work here?” I don’t, I just want money.

“What about our company inspires you?” Nothing, you’re all frauds cutting corners and being cheapskates just like everyone else, but you pay well and you're not too far of a drive.

“What do you bring to our team?” Somebody who gets shit done fast and accurately. Could not care less about being part of your silly useless ‘team’ and water-cooler talk. I get the shit done that they're all too busy gossping to bother with, and someone, somewhere, should appreciate that for once.

“Which of our company values speaks to you?” Those values are as substantial as smoke on the ground level and you, hiring lady, are blissfully insulated from the shit you shovel onto the people below you.

‘Cause while I can make up fluffy nonsense, I am a truly awful liar when it comes to faking enthusiasm and unfortunately can see right through all the smoke and mirrors. I have only ever gotten two of the hundreds of jobs I’ve applied for over the years immediately, because I actually wanted them: A pet store, and a different position in my company to escape the bitchy clique I was trapped in, where I was already an employee and not some stranger off the street.

Take a second to ignore the job market, ignore the cripplingly low pay, ignore the rising uselessness of bachelor degrees, ignore all the shitty benefits and complications of just showing up in an office environment socializing the way you’re supposed to.

I wish I could shake my neurodivergent bullshit detector. I wish. But in this country you have to smile while you shovel it and weep graciously for your two-penny paycheck, and I am not a good enough actor to pull that off just to get through the door. Starting my first day pretending to be something I’m not to appease my corporate overlords is an experience so repulsive that it’s near single-handedly keeping me in my current, shitty, stable, underpaid position.

Meanwhile the jobs I do want are being gutted by the government. So there is that reality, too.

Great get online and go to a job board. Indeed, Linkedin whatever. Now you're gonna search for a role that's in your city, fits your qualifications, and doesn't seem like a bad time.

See that easy apply button? Don't hit it they just throw those in the trash. Now you're gonna want to go to the company's website and check their careers page.

Oh? That job doesn't exist anymore. Cool go back to the job board and find another one.

Great you found another job, you're on the company's career page and the job exists!! So you're going to need to make an account on the career page website. They're using Workday, the same site as the last job you applied for? Who cares? You need to make another account for THIS job's workday page.

Now you're going to upload your resume. That'll autopopulate about 15 boxes with everything on your resume, except formatted wrong and with tons of errors. So just go through and painstakingly check the dates on all of that and rewrite everything you already laid out in an aesthetically pleasing format on your resume.

Ok time for the cover letter, explain why this specific job and company are deeply important to you. You love their mission statement and wouldn't even laugh if their ceo was gunned down in the street. You'll really want to reiterate the things you just spent the last 20 minutes filling out on the resume section

(Remember to include language from the job description, people who work in HR are lower than dogs and they need patterns or they get confused.) Write about a page, but hey don't sound too desperate or robotic this is where they judge your character!

Maybe add your portfolio site at the end here, who knows if that helps no one has ever clicked mine haha.

Anywayyy time to hit apply! Congrats! You'll see that confirmation email come in and you should be getting the rejection letter in about 2 weeks. Unfortunately your resume didn't have the right buzzwords and the AI auto rejected you :(

Listen very closely

The above is exactly why half of my friends come to me, and cry they're suffering, and I get to bestow my job hunting knowledge on them. I love this shit, it's a game.

For credentials my fastest job hunting time has been 1 week. I searched for 1 week, got an interview, and was hired within a week. My slowest was 1 month, while out of work, while telling ALL my interviewers that I quit my work without notice (I was testing my interviewers to see how shocked they'd get when I'd tell them why, anyone who wasn't shocked I would tell them at the end that I will keep them in mind (not)). My entire average is 2-3 weeks.

Firstly, what you're gunna do is pick a job sector. You're gunna pick a few of these by the end, but for now pick one. Maybe you wanna do bookkeeping, maybe you wanna do something in doggy daycare. Maybe you're a sous chef. Idk! Figure out what abouts you want first. Do not apply to anything yet. You're gunna look at the job description, I've picked out a few for bookkeepers below.

Now what you're gunna do is you're gunna look for "buzz words", or rather words that are gunna appear commonly and indicate the tone for that job. I've highlighted some, but not all in my examples below

Just look at that snout at how similar those descriptions are!

Now that you've got your buzzwords, you're gunna slap those babies into your resume! You see, since your resume is usually read by a computer first, you're gunna trick the computer into giving it to a person. Really what the computer is scanning for is how similar your resume is to the job description. Remember your bullet points, and to keep it short, try to only have 3 to 5 bullet points per job:

- Processed over 500 invoices a day in an efficient and accurate manner

- Curated reports for management review by utilizing available data

- Monitored and recorded over 100 submissions each day increasing accuracy by 50%

These are some great, made up examples I pulled from those buzz words. You might notice I added some numbers into there. That's something you'll wanna try and note for yourself, how much of something you can do, how accurate, how much efficiency you increased, these look GREAT when your resume gets past the computer and is moved in front of a real person.

Now you have your sector-based resume with lots of buzzwords. This is great! Now for the easy part. You're gunna channel your inner "IDGAF" And you're gunna send that to every listing you like on indeed. Filter for "Apply on Indeed" and spam that shit. Sometimes you gotta answer a few extra questions, but if they give me more than 5 quick questions I trash the submission and move on.

Don't waste your time jumping through hoops, streamline it for yourself and use the same methods companies are using. Push MASSIVE amounts of average quality resumes out. The more opportunities taken = the greater the chance of success. For every opportunity taken you've now pitched a chance of success, for every resume you cannot submit because you're piddling around on their stupid website or answering 50 interview questions online, you send out a 0% chance of success.

So go, try this, and see how it works for you.

Some additional things to consider:

- Add random shit in your resume, I added my "Board Game Club" (BDSM group) into my resume for hobbies and discussed how I got my start using sparklines there

- Never underestimate the flair of a little Clipart fleur-de-lis or something on your resume. Never put colored Clipart, but a little floral or swirl design located somewhere nice makes it stand out

- if you don't have a degree that doesn't mean they won't pick you, twice now I've come to a job without a bachelors and being honest that I was only getting an associates before I think of my next steps

- Embellish, do not lie. Jargoning your job description to make it sound cool and professional is GREAT. Do not give me a resume saying you can use CNC machinery when you've only used a 3D printer. Just tell me you know how to program and manage a 3d printer and want to learn CNC machinery.

- Keep. Your. Resume. To. Two. Or. Less. Pages. You don't need EVERY job, only the relevant ones, if your interviewer asks about the gap, tell them what job you had during that time (or if you wanna lie say you were taking college courses and were on a break, you dont need a degree to say you took courses) and that you only wanted to showcase the most relevant ones

Look at the job description.

Identify what they want examples of like "ability to multitask" or "can work across teams to achieve success" or "can work on a budget".

Pick three.

Write this:

IF YOU CAN FIND THE NAME OF A HIRING PERSON: Dear [Name]

IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE NAME OF A HIRING PERSON: Fuck the usual salutation and just roll directly into "I was very excited when I saw this job application. I feel I am a great fit for this role."

Now, look at the three things you chose from their list of what they want. Write a paragraph like this.

I am an adept multitakser who routinely handles several projects/deadlines/needs (whatever). In my current position I [multitask example]. In my previous work, I [second example].

SECOND PARAGRAPH SAME AS THE FIRST DIFFERENT THING THEY WANT BUT NOT ANY WORSE:

In my current position, I work with multiple teams daily, including [name any team you have waved hello to in the hall] and through my work we have [list an accomplishment that required multiple teams].

THIRD PARAGRAPH HERE WE GO AGAIN:

Staying in budget is something I am very familiar with. When I worked on [team], my contributions [list] not only brought the project in on time but under budget by [number]. I have also brought in other projects under budget [examples].

AND NOW THE FINALE:

Thank you for your time in reviewing my cover letter and resume. I look forward to discussing my qualifications and interest in the role with you at length. I can reached at [phone number] and [email].

Sincerely,

[NAME]

And remember, any question that is looking for a negative story ("Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker") should ALWAYS be presented by you as "I do have a story for that, and I'm pleased with how I handled it." and then you focus on the all the positives in that situation. So, state what the problem was, and then how you fixed it, and then how fixing it improved your working experience. For example:

"Well, I worked with a man named Bob, and he never answered any emails he got after 3:00 PM, so if I had a question after 3, I'd start a draft email and just add to it if i had further questions. And then I'd schedule it to send at the top of his workday. He started earlier than me, and I'd usually come in to a reply from him with the answers I needed when I first sat down for the day. I actually had another co-worker who was having trouble getting Bob to answer questions, and I said, "Oh, are you sending them after 3?" and when she said yes, I shared my own process so it was easier for her to get information, too."