I landed a full-time advertising role in 2021 at TikTok with a Health Education degree and 0 direct experience, here’s the traditional resume I submitted along with my TikTok video resume
and a step-by-step guide of how I stood out in the application process and aced all 5 interviews
One of the biggest things I had riding for me was my video resume. TikTok recently launched their #TikTokResumes pilot program where companies teamed up with them to hire for roles and applicants submitted video resumes.
⭐️ I did more than submit my video. I:
– posted it on Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram.
– I tagged TikTok to make sure their team saw it
– Mentioned in my posts the companies I submitted applications for (had interviews with Abercrombie and Fitch and 2 other agencies)
– mentioned the roles I was interested in
– sent my video to a TikTok campus recruiter in my network, along with my LinkedIn post of my video resume
I wanted to be as detailed as possible about who I was and what I was looking for. This led to not only TikTok being interested in me, but other companies and a few news publications such as The Wall Street Journal and CNBC Make It. My DMs were filled with referrals and interview requests.
⭐️When it came to my interviews, I had 6. A phone screen, 4 team member interviews, and another recruiter chat. During these interviews, I made sure to:
– discuss my participation in their pilot program, my thoughts/experience on it, and the press it was bringing
– my genuine love for the app (been a fan since 2019)
– had personalized post-interview questions for all of my interviewers based on research I did from their Linkedins (people loveee when you ask about their journey!) and research I did on the company/role
– incorporated the company’s corporate values, Bytestyles in my responses
⭐️ The truth is I knew and they did too that I didn’t have the traditional, direct sales/advertising experience they were looking for someone for this role.
Instead of wasting time talking about that, I directed their focus to:
– the relevant experiences I did have (specifically my blog, my marketing internship, campus rep work, and extreme familiarity with an app that was fairly new to the US)
– impressed them with the intensive research I did on the company, role, and my interviewers
– referenced past work experiences of mine that were similar to the roles and responsibilities listed in the job description to show that I did have relatable experience
And most importantly, was delusional 🤣 I gave it my all and did a lot of work to show them how serious I was.
If you want to stand out during the application process, you HAVE to do what others aren’t doing even if it’s extra.
