Why Your Next Job Application Should Be Borderline Insane

Hey curious mind,

Here’s today’s dose to become smarter in 5 minutes:

• The Growth Insight: Why Your Next Job Application Should Be Borderline Insane

• What’s Up with Tech: Nvidia's Rival, Big Business Goes Crypto

• Tools to Unlock Your Peak Potential

The Growth Insight 🌱

Why Your Next Job Application Should Be Borderline Insane

In today's cutthroat job market, standing out is no longer optional—it's essential. Forget the days when a polished resume and a generic cover letter could land you an interview. Now, it's time to embrace the borderline insane job application.

Here's why and how:

1. The Resume Lottery: If you've got Harvard and Google on your CV, congratulations! You can probably skip this article. For the rest of us mere mortals, we need to work smarter, not harder.

2. The Quick Win: Spend 10 extra minutes recording a Loom video showcasing your skills. Found a bug in their app? Fix it. Think their landing page copy needs work? Rewrite it. This small effort puts you ahead of 90% of applicants.

3. The Nuclear Option: This is where things get wild. Dedicate 5+ hours to create something unforgettable. When I applied to a fintech startup, I built a mini-app demonstrating how I'd improve their onboarding process. It landed me the job and a signing bonus.

4. Be the Solution, Not the Applicant: Don't just tell them you can do the job—show them. Create a 30-day plan for the role. Solve a real problem they're facing. Make yourself indispensable before you're even hired.

5. Leverage the Power of Narrative: Craft a compelling story around why you're the perfect fit. When applying to a travel startup, one candidate documented a week-long trip using only the company's app, highlighting both its strengths and areas for improvement. She's now their Head of Product.

6. Go Viral (In a Good Way): Use social media creatively. One job seeker created a "Hire Me" campaign on TikTok, tagging his dream company in every video. The CMO personally reached out within a week.

7. The Trojan Horse Approach: Can't get in through the front door? Find a side entrance. Offer to do a small, specific project for free. One designer offered to redesign a company's newsletter for free. Three months later, she was leading their design team.

8. Quantify Your Value: Don't just list skills—showcase results. Create a mini case study of how you've driven results in past roles or personal projects. Use concrete numbers and data visualizations.

Bottom Line: In a world where everyone zigs, you need to zag—hard.

Your unhinged application might feel risky, but in reality, the biggest risk is being forgettable. So go forth and be memorable.

Your dream job awaits.

What’s Up with Tech🖥️

Italian AI Boost 🇮🇹💻 Microsoft pours $4.75B into Italy for AI and cloud tech, creating a massive European data hub.

Smarter Tablets 📱✨ Amazon's Fire HD 8 tablet comes with AI writing help and custom wallpaper creation.

Amazon's Secret AI 🤫🤖 Employees get exclusive access to 'Cedric', Amazon's in-house AI chatbot, for security reasons.

Coding Unicorn 🦄💻 Poolside, an AI coding platform, scores $500M funding and hits $3B valuation.

Nvidia's Rival 🏋️‍♂️💪 AI chip maker Cerebras files for IPO, challenging Nvidia's market dominance.

Crypto ETF Coming? 📈🪙 Franklin Templeton seeks approval for a Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF, offering easier crypto exposure.

Big Business Goes Crypto 🏢💱 Fortune 500 companies like PayPal and Google Cloud use Coinbase for fast, efficient crypto payments.

Tools to Unlock Your Peak Potential 🛠️

Buzzabout 🐝💬 Turn social media chatter into golden insights with AI-powered analysis.

Base AI 🤖🧠 Create smart, independent AI assistants that remember and learn - no server required!

CostGPT💰⏱️ Get quick, AI-generated estimates for your software project's time and budget.