Cedars and Sandhills
Want to do something refreshing? Want to get noticed? Want to stand out? Turns out, one of the most radical, off-the-wall strategies out there involves representing yourself accurately.
Wall Street receives hundreds of applications for interns every year. Each applicant “pumps up” his resume, padding his experience, beefing up his titles, and piling on his work experiences. When you have a world full of supermen, what’s special about another person leaping a tall building?
What is special is when someone flat out admits that he’s human. One young man did just that, telling the truth in his cover letter. He wrote:
“I won’t waste your time inflating my credentials, throwing around exaggerated job titles, or feeding you a line of crapp [sic] about how my past experiences and skill set align perfectly for an investment banking internship. The truth is I have no unbelievably special skills or genius eccentricities, but I do have a near perfect GPA and will work hard for you.”
How did this radical, questionable, counter-cultural strategy of telling the truth actually go over? Judging by the responses here, I’d say pretty well.
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