“To whom it may concern” This has to be my favorite line when I’m opening up a new resume or getting an email with just an attachment after a job posting. This is going to be a quick and short blog post (maybe). My attempt is to have this post serve as a reminder to people who are looking for jobs, new out of school, in transition or whatever your status may be. BE ORIGINAL!!!!

When we (Twine Interactive) post a job listing, we receive hundreds of emails each time. The key is to stand out amongst everyone else applying for the position. This may not be the case for everyone, but when I read a resume for the first time, hell… I really don’t even read it. What I am trying to say is, give me a compelling reason to read your resume. Start with the email/cover letter. BE ORIGINAL (oops did I say that already?) Highlight your creativity in the cover letter, giving incentive to open your resume. Tell me something most people don’t know about you or tell me that you have taken two FREAKIN seconds to go look at our website and see some of the work we have done. Tell me why we are a good fit and how our culture makes sense to you. Hell, tell me that we suck or a website we did sucks and show me where we made a mistake. Do you see what I’m getting at here? So, if you apply for a job with us here are some quick tips.

1. In your email, write something, anything! Don’t just send me an attachment with your resume. It will likely be deleted. It shows us you didn’t take the time to look at who we are and are just applying aimlessly to a bunch of job postings.

2. Stop saying the word I. I can do this. I can do that. I am great. I am the best. I have this. I, I, I, I am going to go freaking crazy if I see anyone else promote themselves to no end. Yes, I have written resumes before. Yes, I have embellished a bit on them. It’s no secret. We all do it. Find a new and creative way to promote yourself (even if you are a developer). You are coming into a creative company that deals with social media, web design, and is very public facing. Tell me about you and not so much what you can do.

3. Tell us why you are relevant and what you will bring to the company. Sorry, but if you’re fresh out of college, chances are your experience delivering pizzas is not going to land you a job. Your blog posts about your passions or examples of your side work may very well catch our eye. Tell us how you may add to our team going forward or what you can see yourself doing in the future with our company. It may be something we haven’t even thought of yet and that can add real value to our company.

4. Don’t misspell anything (even though I do all the time). I may not be the only one reading it and spell check in a Word document is the easiest thing to do. You may have our new Director of Marketing reading the resume and she is a spell check commando. Just don’t rule yourself out on the first pass if you can help it.

5. Read this blog Punk Rock HR. Laurie is an expert on HR issues. I can assure you it’s not for the weak at heart. Make sure you are sitting down when you start to read her blog. She has great tips about getting hired and how to deal with companies.

6. Do a video resume (even though I know Laurie doesn’t completely agree with me on this one). Again, it’s about being original and different. It’s going to catch our eye. We are small, creative and live on the cutting edge. We want to see different. That’s why we do what we do.

7. Find me. Yes, that’s right. I am easy to find. Find me on Twitter, comment on my blog, find me on Facebook. Find me around town. Find the people that work with me. Find them online. I am at a ton of events and always pretty accessible and (I think) approachable… but that depends on who you ask– haha. But really, I love to talk to people especially when it’s about something that my business partner and I have spent years creating. I am not saying to come blow smoke up my ass, but engage me in conversation.

8. If we have a position for a designer, send a link with your portfolio. Show us your work. If we have to hunt down your portfolio, chances are we are going to pass. If you are a content writer, point us in the direction of your blog. If you are a SEO person, show us something you have done quickly. Get our attention.

I feel like a broken record sometimes and I maybe I am a bit too passionate about this stuff. We try to hire the best. We have no room for anything but all stars. We love everyone that works with us and we are a big family. Yes, we act like a family too. We get on each others nerves. We have our tiff’s but we kiss and make up nicely. Even if we aren’t hiring, tell us why we should.

Does anyone else have any other reasons they can add? I would love to hear some. Hello? Hello? Anyone out there?

Ok, some very interesting guesses that we got for our new Director of Marketing. I love some of these. Made me really laugh. Let me know what your favorite one was.

Some of my favorites
-Director of 80/20
-Director of Morgan
-Director of Mammals
-Director of Munchies
-Director of Billiards
-Director of Hot Chicks
-Chris Brogan
-Wayne Sutton (I didn’t know that this is a business title)
-New CEO (<--- WTF?)
-Director of Awesome Lunches

Best of the rest
-Director of Sales and Marketing
-Expanding our office or merging with a local company
-Director of Material Wealth
-Director of HR
-Director of Personal Branding
-Director of PR
-Director of Engagement
-Director of Hashtagging
-Director of Business Development
-Director of Twitterati
-Director of Microblogging
-Director of Interactive Technologies
-Director of Sales, Social Media, Service
-Director of Web Delivery
-Director of New Business
-Dude you are killing me here . -)
-Director of Search
-VP of Biz Development
-App Development
-Sales Manager
-Designer of Social Media Experience
-Social Media Strategist
-Social media strategist ninja
-Web designer
-Are you going virtual
-Expanding or hiring your sales team
-I'm flattered but this is a lot of buzz over hiring me as your new web designer
-Your next step: You are hiring a new person? Or maybe getting new desks? You landed a great new client.
-My guesses (can I have two?) for Twine Interactive's next step: 1) You're hiring! or 2) You're partnering with another local business . . .
-(blush) for not reading instructions.
-You are hiring someone awesome to help with your awesome current clients and possibly a new one? for not reading instructions

Which one is your favorite?

In order to grow a company, you must be vigilant in your vision, cautious with your cash flow and willing to take calculated risks that yield sizable dividends. As Chris Brogan highlights in his video “overnight success“, comes with a cost. A cost that doesn’t necessarily always mean a bottom line dollar amount. A cost may signify an investment of personal time or a sacrifice of things that you love, in order to achieve your long term goals. For years my business partner Brian Henderson and myself have forgone many things in order to grow our company. His sacrifices include not being able to spend near as much time as he would like watching his son grow up, in hopes that what he currently is doing manifests to a brighter and better future for his family. I have watched my marriage spin out of control and ultimately given up any social or family life as well. However, despite all of our sacrifice, our business continues to thrive as we move out of the start up phase and into a sustainable revenue producing machine.

In order to sustain that business, I strongly believe that you must surround yourself with people smarter than you. By that I mean people who have specific skills in the areas you need to get a great job done for the customer. People who share your vision and are willing to work hard for it. It’s also important to get good customers. Good customers can help your business grow exponentially with more work and additional referrals. A lot of people say that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. We have seen that model proven over and over. A good internal marketing strategy to current customers is vital to the grow of your business. Good decisions, good customers and great people are 3 main strategies to taking your business to the next level.

Can anyone read between the lines and tell me what we are doing at Twine Interactive to take the next step? Please DM me on Twitter @jeremysaid. The first person with the right answer will win a 25 dollar gift certificate to the @thepitbbq. Let the guessing begin.

Most days we have our oddities however this one is special. Our Creative Director also loves bread. Robert is a bread fanatic and in his spare time loves to cook, eat and style bread. If we had any more fun at work, it probably wouldn’t be legal.

Our pool table recently went through a major renovation. If you saw it when we were in our offices in Wake Forest, you know that it desperately needed a new look and feel. We talked to some guys on Wilmington Street by the name of Met-Tech who completely hooked us up. They even went as far as putting a new plate with the name of Twine Interactive, Raleigh NC, check this picture out here. The make over includes new bumpers and rails, new speed felt, a complete color make over to our company colors, as well as new leather pockets to boot. Check out this amazing transformation with fast forward effect on the  video here…..

Welcome to my blog. My name is Jeremy Smith and my company is Twine Interactive. We moved in downtown in June and have never looked back. We enjoy every minute of it. We work hard and play harder.