Want to work for the company that might end up with the biggest IPO of all time? Not sure you’re qualified? Never mind that—you may just need to do one simple thing.
Well, maybe three simple things—and maybe not so simple. Elon Musk, chief of SpaceX, which yesterday filed paperwork that moves the space exploration, social media, ISP and AI company closer to the stock market, on Thursday used X to look for job applicants, suggesting that they email the company three bullet points “demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability.”1 (It’s not the first time he’s suggested perhaps-unusual tactics for finding work at his companies; earlier this year he indicated that he might be reaching out to candidates who were previously rejected.)
“SpaceX is actively hiring world-class engineers/physicists for SpaceXAI, even if you have zero prior experience in AI,” Musk wrote. “Smart humans figure it out fast.”:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-2256968069-639a4ba5214d4ccf8cba43a7e93eea89.jpg)
The notion of compressing your knowledge and experience into a few quick points may seem daunting, especially if the goal is to demonstrate that you’re exceptional to the richest person alive. But the ability to condense complex ideas to help the recipient quickly understand key concepts is hardly new to the world of business. Salespeople and entrepreneurs practice “elevator pitches” meant to convey the essence of an idea in just a few seconds; media organizations, including this one, seek to help readers by boiling articles down to key takeaways. In job hunting, resume experts generally advise a focus on accomplishments rather than a laundry list of roles.
Employers want to “know how you can contribute to their team or organization,” according to Yale University’s Office of Career Strategy. “Provide specific examples of the impact you made and the value you added during those experiences.” The school suggests a format that conveys the goals of a project and how your actions achieved measurable progress toward those goals.2 (Musk in another message said that “If you’ve made a very complex thing do useful work, that’s a major plus.”3)
Whether that advice will help in this specific instance is anyone’s guess. Musk’s post has already been viewed more than 32 million times, with thousands of likes and shares. Many of the responses were jokes and memes. It’s conceivable that the inbox he promoted in his post will be swamped with responses of varying degrees of earnestness. But Musk insists that if your message is serious and interesting, he’ll read it himself.
