Today’s post was written by one of our founders, Melikshah Ünver. In it, he describes why the best CV he ever saw contained a list of fuckups.

Most CVs do everything possible to emphasise what you did right but the best CV I have ever seen had a prominent list of “failures and fuckups”. Let me tell you why this impressed me so much.

Openness. That’s the short version. To go into a bit more detail, I really value working with people who will be totally honest with me. In this case, I was struck by honesty in a situation where people are usually skirting the truth (if not outright lying).

This person was completely upfront and I appreciated it for two reasons. Firstly, I admired his self-confidence and it immediately made me think that he must have some serious successes to counterbalance the “fuckups” he was happy to share with me. Secondly, it let me get a deep appreciation for who he was and what he could do, meaning I could make a truly informed decision about hiring him.

This kind of honesty is really refreshing and, while I appreciate it at any level, I think it becomes more important as a person becomes more senior.

Image: Flazingo

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