We've all spent way too many hours trying to perfect a resume, even adjusting the margins to fit as much as possible. For a long time, this document has been one of the only ways to sell yourself to potential employers. But what if there was another way? Esther Crawford, a San Francisco based Product Marketer, who transitioned to the tech startup world in 2011, believes "that resumes are incredibly static." Understanding the need for innovation in a hiring field that is "still painful for both hiring managers and job seekers," she created EstherBot. She wrote an article on Medium, detailing her experience creating the bot, so others can make their own.
Here's how it works. Anyone can text or Facebook message EstherBot to find out more about Esther's work experiences, educational background, and even some fun facts. As soon as you start a communication, the bot will tell you how to interact with it. Here's an example of what viewers would see:
Courtesy of EstherBot
Although it is limited to certain phrases like "childhood," "education," and "career," the bot can let employers see another side of an applicant that resumes can't. Esther believes that during the hiring process "there should be an additional layer that adds context and interaction, which is something bots can do well."
She recently attended a bot conference in San Francisco and realized that she was the only female speaker in a group of fifteen. After this experience, she created FemBots, a Facebook group devoted to creating a broader community of women interested in bots. Esther believes that "bots will be better and more humane if there's a wider set of voices working on these problems — we need to bring women, people of color and people from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds to the table," she says.
Courtesy of EstherBot
After releasing her bot, Esther received four interviews and, on three, the hiring managers mentioned information they received from EstherBot. In addition to creating a resume bot, Esther, has more tips for women in tech who are looking to stand out in the job search.
"Standing out requires a mix of creativity and risk-taking. Since there's an influx of interest in joining startups, it's important to do, rather than tell what you can do. In my case, I wanted to demonstrate how I can execute, be scrappy and tell a compelling story, so I created EstherBot as a side project to show my skills," she explains.
While we may not be able to delete our resumes from our hard drives just yet, Esther's resume bot demonstrates how women in tech can use exciting innovations to capture the attention of potential employers.
