For BSidesROC 2016 we are trying something new, facilitate matching up hackers to employers that are looking to hire them. The premise is simple: submit your résumé to us, and we will provide it to interested companies that want to recruit you. Even better: we’re working to have a panel of experienced security industry professionals and recruiters that can provide objective critique of the résumé you submit, so you can improve your chances of scoring a great job at a cool company.
So how does “melee” come into play? Rather than just accepting boring paper or electronic versions of résumés, we are asking you to get creative and provide them to us in the craziest format possible. Have you ever been told by an employer that they only accept résumés in PDF, Word, or online format? Now is your chance to get revenge. Want to spray paint your résumé onto a board? No problem. Feel like knitting a résumé out of yak fur? Seems itchy…but OK.
Rules
The only rule we have is that we need to be able to provide employers with either a PDF or plain text version your résumé. This is similar to how Shmoocon’s Barcode-Shmarcode nneeds to be able to scan whatever you come up with, we’re just applying it to résumés, rather than badges.
There are a couple ways to meet this rule’s objective:
- Make sure we can convert whatever you provide to PDF or plain text using a flatbed scanner and OCR software.
- Ignore whether or not we can convert it for you, and just provide a PDF or plain text version in addition to whatever cool thing you come up with.
The best submission gets a prize, and the opportunity to snag a cool new job.
Entering
To enter, simply provide your résumé submission to us. You can either send it in to [email protected] or bring it in-person on the day of the con.
Why should you dox yourself?
Obviously, providing a resume has some privacy concerns. There are some ways around this (for example, you could password protect the file you provide us, and only give out the password to the companies you care about. There’s other ways of doing this also, we’re sure). That being the case, why would you give your personal information to us?
We see three main reasons you may want to do this:
- You want to get your résumé in front of cool companies that are actively looking to hire hackers (like you) to come work for them.
- You want the prizes and glory that come from winning this contest.
- You want an objective critique of your résumé because you are looking for work. We are working to get a panel of professional hackers and recruiting agents that are willing to review your résumé during the con. Bring your entry to us for judging, and get some useful feedback from them.
Ways you can win
- Originality: Be unique, be individual, be hired!
- l337 factor: Showing off your mad skills may impress us, and may improve your chances with the companies we’re giving your information to as well. Have you got some ridiculous code that provides a résumé as plain text or PDF when executed? That’s awesome! The more obscure the language/platform, the better.
(If you go for this though, make sure you provide everything we’d need to generate the output – or at least provide a text/PDF format separately to ensure there’s no issues getting a working run-time environment)
Prizes
- Everyone that submits a resume gets a free ticket to next year’s BSidesROC
- The top entry gets to pick from the pile-o-prizes at the end of the con
The top 3 entries will be announced at the end of the con, and have their name/handle of choice blasted out on our social media sites. (You’ll need to be present to pick up your prize, but your résumé will be passed on to the recruiting companies even if you have left).