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Hey, Job Applicants: Stop Calling Yourself a Hustler
Andrew D'Souza on why "hustlers" should go the way of "ninjas" and "rockstars"


I get it. You’re versatile. You get shit done. You think “outside of the box.” Whatever.

I’m hiring people who I can trust. Who will represent my company in front of customers, partners and investors. I don’t want to get hustled and neither do they.

A year ago we killed “Ninjas” and “Rockstars” from technical job descriptions. Please, let’s stop calling our businesspeople “hustlers.”

If you’re in marketing, tell me that. Are you a content-marketing, PR, or social media expert? Great. Tell me about an inbound marketing campaign you ran or some placements you secured for your clients or employers. Are you phenomenal at user acquisition? Tell me about your optimization techniques. Talk me through a campaign you ran and the ROI you delivered to your company. Do you have a million twitter followers? Awesome. But explain to me who they are, why you’re influential to them, and how it will help my business.

If you’re in business development, tell me about the deals you’ve done. How much revenue did they bring in? Have you built and managed a distribution channel? Did you salvage a deal that was going off the rails? Talk through some creative partnerships that could actually drive value to my business. Better yet, offer to set up a meeting with these partners to prove your network is actually as strong as you say it is.

If you’re in sales, tell me about your quotas and performance vs. your peers. How did you do vs. your goals every month? Where did you rank in your company? What were your daily activities? Talk me through your sales cycle and conversion funnel. Do you know what makes you successful? Is it hard work and tenacity or salesmanship and suave (there are roles for both types).

If you’re just a well-connected social butterfly, I’d love to grab a beer, but I probably don’t have a role for you on my team. I hire winners, not hustlers who are just waiting to get caught.

One exception: If you’re Jay-Z, you’re still allowed to call yourself a hustler, and I’ll still hire you for any role at our company.

____
Andrew D’Souza is the Chief Operating Officer of Toronto-based Education Startup Top Hat Monocle. Follow him on Twitter at @andrewdsouza
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