After months of sending out paper resumes without any job, Eli Maravich, by his own admission, “went a little loony.”
The 21st Century Library Campaign – Tompkins County Public Library
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So when he saw a position at Snapchat that he thought he’d be perfect for, he decided to prove it — using the mobile app itself and its “My Story” feature.
The result: the stuff viral videos are made of.
During the three-minute piece, filmed entirely on Snapchat, Maravich spins a basketball on his index finger while riding a bike and taking the video himself, to show he’s a “multi-tasking rockstar.”
He arranges varying hues of Laffy Taffy on a platter to prove his “phenomenal presentation skills.” He writes with a weight on his hand to demonstrate that he’s a “strong writer.”
The video has rocketed across the Internet — it stood just shy of one million views on Sunday, a little over a week after it was posted — and has been called the first-ever Snapchat resume.
And though it uses mostly-humorous examples of Maravich’s qualifications, that hasn’t prevented it from feeding a debate over whether, in a world of abundant new media, paper resumes are still relevant. (It is worth noting that when applying for the position at Snapchat, Maravich submitted a paper resume as well as the link to his Snapchat resume.)
Maravich, who graduated from Ithaca College in 2013 with a business administration degree but now lives in California, hasn’t heard back from Snapchat yet, though he says he knows that the company has seen the now-viral video. He has, however, heard from other potential employers, who became interested in him because of — you guessed it — the now-infamous video.
When he first made the video, Maravich says, he thought it would endear him to Snapchat, a company that’s known for hiring people who do unique things. He went through the job description, line by line, and used it as the basis for the script of his video — even one part where he demonstrates his expertise in taking ugly selfies is culled straight from a more lighthearted part of the job description.
At the time, Maravich thought maybe a few thousand people would watch it.
“It exceeded my expectations a little bit, you could say,” he said, laughing.
He said working at Snapchat appealed to him because it was a company he actually cares about. Plus, he wouldn’t have to wear a suit to work.