What not to do when applying for a job

I never knew Aleksey Vayner while I was at Yale. Apparently he dropped out freshman year and is now part of '07 - at least, for a while longer. And yet, I feel I missed out on something special. Davenport could claim AKS, a Yale legend in his own right. Calhoun now has Aleksey Vayner, who seems to be a pathological liar and is definitely the author of a resume video so amazing that various firms sent it around as a "You've got to see this" forward. Eventually, IvyGate got a hold of it, sent it to YouTube, and now this newest addition to the "viral video" catalogue has made it as far as The Today Show, where I finally saw it this morning (thanks, MSN video). This guy has made the papers in Europe, for crying out loud.

A few highlights, courtesy of his 11-page resume (?!?) and his interview with Rumpus (always a credible news source) during Bulldog Days in 2002: Vayner claims to have started an investment firm (non-existent address, and the website is currently down), founded a charity (again, bogus, and Charity Navigator is considering a lawsuit), and written a book (self-published and largely plagiarized from the Holocaust Encyclopedia). He's also a massage therapist, all-star tennis player, martial arts master, and - oh yes - he's on the dance team.

I was happy with my job in the Davenport Master's Office, my time with the Glee Club, and my one year with the Yale Record. I thought three summers with Executive Traveler would certainly suffice for a kid just out of college. But can I bust bricks with my bare hands? Have I received training from Tibetan lamas? Did I bother sending anyone a video of my philosophy on success? Oh no, I didn't. But at least now I'm not the laughing stock of the Internet.

Mom, Dad, I may not have a job yet, but at least there's a good chance I'm employable. The next time I ask for muffin mix in a transatlantic care package, think of Aleksey Vayner's poor parents and know how much worse it could be.

For the whole story, check out IvyGate's blog: http://www.ivygateblog.com/blog/tags/aleksey_vayner.