Elon Musk bans resumes and cover letters in hiring for his chip team. These are the 3 bullet points he's looking for instead | Fortune

"The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is now asking anyone who wants to join his AI5 chip design team to nix the conventional cover letter and résumé in favor of just three short bullet points. In an X post Musk said he was looking for applicants to join Tesla as it restarts work on the AI supercomputer project Dojo3. To be considered, all applicants have to do is to submit "3 bullet points on the toughest technical problems you've solved," Musk wrote in the X post."

"The move is characteristic of the CEO, who during his time at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, issued a directive asking government workers to email five bullet points of recent accomplishments amid a mass firing campaign that led to the termination of more than 250,000 federal employees. "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," Musk said in an X post last February. Musk also brought that tactic to X (formerly Twitter) when he took over as the social media platform's CEO."

"Musk also tends to opt for conversation over credentials. In a recent interview with Stripe cofounder John Collison and tech podcaster Dwarkesh Patel during a joint episode of their podcasts, the tech CEO said "the résumé may seem very impressive," Musk said. "But if the conversation after 20 minutes is not 'Wow,' you should believe the conversation, not the paper.""

Elon Musk asks applicants for Tesla's AI5 chip design team to replace conventional résumés and cover letters with three bullet points detailing the toughest technical problems they solved. The requirement accompanies Tesla's restart of work on the Dojo3 AI supercomputer project. Musk has applied similar bullet-point directives previously while overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency and at X, sometimes tied to personnel actions. Musk favors live conversation over paper credentials, asserting that an interview's impression should outweigh an impressive résumé. Résumés remain required for most other Tesla U.S. positions, with some roles requesting an evidence-of-excellence statement.

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