Its not “be(ing) condescending”

A CV and a Resume are (close enough to) the same thing. And a lot of people don’t realize that for “strategic hires”, things might not even happen in the same order. You can be offered a job… contingent upon filling out these forms and being eligible to work. As opposed to filling out these forms and demonstrating you are eligible to work… before being offered a job.

Near as I can tell, this is some batshit insane “I am a rising junior” nonsense that has been taught to people. “I don’t fill out applications when I apply for jobs because applications are for the weak” and so forth. Speak like you already have the job you want and all that brand building.

As for relevance: Mostly this is just complete insanity over the dude who talked about how they don’t fill out applications when they apply for jobs and acting as though that is standard and what happens with the kinds of companies you apply for after you have been an engineer at a FAANG-like for a bit. When, unless you are only applying to the tiniest of startups, you are going to go through the bog standard HR policies. And when you have a significant blemish on what is probably going to be one of your top three bits of employment history… that is not a great thing.

And, just because I am sure this will also somehow be misconstrued: A “strategic hire” is a catch all term for someone a company makes a job opening for. Sometimes that is the CEO’s kid. Often times it is someone who is technically amazing. Maybe they just got laid off and you see an opportunity to grab them. Maybe you walked up to them in a hotel bar at a conference and talked about how much you like their vibe. Those are the people who tend to only do interviews and the like as a formality… mostly because you still need to go through the motions for HR purposes.