For decades, hiring has relied on resumes.
But now, especially in a world of AI-generated “slop” resumes, employers are seriously asking a different question: Can you demonstrate the skills and aptitude for the role? Can you prove what you say you do?
One of the highest profile examples of this was demonstrated when, last week, OpenAI announced its new initiative to hire world-class AI researchers:
The “Parameter Golf” challenge.
Specifically, participants are asked to adhere to some pretty strict rules, in a bid to to “build the most efficient pretrained model under extreme constraints,” according to OpenAI’s website.
OpenAI’s No-Resume Hiring Challenge
Here’s how the challenge works, per OpenAI:
- OpenAI provides you with a GitHub repo with a baseline, fixed dataset, and evaluation scripts.
- Fork it, improve the model within the size and compute caps, and submit a PR with your code, logs, score, and a short write-up.
- Once approved, your result is merged and the leaderboard updates automatically.
- You can apply for free compute credits with Runpod (while supplies last).
In an interview with Inc. magazine, OpenAI researcher Will DePue notes that the challenge is intended to identify people who are “trying weird and interesting and exciting things that prove that they can probably do ML research or have great ideas.”
To excel in this challenge, Inc. reported that applicants will need to exhibit:
- High levels of creativity
- Deep problem-solving skills
- A willingness to make trade-offs
“Contestants who do particularly well can even opt in to recruiting conversations with OpenAI’s hiring team.”
This is the first of a series of challenges OpenAI is launching to hire new talent.)
Under the “why you should enter” section of the website, OpenAI notes:
“This challenge is designed to surface exceptional researchers and engineers we’d want to hire. Standout participants may be invited to interview for job opportunities at OpenAI, and winning approaches may be featured publicly.”
In the application form, you’re asked to enter details like your name, email, and GitHub profile. The resume field is marked as optional.