A Tech CEO’s post about hiring a college student after just five minutes of talking to her has gone viral on X, sparking praise for both the young applicant’s courage and the leader’s instinctive decision-making.
Taking to X, Sandi Slonjsak, CEO and Founder of Code Of Us, shared that he was impressed by the student’s honesty, determination, and willingness to learn. “Today I hired a college student after just 5 minutes of talking to her,” Slonjsak wrote. The student, he said, “had the guts to send an open letter application although we had no job openings,” and “straight up admitted she knows nothing.”
Slonjsak said the applicant told him that she’s “willing to work as an animal to learn as much as she can”. The candidate was also “open for suggestions and mentoring,” and “super communicative and straight shooter, succinctly gets all her points across,” the CEO wrote.
According to Slonjsak, the student had also worked on her own projects in her free time “to have something to showcase.” More importantly, she didn’t care about the pay. She “can do minimum wage for 3 months just to get the foot in the door,” Slonjsak shared.
Calling her “smart, humble and hungry,” Slonjsak said the decision was an easy one. “Can start tomorrow. Green flags all around. HIRED,” he wrote.
How did social media react?
The post has since gone viral, with many applauding the CEO and the student.
“Sounds like you’ve found a rare gem!” wrote one user. “good job! you know what they say: hire fast, fire faster. let’s hope it’s not the case,” commented another.
A third user wrote, “not all recruiters would go for her, i’m glad you did. now you can brush her up and make her an expert in the role she applied for,” while another added, “Honesty always wins. Wishing you and your team the best.”
“Through my years of managing teams I learned that I like people that are hungry for knowledge not people that have plenty of experience. Don’t get me wrong plenty of experience is great for specific positions, however hungry for knowledge is something else!” commented one user.