Recap of round one responses

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Well, I got over 4,000 emails responding to my research assistant gig posting. It genuinely flabbergasted me, especially after I took pains to explain to people that this was not a job that involved any sort of goofy partying with me or whatever, and though it pays, it isn’t much at all. I was hoping to get 500 responses.

Of over 4,000 emails sent to me, only about 1,500 got replies back inviting them to the second round. Yes, you read that correctly: Only 37.5% of the people who responded could follow the extremely basic instructions I gave.

Since I have closed the first round and the second round has started, I’m going to go through each instruction and explain how people got them wrong, because I think it might be beneficial to people who are in the second round to understand my thinking. It also might help some of those people who fucked up to understand what they look like to an objective employment source, and learn something from their mistakes.

Here are the full instructions I put up:

Recap of round one responses full post

(1876 words, estimated 7:30 mins reading time)

Research assistant gig with Tucker Max

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I just signed on to do a major book project, something unlike anything else I have ever written. I need to hire a research assistant to help me with it. Anyone can apply for the job–I don’t care about your resume or educational background, I only care about finding the most effective person for the job. If you are interested, read this entire post, then follow the instructions at the bottom to start the process.
Research assistant gig with Tucker Max full post

(797 words, estimated 3:11 mins reading time)

The Tucker Max Reading List: Most Personally Influential

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These are not necessarily the “best” books I’ve ever read in my life, but they are the ones that’ve had the most personal impact on me. Some of that had to do with when I read them in my life, some of it has to do with the actual work itself. I have these listed in the order of their influence on me:

The Tucker Max Reading List: Most Personally Influential full post

(784 words, estimated 3:08 mins reading time)

How Tucker Max Got Rejected by Publishing and Still Hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List

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Originally posted on Tim Ferriss’s blog:

I first met Tim when he came to my SXSW presentation (about turning a blog into a book) to pick my brain about what had worked for me. I explained to him everything I did, and he loved the advice so much he bought me a coffee. Thanks, big spender.

[Tim: my very first encounter with Tucker is captured here on film. And, Tucker, you’re most welcome.]

We stayed in touch, and Tim called me up the other day and asked me to write a post for his blog that would outline to his readers all the things I explained to him years ago at SXSW. I told Tim that there was no need for a long post; in fact, my success could be explained in a Tweet: “Because Tucker is really fucking awesome.”

Tim politely laughed, took a deep breath, and explained to me–in the least ego-crushing way possible–that that would make a crappy blog post. He asked me to dissect and analyze what I did, and then write about it in a way his readers could utilize for their own writing.

How Tucker Max Got Rejected by Publishing and Still Hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List full post

(3449 words, estimated 13:48 mins reading time)

Karens Owens and “The Duke Fuck List”

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[Forgive the raw and unedited nature of this post, and that it’s a few weeks late, but I’m still on tour for .]

I’ve had a ton of bullshit forwarded to me, but in the eight years my website has been up, there are two things that have been sent to me more than anything else: Maddox’s original “I am better than your kids” post, and Karen Owen’s mock thesis, known as “The Duke Fuck List.”

[If you don’t know what the Duke Fuck List is, stop reading this now, it’ll be pointless. If you want a quick breakdown of the facts, get them here. To see the actual unedited Powerpoint slides, get them here.]

And everyone who sent it to me wanted to know what I thought about it. Not just randoms either; a lot of media came to me for comment. I usually ignore media requests for commentary (much to the frustration of my PR guy, Jeff Chassen), but when Nightline asked me to do an extensive interview about it, I agreed, because I figured this would be a perfect way to get my thoughts on record without having to spend the time writing out something long and exhaustive.

Karens Owens and “The Duke Fuck List” full post

(3020 words, estimated 12:05 mins reading time)