Forget LinkedIn, handwritten notes in taxis are unique approach to hiring

San Francisco: How does a start up founder hire a software engineer or a tech worker find a date in 2025? They could share a job posting on LinkedIn,...

San Francisco: How does a start-up founder hire a software engineer or a tech worker find a date in 2025? They could share a job posting on LinkedIn, log on to a dating app - or leave a handwritten note in a Waymo.

That’s what Influur CEO Alessandra Angelini was thinking when she and Jennifer Lo Chan, Influur’s head of marketing, tucked a piece of paper into a self-driving taxi’s center console on a recent trip to San Francisco.

"Looking to hire senior software engineers to work on AI/music project,” said the note, a retro touch in a futuristic setting, with the company’s website and Angelini’s email scrawled below. That same day, another Waymo rider snapped a photo of the note and posted it on the social media platform X, where it has been reshared nearly 200 times, received more than 4,000 likes and more than 300,000 views.

As a result, Angelini said she has received about 60 résumés. Based in Miami, Angelini said the Bay Area is full of the type of AI-savvy engineers she is seeking.

"This was an old-school type of ad that worked pretty good,” Angelini said in an interview.