This newsletter isn’t boring. I thought it would be

Author

Peter Duris
December 30, 2024

In partnership with

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and this is the special, end-of-the-year edition of your favorite career newsletter.

Today’s story: New Year Special: A Look Back at the First 12 Months

Handpicked remote job paying in $$$: Senior Director - App Product at Shippo ($230k-$315k per year)

Random piece of career advice that actually works: Top virtual job fairs to attend in 2025

Surprise at the end: Scroll down for a definitely-not-boring surprise 🎁

It’s been almost a year since I started spamming you with these newsletters. The very first one came out back in January 2024, and now that it’s almost January again, let’s take a look back — and reminisce. 

And reminisce I will, because this newsletter has surpassed my wildest expectations! 

For one, a year on I’m still doing it. When I first began, I was simply looking for a way to improve my “public writing” (is that a thing? I feel like it should be), and maybe a little creative outlet in my life filled with “CEO stuff.” I never thought it’d last more than a few months.

But then I noticed something unexpected.

You guys seem to actually like these emails! At least, if the average open rate is anything to go by.

Every newsletter gets opened by nearly 37% of the current total of 1.7 million subscribers, which is beyond amazing. That’s 6.8 million opened newsletters! It also means you keep opening these even when you know that it’s just yet another newsletter from me. 

Thank you. 

Although I didn’t expect it, this has been one of the most enjoyable things I worked on in 2024. I had a blast.

Hence the headline. This newsletter isn’t boring.

But hey, I’m not writing this just to thank you and wish you a happy new year. I promised you to reminisce! 

So, let’s do a proper rundown of the best, the somewhat meh, and my personal favorites of 2024. Think of this as the end-of-the-year special for those who open their mailboxes even during the holiday season. 

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Let’s do what everybody else does this time of the year — and overthink data

What episodes of this newsletter did best in 2024 then? 

Well, that’s more difficult to answer than I thought.

For instance, the most recent one was seen by the highest number of people. And while that’s great, it doesn’t make sense to compare these newsletters based on the number of views, since the subscriber count kept growing throughout the year, each doing better than the previous one.

I also considered ranking these based on how many links you clicked inside each. But I didn’t feel like that would tell us much about how interesting, entertaining, or well-written they were.

That means we’re left with the open rate.

Sure, it’s not perfect either, but it lets me create a relatively meaningful ranking, so let’s use that. 

“This newsletter won’t teach me swear words”

These are the top 3 newsletters of 2024 based on the open rate:

What do you think? Honestly, I’m a bit surprised by these results. I fully expected the Duolingo one to be there (it’s one of my favorites), as well as the boring one, but I’d never guess the last one. 

The lesson? Subject lines seem to matter A LOT. 

I was particularly proud of the first two. It’s good to see that they piqued your interest too, because I had a lot of fun coming up with them. They also felt right somehow.

In fact, they’re so strong that when I combined them, I got another strong subject line that I really like: “This newsletter won’t teach me swear words.” 

It’s weird but it reads almost like flash fiction.

By the way, the subject lines are a fascinating topic. I do want to get into that a bit more some other time, but for the time being, let’s take a look at the newsletters that were a bit meh.

“How to punch your AI (based on data)”

And by meh, I meant to say they still did amazingly well — just not as well as the others. Here they are:

Looking at them now, I get why they didn’t do as well as the others.

Unsurprisingly, these were the topics I struggled with the most. I can’t point my finger at why, but they felt off.

The lesson with this one seems to be: if a newsletter doesn’t feel right to me, it won’t feel right to you either. 

However, when I combined these three subject lines into one, it was a bit better: “How to punch your AI (based on data)” (I’m going to keep doing this :D).

“Blood, dirt, and Gen Z”

But then again, these things are hard to predict. Some of my absolute favorites ended up in the middle of the pack. 

Especially these two:

These were a blast to make, I got to interview my employees, and the whole process felt very hands-on. The combined subject line is also pretty great! 

I would like to move further in this direction this year. That means, not just take interesting stories I found on the internet, but try to find more inspiration offline. We’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Oh, and one last thing — there’s an archive! It’s been there for a while now but I feel like not many know about it. You can browse all our newsletters, including the ones not mentioned in this rundown, here.

Thank you again for your attention and support this year. 

See you again in January! 

Handpicked remote job of the month: Senior Director - App Product at Shippo

$230k-$315k annual US base range

  • 🏥 Healthcare coverage for medical, dental, and vision (90% covered by the company, including dependents)

  • 🌴 Take-as-much-as-you-need vacation policy & flexible work hours

  • 🛑 One week-long company-wide shutdown

  • 💖 3 Volunteer Days Off (VTOs)

  • 🏡 WFH stipend to set up your home office

  • 💵 Charity donation match up to $100

  • 📈 Dedicated programs, coaching, tools, and resources for your professional and career growth

  • 🌐 Global Opportunities

  • 🌟 Professional Growth

  • 🏠 Remote Work Flexibility

Random piece of career advice

Virtual job fairs are an online alternative to traditional in-person hiring events.

They create an opportunity for recruiters to connect with prospective candidates to discuss employment opportunities — and all of it remotely.

We did the job for you and found the top virtual job fairs to attend in 2025:

  1. FirstFridayFair. Wherever you are, this fair is aimed at sparking professional connections and efficient hiring among local job seekers and recruiters globally.

    • Date: 1st Friday of each month of 2025

    • Time: 11:00 AM to :00 PM (local time)

  1. Engineering & Science Virtual Fair. Ideal for recent graduates and students looking to start their careers with opportunities in engineering and science, whether through internships, part-time roles, or full-time jobs.

    • Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025

    • Time: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM EST

  1. Government & Non-profit Jobs Hiring Event. Online recruiting event where jobseekers meet U.S. government agencies and non-profit organizations showcasing their job opportunities.

    • Date: Thursday, February 11, 2025

    • Time: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM EST

  1. Graduate Virtual Career Fair. Ideal for new and soon-to-be graduates to find the right graduate programme to kickstart their career. Graduate programmes in Europe included.

    • Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025

    • Time: 12 PM - 4 PM ET / 11 AM – 3 PM CT / 9 AM - 1 PM PT

  1. WINTER 2025 UCLA STEM Virtual Career Fair. This one is perfect for new and soon-to-be graduates looking to start a career within science, tech, engineering or math. Top STEM employers across Europe will be at this virtual career fair.

    • Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2025

    • Time: 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM CET

Read more on how to prepare for a virtual job fair, what questions to ask at one, and how to follow up with a recruiter after a career fair on our blog. 

These are the very last lines of the very last newsletter of 2024. That takes dedication! 

I’ve thanked you many times already, but let me add one more thank you still. Here’s a 20% discount code for Kickresume Premium. 

Happy New Year 2025!

Peter