Even as the job market improves, jobs seekers are finding more and more creative ways to land a job in competitive fields. Video resumes, interactive personal websites, leasing a billboard advertising a resume outside of a potential employer's office...they're definitely raising the bar for the rest of us. Sure, most companies expect a traditional resume and focus on qualifications for the job, but we rounded up a list of some highly creative ways job seekers have used to stand out from the crowd.
- One candidate brought his guitar to a job interview and performed a musical number about why he was the best candidate. (Forbes)
- Ian Greenleigh targeted marketing managers and executives in Austin, Texas, with Facebook ads that linked to his Hire Me page. The result: multiple offers. (AdAge)
- On his LinkedIn profile, Eric Gandhi had included his CV which had been mocked up to look like a Google search engine results page. An employee at Google spotted it and immediately recommended Eric for a job, which led to an interview. (TNW)
- Spencer Bryan created a task on TaskRabbit and requested a meeting with one of the startup's employees. The meeting turned into an interview and one week later Bryan had a job offer. (Business Insider)
- One applicant sent a shoe with a resume to “get their foot in the door.” (KBIC.com)
- Glenn Cole, chief creative officer at 72andSunny, the agency he founded, wrote a letter to Dan Wieden every two days for four months while trying to get a job at Wieden+Kennedy. He also challenged Wieden to a one-on-one basketball tournament. (FastCompany)
- A designer who wanted to work for Mattel sent a customized Barbie doll in with her resume. She got hired. (Artisan)
- Andrew Horner disrupted the established order in 2010 with a website that asked employers to apply to have him work for them. Pretty bold, but he received 44 offers, accepting one of them at a mortgage financing site. (Oddee)
- In 2008, Paul Nawrocki donned a suit, tie and sandwich board in the middle of midtown Manhattan when his unemployment benefits were on the verge of running out. (NBCNews)
- Philippe Dubost, a web product manager mimicked an Amazon product page in order to get his resume out there. (DaytonLocal)
- Jeanne Hwang landed a job at Pinterest after using the site to create a digital resume showing off her interests and expertise. (OnlineCollege)
- Ed Hamilton created a job application through Google Maps’ My Maps. He used different colored pins to highlight where he lived, where he previously had worked and what interests him. (GraduateLand)
- When Canadian graphic designer Brennan Gleason needed to get more design work he combined his love of home brewing with his design skills. Potential employers and clients received a CV in the form of a box of home-brewed ale, with each bottle - and the packaging - featuring all Brennan's CV details. (Plotr)
- Leah Bowman, seeking internships, used Lego Digital Designer to create a brick incarnation of herself and advertised herself as “the missing piece” for the companies to whom she applied. (Mashable)
- One bold individual arrived in an office with a red chair. He brought it straight to the top manager on the floor (not the HR person), put it down and said, “I brought a chair, you can have it, you’ll never see me sitting in it.” Then he left and was offered the job a few days later. (FreelanceFolder)
You probably won't have to hack a web site or stop a robbery in progress during an interview to get a job, but we hope some of the ideas on this list inspire you to think outside of the box when you're applying for your dream job!
We also created a list of the top 210 job search sites for 2016, so you can take your inspiration to get your foot in the door to the next level!
