I started to feel like my blog was focusing too much on the job hunt and not enough on communication and marketing. Then I realized, job hunting is communication and marketing. You are marketing yourself to potential employers. You look at who your audience is and figure out the best way to communicate with them and appeal to them.
This leads me to interesting marketing strategies in job hunting.
Resume Cake from Flickr
Thanks to a few tweets, I ran across this article on CareerBuilder about unconventional tactics that job seekers are using. This isn’t the first time that I’ve heard of weird and interesting approaches to job hunting. I’ve read about graphic designers putting their resumes on t-shirts and job seekers buying space on billboards. Yet I wonder, how practical are these oddball approaches?
A couple of my favorites from the above mentioned article:
Candidate sent a shoe with a resume to “get my foot in the door.”
Candidate sent a resume wrapped as a present and said his skills were a “gift to the company.”
Candidate sent a cake designed as a business card with the candidate’s picture.
What do you think about these tactics? Do HR managers take them seriously? Does it depend on what field you are in? Are these candidates praised and remembered for their creativity or frowned upon for not taking the job search seriously?
With massive amounts of candidates available for each job, the rules of the job search are definitely changing. A simple, generic cover letter and resume don’t cut it anymore. There are the Web 2.0 options like a VisualCVor other online portfolio, creating a Twitter account or joining LinkedIn. Then there are the guerrilla marketing style tactics. Some are mentioned in the CareerBuilder article: staging a sit-in to get a meeting with the director or handing out resumes at a stoplight.
Are these unconventional tactics necessary in today’s market or are these job seekers just getting laughed at? I would love to hear from any employers or HR pros! Should I put my resume in a shoe box and wrap it up?
Interesting study and great blog post. I think it may depend on the type of opportunity that the candidate is looking for. The organization may be a factor as well. In today’s job market people are going to extremes to set themselves apart.
I have been a recruiter for almost ten years and I can tell you that I have rarely given a second glance to these kinds of tactics. I know the market is slow and competition is fierce, but how about using some good old fashioned professionalism instead of a cake?
I am sure there are companies in certain industries that encourage applicants to do something unusual to get noticed. Creative roles and marketing roles can really benefit from those people who put themselves out there. However, I would be willing to say most companies don’t have the budget dollars to take a chance on an individual who goes so far outside of norms. They simply can’t risk that person getting the job and doing something bizarre in front of a client.
My goal isn’t to sound like a buzz kill here. I really just want to impress upon job seekers that companies are shrinking budgets and shrinking staff. They need to focus their recruitment efforts on people who bring experience and talent to the role…not cake or a bunny suit.
I have blogged a bit on what to do or not to do when looking for work. This may be the catalyst for yet another post! I’ll be sure and link back to your post as inspiration!
Jayna
Danielle, overall I think these kinds of ’stunts’ are not very effective in a job search.
On the other end, there are employers now using stunts (video applications required) to show that an applicant has the ability to create such content. The thing that raises ethical (maybe even legal) questions is … they must be public! Now, what does that mean in today’s job market?
On the one had we have people using stunts to try and get a job … on the other, we have firms using stunts and the very job announcement / search process to glom a little marketing/PR out of the mix, too.
My opinion (I’m a PR pro, not an HR pro) these tactics aren’t going to work for the majority of people.
The one’s that do work, you will hear about on careerbuilder because articles about crazy job seeking tactics = readership.
The best way to land an interview (besides blind applying) is to network, make contacts and have people refer you to the hiring manager.