Creative Resume Tricks That Don't Come in Colored Envelopes
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 09:43PM If you’ve been submitting a resume and cover letter to employers, thinking that it will give you an advantage over your competition, it may be time to re-analyze your strategy. In a tight job market, human resource departments can get well over 100 resumes and cover letter from job hunters, who ALL want the same job that you do. So, what can you do to set yourself apart from your competitors? Make the employer or recruiter curious about who you are! Here are some actual strategies that I found on the net, that are being used to get a foot in the door of hiring companies.
Recently, I was reading a forum message from someone who wanted a marketing job that he’d seen advertised. Instead of just submitting his resume to the owner of the company, he decided to do something that would help set him apart from his competition. He taped his resume to a box of Dunkin Donuts before dropping it off at the company. Other forum members suggested that if that didn’t get him noticed, he should try taping his resume to some bagels next then maybe to a fresh fruit and vegetable platter accompanied by some tasty dips. Ahhh…great idea….give a fruit and veggie platter just in case the hiring manager is on a diet or a health food nut. I guess it can’t hurt to cover all of your bases, hmm?
Another job candidate, an electrical engineer, who was fresh out of college and looking for work, asked a seasoned engineer what he could do to set himself apart from his competition. “Mail prospective employers a board that you’ve designed, along with your resume as an example of what you can do”. The candidate took his advice by sending a board that he’d designed for a company he interned for (after getting their permission) to a few companies that he wanted to work for. Within a week, he was flying out to an interview with one of the companies. The company offered him the job and then paid to relocate him! When you’re thinking about how to you can stand out from your competition, thinking outside of the box (the donut box) apparently works well too!
Here are some other creative resume ideas that job hunters are doing to get themselves noticed:
- Send your resume tucked inside of a funny greeting card. Hmm…this could work! If the hiring manager is having a bad day, giving them a reason to smile or laugh might make you memorable to them.
- Attach a sticky note on the front of your resume that says, “I am the right person for this job and I can prove it! Call me at 555-555-5555.” Well, this method certainly shows an employer that you’re assertive and confident! If those are qualities needed for the job, it might inspire a hiring manager to contact you.
- Submit a videotape or CD of yourself in place of a resume. There is some controversy over whether video resumes are good or bad. Video resumes can given hiring managers a better feel for your personality, but a video resume might also get your resume eliminated from the resume pool all together. Some hiring managers don’t want to view them in fear that they might be setting themselves up for a discrimination lawsuit if they don’t hire you.
- The easiest and cheapest way to get noticed by the person in charge of hiring you - Use a recruiting service like The SearchLogix Group. Cost to you? $0 Advantage to you? We have the contacts that you need to get hired! We know that companies hire “people” not resumes. Let us help you show companies how extraordinary you are and you don’t even have to bring us donuts! Ok, if you insist, we won’t stop you. :)
Companies aren’t stupid - don’t treat them that way..
A high tech company often posts job openings with the name of a fictitious hiring manager as the contact person. When job candidates call trying to weasel their way in to the position by claiming they’re an old friend of the hiring manager, the company reportedly puts their resumes immediately in to the trash. The company feels that if a candidate isn’t honest from the start, then they probably won’t be honest later on as an employee.
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