Meet the “Extreme Job Hunter” and the man who auctioned himself on eBay. In today’s competitive job market, these job seekers really went the extra mile.
Getting your foot in the door
Sometimes getting your foot in the door can be the hardest part. That’s why a man from Wales sent a potential employer his shoe. Believe it or not, this idea isn’t totally original and has been done before in America. In New York, a man sent his shoe along with the note “Now I’ve got one foot in the door. Let’s talk…".
Billboard plea
You may have heard of him before, as 24-year-old production graduate Adam Pacitti went viral after creating a billboard asking for a job. It read ‘I spent my last £500 on this billboard. Please give me a job. EmployAdam.com’. This ingenious technique landed him an impressive 60 job offers. After accepting his dream job, he even created another billboard as a thank you.
Source: EmployAdam.com (No longer available)
The Sandwich Board Walk through London
After a bet with his father, another 24-year-old graduate took finding a job into his own hands. This time, wearing a sandwich board which read "Job Wanted. History Graduate. University of Kent. Interview Me. Prepared to work first month free. Then hire or fire me. Thanks for looking. David". walked through the streets of London and landed himself a job in a recruitment agency.
Target marketing tactics
Spending a mere £4 on Google AdWords, Alec Brownstein used targeted marketing to reach top creative executives. When the creative directors he wanted to work for googled themselves, the results would pull up Alec Brownstein’s own website with the message "Googling yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is a lot of fun, too". Genius.
Getting creative with your CV
Eric Gandhi got creative with his CV and made it into a Google search result. In the search bar was “creative + hard-working + talented + excellent designer + unique + autodidactic”. The results were his CV. Google themselves found him on LinkedIn and offered him a job.
Auctioning yourself off on eBay
After applying for 600 jobs without a single offer for an interview, Josh Butler decided to take his employment into his own hands. The 18-year-old decided to auction himself on eBay for £16,000. It was titled “Josh Butler wants a job”. His stunt was successful as he was offered a job with John Lewis as well as with a number of call centres.
The Extreme Job Hunter
Dan Conway, a.k.a. "The Extreme Job Hunter" pulled a number of stunts in order to land himself his dream job. This included doughnut bribes, messages from his cute daughter and gravy wrestling (really!). But perhaps the most creative of them all was when he really thought outside the pizza box. He ordered a Domino’s meat feast pizza and sent it to Newcastle University’s HR department with a message on the inside of the box.
The message read: “If you want someone hungry for success, who thinks outside the pizza box, to fill your ‘social media coordinator’ vacancy, then you know who to call: Extreme Job Hunter”.
Before you auction yourself on eBay or send one of your shoes to Bill Gates, remember that there are other ways to get creative. Here are some of our top tips for making a creative CV stand out:
- Use images: when we say use images, we don’t mean plastering personal photos from your Instagram or Facebook all over your CV. Employers don’t want to see a picture of you in Zante 2014. There are subtle ways you can incorporate images, such as using an icon of a phone next to your number, making your CV more visual.
- Use colours: Don’t go overboard, but a subtle colour may help break up the wording. Make sure to keep it classy. Fluorescent pink is a big no-no.
- Be inspired: Go online and have a look at some creative CVs. You’ll find there’s a lot of good templates. Get some inspiration and create your own!
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