3 Creative Ways to get Noticed and Land the Job

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23
May 2017

There is a fine line between gimmicks and authentic creativity when it comes to capturing the attention of hiring managers. A stunt too outlandish will land your resume in the garbage, but there are several tricks job hunters may employ that—with finesse—just might pique the interest of hiring managers and get you in the door for an interview. Each of the following strategies requires a bit of extra time, and in some cases a little money upfront, but each is a way that has been proven to move job hunters forward in their search for employment.

1) The Unsolicited Application

The strategy of cold calling has historically been one of the most tried-and-true methods of job hunting, although it has changed a bit in the last decade. To set this strategy into motion, you need to do your research. It’s a good idea to use a spreadsheet to organize your findings. Start by making an exhaustive list of companies and organizations that interest you—be it the company’s mission, the products they make or advertise, or the ideal next step up in your career. For each entry in your spreadsheet, record the company’s name, a sentence about why it interests you, and the available contact information about the staff member most likely to be in charge.

Once you have several entries, begin contacting the companies. In an email, send your resume along with a formal, individualized message about why you’re interested in the company, your skills that you think would make a positive contribution to their staff and workplace, and a reminder that even if they are not hiring at the moment, to please keep you in mind for future opportunities. The majority of these emails may go unanswered, but sometimes, companies are looking for employees for positions that haven’t been posted yet, or hiring managers and staff members will remember your outreach efforts and might contact you in the future.

2) The Role Reversal

Some of you may have heard about programmer Andrew Horner’s website that encouraged employers to apply to have Horner work for them. While this strategy was ultimately very successful for Horner, it is not likely that everyone will achieve the same results. However, there are a few ways that you can “turn the tables” so that people solicit you to work, rather than the other way around.

One tactic is to advertise on Facebook and Google. To make a Facebook ad, you’ll have to start a business page. Once you do, you can follow these steps to create advertisements for small fees to reach specific audiences. To place advertisements on Google, you’ll have to make a Google AdWords account. Once you’ve set that up, there are many options to create Search Ads (those that appear in the list search results when you Google something), and Display Ads (those that appear as banners on websites you visit). There are also many different payment tiers, depending on your needs and the audience you want to reach. You can learn more about how to effectively use Google Adwords here.

Another “role reversal” tactic is to post advertisements for your services on sites like TaskRabbit and Craigslist Jobs**. While Craigslist tends to be a bit more of a wild card in terms of gaining actual clients, it has proved effective when used intelligently and persistently. It’s also easy to post–you can do it within 10 minutes! Craigslist uses what’s called “relay mail,” so that you can communicate with potential clients anonymously until you have reached an agreement and feel comfortable exchanging other contact information with your client.

TaskRabbit allows you to create a profile that lists your skills and strengths so that people who need work done can contact you if your skill set is a match for what they need. You can become a “tasker” here. As a tasker you can also browse work that people need done and contact them to offer your services. If they agree that you’re a match, then you’ll move forward with a contract and you’ll be on your way.

** Remember never to post personal information inside ad text, never to give bank account information or passwords, and never to send/wire money over Craigslist.

3) The Imitation Game

Maybe you’ve heard of Alexander J. Velicky’s video game resume, which he submitted to Bethesda Game Studios, where he was keen on working. Or perhaps you’re aware of Jeanne Hwang’s Pinterest CV, which she submitted to Pinterest. Or Leah Bowman, who built a Lego-themed resume to appeal to future employers.

These are three examples of job hunters who grabbed hiring managers’ attention by synthesizing and personalizing elements of the companies’ branding, mission, and work. By thoroughly researching the companies they wanted to work for, these job hunters were able to project their best qualities by imitating the characteristics they loved best about the companies. When the hiring managers saw enthusiasm for the companies mirrored in their job applications, these applicants were invited to interview.

 

All three of these creative strategies require a bit more time, research, and even money (in the case of advertising) upfront. But for jobs that you’ve got your heart set on, it just might be worth a shot!

Have you ever used a creative strategy to land an interview or job offer? Share it with us on Facebook or Tweet us @ResumeYeti!

 

Cover image provided by WOCinTech Chat

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5 Phrases that will kill your Resume (And how to replace them)

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15
May 2017

Employers are often shocked at how many job applicants include outdated language on their resume, regardless of their age or level of career experience. In today’s hyper-competitive job market, you cannot allow employers’ first impression of you to be shaped by archaic words, writing styles, or catchphrases. Luckily, these buzzwords are easy to spot, if you know what to look for. What follows is a list of ResumeYeti’s Top 5 outdated resume phrases, with our Pro Tips on how to replace them if they appear on yours.

1) Personal Pronouns

Using the pronouns “I,” “my,” “me,” etc. comes off as overly informal and thus, unprofessional. Employers automatically assume that everything on your resume is related to you and your experience. Think about the lessons you learned early on about writing academic or scientific essays. The most authoritative voice is the one that remains objective. The same goes for resume language.

Pro Tip: Find ways to express your career experiences without pronouns. The phrase “My responsibilities included training my interns to use the digital asset manager,” could be reworked to be, “Trained a group of 5 interns to use Portfolio Digital Asset Manager.” The new sentence is preferred because it is direct and objective, and it also quantifies an element of your job (resume readers love this), AND it specifies a computer program/system you are skilled in using.

2) Address

You should not include your full address in the “contact” section of your resume. In the past, the address was typically included as a formal gesture, but today, your personal address is seen as unnecessary information that visually clutters the top of your resume.

Pro Tip: DO include your phone number and email address. You should use dashes, periods, or parentheses (for the area code) to format your phone number. When you list your e-mail, be sure to use a professional address with your name, rather than a silly account that does not identify you.

3) Exceedingly formal or wordy language

The flip side of making your resume seem too informal by using personal pronouns would be making your resume seem so extraneously proper that it comes off as silly. Some examples of this language are phrases like “responsible for,” “duties included,” “oversight of,” and “references available upon request.” Apart from taking up precious space on your resume document, these phrases complicate the details that you are trying to convey to employers. Today, advertisers are lucky if they catch our attention for 5 whole seconds before a YouTube video plays. If your resume language is complicated and verbose, you can count on it being buried in the pile and overshadowed by other applicants.

Pro Tip: Be direct and concise. If you’ve gotten to a point where you’re stuck and you don’t know where to start, have a friend look it over. Instruct them to edit every sentence as if each one had a word limit. Every character counts. Try to pare down your language so that only the most crucial points remain. Think of it this way: for every overly wordy phrase you remove, you can use a bit of the extra space to specify or quantify a detail of your experience (thus improving your resume).

4) Vague Expressions

What do you think of when you hear the phrases, “out-of-the-box,” “dynamic,” “win-win,” or “team player?” Having a hard time envisioning something meaningful? Employers reading your resume will have a hard time, too.  Clichéd phrases like these are vague. They emit a gimmicky, sales pitch-y tone, and should be left off your resume.

Pro Tip: If you do spot these phrases on your resume, zoom in on the context in which you used them. What exactly is it that you are trying to express about yourself? If you describe yourself as an “out-of-the-box, dynamic team player,” try to imagine a time when your innovative ideas or actions were successful in a team setting. Did the success occur because you were resourceful? Enterprising? Efficient? Assertive? Isolate the clichés and either eliminate them or find a more expressive way to convey what you mean.

5) Everyday, general skills

It is assumed that most adults in the U.S. know how to use Microsoft Word. You do not need to assure employers (and waste space on your resume) of your proficiency in this common program. Other “skills” that are frequently listed on resumes are problem solving and being detail oriented.

Pro Tip: These are qualities that are essential not only to being an employee, but also to just being a human. Life is problem solving. If you pay attention to details, you’re more likely to get what you want or avoid situations where precautions were in the fine print. You’ll need to show, rather than tell, your future employer that you possess these qualities. To begin with, show your employer how detail oriented you are by spell checking your resume and cover letter. Go the extra mile by handing in your gorgeously designed ResumeYeti resume, complete with matching letterhead for your cover letter, and business cards to make a great first impression.

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