Recently, Lexis PR was accepting applications for its graduate scheme. Among them, one grad sent a box of cupcakes to show that they stood out... and Lexis’ HR team tweeted about it.
This isn’t the first time I’ve come across less conventional job applications. In the past I’ve had a graduate send me a tea bag with their CV “so that you can have a nice cuppa while you read about my experience”. More recently, one of our Taylor Bennett Foundation alumni, Nahidur Rahman, wrote a blog post on why a PR firm should hire him, and Racepoint Group snapped him up.
Last September we featured Graeme Anthony in esPResso with his CVIV. It did the rounds on Twitter and came up trumps as he’s now working at Frank. Similarly, Stephen Waddington has written a post featuring Laura Tosney at 33 Digital and her (frankly, amazing) animation that clinched the job for her there.
A few of our ex-interns took part in an online chat on the Guardian website about social media careers. This led on to a discussion about how to make themselves stand out. Alan Parker of Golin Harris suggested something quirky might work. “I once had a candidate send me a shoe in a shoebox with his CV” he told me, “so that they can get a foot in the door”.
On Twitter, I floated the idea of a CV printed on a tea-towel (inspired by all the Royal Wedding merchandise I can see creeping up on us). Responses ranged from “It’s novel, it deserves an interview at least” from the MD of Rise PR, Paul Alan to “that’s just weird” from communications officer, Emma Jackson Stuart and “creativity in an application isn't generally welcome in the public sector! It’s better to sell yourself based on examples.” From Adam Fairclough.
Which just goes to show, sending a more unusual job application can work, but you have to be careful who you target with your creative approaches.
It's a fine line to tread though, because what one person may see as creative and quirky another may see as try-too-hard. The 'foot in the door' example you mention wouldn't have cut any ice with me for example!
If you can find out even a little about the person you are sending your application to, that can be a real help. Twitter can be of assistance here. It's not fool-proof of course, but if your target seems pretty serious and to the point in their tweets, you are probably better off playing the percentages and saving your creative application for someone else.
Posted by: PaulieA | March 03, 2011 at 09:37 AM
After hearing about the Lexis Cupcakes on Twitter I blogged about it here: http://tinyurl.com/6cu9xzf
I think the right kind of creativity is an absolute winner. Most recently, this from @paultays http://twitpic.com/4vu0gj seems to be doing the rounds and has inspired me to create my own. Sadly, one of mine took me 3 hours today, but I hope it is worth it! For all of us graduating about now, there is a crying demand for us to stand out as best we can. Sadly, this isn't always down to our credentials but equally down to our creativity, but creativity in a creative industry is a good thing, I only hope it remains within the right realm. You blog post certainly hits on this, it's quite hit and miss but still shows the right stuff.
Posted by: JGOBunting | May 10, 2011 at 08:48 PM