The jobs market has been on rare form recently, with a healthy number of vacancies available and a opportunities abounding for many workers across industries. However, with wages falling in real terms against inflation, career progression has become much more of a priority for skilled workers – leading to increased movement between businesses.
If you feel a little stuck in your current role, you may be hoping to find your next step up – but how can you stand out from the rest, and ensure your presence is felt by your ideal employer? Here are three creative ways you can approach jobhunting, that could be lucrative for your career.
Office Gift Delivery
There are many inventive ways to sell yourself to a business soliciting applications, but what if the business you want to work for isn’t currently hiring? There are ways you can put yourself on the radar before any openings are publicly listed, one of which is the delivery of a bespoke gift or parcel straight to the hiring manager at the office. You could send anything, from flowers to a piece of work that illustrates your talents; making the letter that goes along with it witty and direct will be sure to keep you fresh in their mind.
Flyer Stunt
Of course, there’s nothing quite like a good stunt to put you in the running for a position with a business. Pitching your stunt correctly can be difficult, and is necessarily individual to your line of work and target companies; however, an excellent example can be found in the actions of one prospective employee for flyer company instantprint.
Jonathan Swift used the company’s own flyer design service to create 500 flyers with his information on, and distributed them by hand in instantprint’s own car park – attracting the attention of the hiring manager, and ultimately winning him the role.
instantprint’s Marketing Manager, Craig Wassell, tweeted from instantprint’s Twitter account about the intrepid applicant at the time: “We’ve been well and truly ‘flyered’ by a candidate applying for a #job in our marketing team. Every car in the car park is covered in flyers linking to the applicant’s LinkedIn profile! That’s definitely one way to stand out. He’s been the talk of the office since covering everyone’s cars in CVs. I love it when we get a #creativejobapplication.”
Interactive CV
Sending in a formulaic CV and cover letter is a fairly rote way to apply for a position, and one which can often fail to demonstrate to an employer exactly what sets you apart from other candidates. A unique way to sell yourself could come in the form of a more interactive form of multimedia CV, which can be tailored to your industry in particular.
For example, in applying for web design roles you can show off your skills and experience by creating a website for your CV, demonstrating your skills practically while also providing necessary information. For creative and media roles, you could incorporate video elements to sell yourself directly – something likely to stick in an interviewer’s mind before they meet you.
