16 outrageous things people have actually done to get jobs

16 outrageous things people have actually done to get jobs16 outrageous things people have actually done to get jobsSome people will do just about anything to find a job. But to set themselves apart from otzu sich candidates, the folks on this list went the extra mile, finding bizarre, hilarious, and ingenious ways to get the attention of hiring managers.They utilized advertising and the internet to maximize their exposure and even used the press to get the word out. Almost everyone succeeded in finding a job.Here are some of the more outrageous approaches people have taken to find work.One man put his name on a billboard to spark the Employ Adam campaignAdam Pacitti graduated from his university in 2012, but soon had trouble finding work.After sending out around 250 rsums, he realized he needed a way to differentiate himself from other job candidates in the media industry. Thats when he bought a billboard. Hes said that the sign, along with a website, got him 60 interviews, eventual ly landing him a job.One man wore an Axl Rose wig to impress at his job interview - and it workedAfter interviewing with several companies, one man welchesnt having any luck. He reportedly decided to dress for the part professional clothes paired with a long orange wig that made him look like Guns N Roses singer Axl Rose.During the interview, he took the wig off halfway through, saying that he felt silly it in. The interviewer appreciated his sense of humor and immediately offered him the job.This student built her own LEGO rsumRecent college grad Lisa Bowman took a unique approach to rsum building by constructing a virtual LEGO-themed CV.By showcasing her skills, she was able to demonstrate that she could actually do everything listed on her rsum.One woman was asked to convince her prospective employers why she should be hired, and she suggested a game of rock, paper, scissorsAfter an interview for her very first job, one woman was asked to convince her prospective employers to hi re her.After thinking it over, the woman suggested a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine whether or not she should be hired. If she won, shed get the job, and if the company execs won, theyd get to decide for themselves.Naturally, the execs appreciated her sense of humor and decided to give her the job, regardless of who won the game.This man made an interactive video rsum to get hiredGraeme Anthony, a PR and social media consultant, was looking for a job, but was having no luck. To set himself apart, he decided to make aninteractive video rsumshowcasing his experience while proving he had the skills to back it up.The video features an about me section, a timeline, and an intro where Anthony says Ive produced this video because, lets face it, communications have changed.Thanks to his unique thinking, he received so many job offers that he took them all - by becoming a freelancer.One student walked two miles through a blizzard to hand-deliver a rsumSome people will go to grea t lengths to get a job, but this partie went the extra mile - well, two extra miles.The college student was aiming to escape a toxic work environment and horrible boss, so she trudged through two miles of lake-effect snow to apply for a hospital job instead. The grand gesture worked, but ever since then, she was reportedly on call during snowstorms when other employees called out.This man got a face tattoo to get a job at an ad agencyRudolph Troncone really wanted to get hired for a summer internship at R/GA, an innovation company with offices in 14 countries. So, he got atattoo.This bold stunt impressed R/GA so much that Troncone got the internship. After all, it would have been very hard to get hired anywhere else.An Irishman bought a billboard to find a job and keep from leaving the countryMuch like Adam Pacitti, this Irishman took out an ad on a billboard in 2011 in the hopes that work would come his way.The ad read, Save me from emigration. The man, Filim Mac An Iomaire, was n icknamed Jobless Paddy thanks to his email address on the billboard. And, much like Adam, Mac An Iomaire was able to find work and stay in hauptstadt von irland because of his advertisement.Back in 1998, a man applied to a new startup called Google by handing out cheesecake and rsumsOne man working in tech decided to find a job with a recently founded startup called Google in 1998.He was known among his friends as an excellent cheesecake chef, so he reportedly snuck into Google break room and handed out slices of cheesecake with copies of his rsum. The ploy actually worked, and he got an interview. However, he had already decided that Google was too stuffy and declined. Stories say he later realized hed made one of the biggest mistakes of his career.This man paid for a Google ad that would show up whenever top ad executives searched their own namesTo get the attention of top ad executives, it might help to appeal to their vanity.Thats what Alec Browstein did by taking out ads on Goo gle, so that whenever one of the targeted execs searched their own name, theyd find Alecs job application as the first search item. These ads were targeted to six execs, and after a couple rounds of interviews, Alec was hired.One woman sent virtual Valentines Day packages to prospective employers that stated, Kim could be the oneKim Huynh, who works in advertising, has several methods to set herself apart from other candidates. One of her favorites was a website she created for prospective employers.The site was branded as a Valentines Day package that read, Kim could be the one. There was even an interactive Flash game employers could play. Thanks to her remarkable ability to sell herself, she got interviews with four out of seven ad agencies.Here are some of the other clever ways she getsemployers attention.

How to Avoid the Résumé Black Hole

How to Avoid the Rsum Black HoleHow to Avoid the Rsum Black HoleIve applied online to numerous positions, and I never get a response. Myrsumjust gets swallowed up in some black hole, and it never even gets seen by a recruiter or hiring manager.This a common complaint from frustrated job seekers. Imagine, however, that you are on the other side of the hiring desk. You advertise a job and receive anywhere from 50 to 200 or more applicants. Each submits a two-pagersumwith dense prose depicting complexsets of skills and experiences. Thats easily 100 to 400 pages to sift through in order to find an initial set of 10 or 15 candidates who you might want to contact. Then, remember that every human resources staffing person typically deals with 15 to 30 job requisitions at any given time, so he or she needs to contend with literally thousands of pages ofrsums. Thats a daunting task, which is made even more complex with the need to documentEqual Employment Opportunity Commissioncompliance an d to track candidates interactions with various HR staff, hiring managers and department personnel. The solution is known as an applicant tracking system, or ATS. This kind of software has become integral to the hiring process for companies of all sizes, as well as for external executive recruiters and headhunters. Say youre applying for a job on the company website. Theres a good chance youre actually accessing the outward-facing portion of an externally run ATS site thats branded to look just like the company site. There are many companies that provide hundreds of competing of ATS software products for employers. Some are simple and stand alone, while others are far more complex with greater abilities.One of the significant players in this arena is iCIMS, with more than 2,000 corporate clients. Susan Vitale, theiCIMSchief marketing officer, spoke with this authorto debunk myths that surround the supposed rsumblack holes. She also provides valuable tips for job seekers about how to best gain the attention of internal HR personnel and external recruiters. Vitale contends that ATS companies likeiCIMSmake every effort to meet candidates needs for convenience. For example, they often allow one to submit information using their login from social media sites, such as Facebook, Google Plus and LinkedIn. This way, she points out, a candidate doesnt have to create yet anotlageher username and password. She provides the assurance that logging in using social media credentials does not give the ATS the ability to search ones timeline or other posts. When asked if begehung questions posed by ATS systems automatically knock out certain candidates, heres how she replied Absolutely not It totally varies. Some companies use the screening questions as knockout questions, and some do not.Vitalepoints out thatparticularly in regard to EEOC compliancecompanies have to define requirements of positions and show that they didnt pick a candidate because he or she didnt meet th e minimum qualifications. For example, perhaps a job requires a certain certification. If a candidate doesnt indicate that he or she has that certification, he or she could automatically be put in a doesnt meet minimum qualifications category.Vitaleacknowledges that it is uncomfortable for applicants when companies require an answer to the salary question in order to submit arsum. She understands that people, dont want to go higher than they shouldor lower than they need to. Industry best practice today is for companies to provide an option for candidates to decline to answer any screening question, but each company decides for itself what questions to pose and whether or not answers are mandatory for a candidate to be considered.According to Vitale, these points are key to making the ATS system best understand candidatesrsums as intended.1. Any ATS system these days can easily work with Word or PDF file types. It will parse out key pieces of information and populate the database w ith your name, address, skills, employment history and relevant keywords. It will also preserve thersumin the form you submit to be viewed by the recruiter.2. Lines, text boxes and color can be be handled by almost every ATS today. Use these elements judiciously.3. Be careful about using graphics.Different ATS systems vary in their abilities to deal with images. Regardless, words embedded in graphics wont be recognized or parsed out. If you submit a graphic-heavy rsum, it may lose the visual appeal for which you strive. Instead, it may be seen as gibberish on the other side.4. ATS systems look for certain items to be in particular places on yourrsum.For example, your name and contact information should be at the topnot placed in a vertical text box along the side of the page. Use appropriate headings for the various sections of yourrsumand have them formatted logically.5. Dont try to game the system. For example, dont needlessly repeat the same keywords in yourrsumjust to get a bett er keyword-scoring match. It doesnt work that way. It may be noticed, but recruitersgenerally take a negative view of this practice.6. Make sure yourrsumdemonstrates that you are well suited for the positions for which you are applying. It is not the fault of the ATS if you are continually rejected for positions for which you dont qualify.7. Use common sense. Dont apply for widely different positions within the same company. And dont go for positions at significantly different expertise or experience levels within the same company, either. Keep in mind that your entire profile will be seen by anyone in the company who is looking at your rsum. Happy huntingArnie Fertig, MPA, is passionate about helping hisJobhuntercoachclients advance their careers by transforming frantic Ill apply to anything searches into focused hunts for great fit opportunities. He brings to each client the extensive knowledge he gained when working in HR staffing and managing his boutique recruiting firm.

Heres how not to lose your job in the next 15 years

Heres how not to lose your job in the next 15 yearsHeres how not to lose your job in the next 15 yearsTheres no doubt that artificial intelligence will revolutionize the jobs picture. One technologist predicts robots will replacehalfof all jobs in the next decade. A PwC studysays38% of jobs in the U.S. are at high risk of being replaced by A.I. over the next 15 years.But that doesnt mean there will be no work available for those who lose their jobs. Technology displacesandcreates jobs. So as the role of computers evolves in the workplace, workers have to evolve our own roles as well.Heres how to do that Learn all you can about the technology entering your field. Stay up on all the trends, the emerging changes, the experimental technologies being tried out. And give real thought to where the menschenwrdig element is still needed.Learn from Hidden FiguresA perfect example of this lies in the movie Hidden Figures.There were women at NASA known as human computers. Then a huge, new comput er was brought in, capable of doing much of their work in much less time. One of the women in particular, Dorothy Vaughan, recognized this and adapted. She taught herself and her team to program it. In short, they evolved their own roles.This is what everyone needs to do. Keep learning to improve yourself. Pick up new skills every day if you can. Find ways you can interact and help with the success of new technology. All this helps people avoid becoming obsolete in the workplace.Its the strategy Ive been following in my own career. For example, Ive spent years teaching sales teams the best ways to write impactful emails to prospects and clients. Now, there are new technologies creating excellent, customized emails for you in no time.So Ive had to ask myself Whats the role for me in this? I got a great piece of advice from Gary Vaynerchuk Be the guy who reviews the emails before they go out. There will be things that a robot misses but a human understands. Contextual things. Signs of genuine mutual respect and understanding. Empathy is an area computers still cant touch at this point.Thats why I expect phone calling in business to make a ragingcomeback. With so much artificial intelligence communicating digitally, people wont know what to really trust anymore. Emails in inboxes will have less value as people departure to question whether its from a robot or a human.That trust factor will come from people talking directly. Its very tough for a computer to give customers what they want and need in a phone conversation. The return of phone calls will be particularly interesting for millennials, who grew up with a lot less of it.Understand just-in-time businessAnother piece of this is understanding that were moving toward a just-in-time world.Technologies make solutions pop up when you need them. A client contacts you, and a file of information on that client automatically shows up right up on your screen. You drive to a meeting and your phone shows you that an ite m you were searching for recently happens to be available at the store across the street.As people look to find their relevance in this rapidly changing business landscape, we need to focus not only on what we do but also on how we can join the pace of the new economy.When you develop a new skill, be ready to do it quickly and excellently on a moments notice. Take my work going through emails, for example. There isnt time to parse through them word for word. I need to know what to look for instantly in each one. And I need to keep increasing my speed, so I can pull through for as many customers as possible in the shortest time frame.This pace also means making your product or tafelgeschirr easily accessible so people can grab it the second they need it. Im doing this by making all my content - videos, blogs, tips, and more - available in a single place, so people can get whatever guidance they need right away.Its a new approach to work, requiring a different mindset. Those who do it best wont just continue to have jobs. Theyll thrive in the economy of the future.John Barrows is a sales trainer to the worlds fastest growing companies. This article first appeared at Quora.More from LaddersWatch out for this disturbing new trend in job interviews40 questions to ask before you accept a job offer5 scientific secrets to handling a narcissist