When Silicon Valley design and marketing agency D2M Inc. posted a job listing on Craigslist for a "marketing ninja," CEO Andy Butler was hoping for a few creative candidates.
"When we put out a posting for a 'marketing ninja,' we wanted to attract people who'd identify with that description, and we wanted to discourage people with a more traditional approach to marketing and PR," said Butler.
So when Butler opened a job application from Savannah Peterson, he knew he'd found his new marketing manager. "When I received a picture of a cropped head Photoshopped on top of a black-pajama-ed ninja, the first thing I said was, 'I have to meet this person face-to-face,' " recalled Butler.
After interviewing four of the position's 90 applicants, Butler hired Peterson based on a combination of her marketing background, design skills and ability to "jump out" from a sea of cookie-cutter candidates. But while a quirky resume replete with a ninja mock-up and a laundry list of superpowers landed Peterson the job, she said her lighthearted approach was a serious act of self-promotion in today's tough economy.
"Having been a university graduate in December of 2008 when everything fell apart, I knew it was important to stand out and have a sense of humor," she said. "I also believe that it's a lot harder to say no to a face and not just a resume."
This is what I do on my lunch break
Owner: Sara Sutton Fell
Company: FlexJobs Corp.
Illustrating how you like to spend your lunch hour isn't the most advisable way to apply for a job, but it was enough to win over Sara Sutton Fell, CEO of FlexJobs, a telecommuting job site out of San Francisco.
An e-mail from job candidate Heather Maria Kubik told Fell to look at her video to see what she does during her lunch break. The e-mail also included a resume, cover letter, and a link to a home movie uploaded onto YouTube.
"It was a video of Heather and her husband doing a vertical wind tunnel performance," said Fell. "It was unique, jaw-dropping, and totally ballsy. And I loved it. I hired her on the spot for our video design project."
A sky-diving enthusiast, Kubik performs gravity-defying, upside-down spins and dance steps in an indoor vertical wind tunnel in the two-minute Apple iMovie. "This training has taught me persistence, patience, teamwork, and has proven true the old adage, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again,' " continued the e-mail.
Although her video-editing techniques earned her a contract with FlexJobs, Kubik said showcasing her off-beat skydiving skills is what truly paid off in the end. "When you're trying to reach out to a potential employer, you've got to give them something twice to look at," she said.
Spoofing a popular TV show
Owner: Heather Huhman
Company: Come Recommended
Courtesy: Heather HuhmanBy the time the job application landed in Heather R. Huhman's e-mail inbox, Christina Barkanic's chances of getting hired as a multimedia director seemed slim. "Typically, the last person to apply doesn't get the job," said Huhman, CEO of Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR agency in Washington, D.C. Then she opened the e-mail attachment.
Unlike the 50-odd resumes before it, Barkanic's application included a presentation spoofing the hit TV series, "Law & Order SVU." The multimedia presentation begins with an audio introduction from Barkanic -- an eerie, monotone monologue, set to the backdrop of a black screen, ending with the ominous declaration:
"These are their stories." Following an audio clip of Law & Order's unmistakable, rapid-fire gavel pound -- a slideshow begins, detailing Barkanic's credentials and accomplishments as if it were a legal dossier.
"I'm a big 'Law & Order SVU' fan so Christina's application really impressed me," said Huhman. 'I thought it was really cute and creative. And it made a lot of sense, especially for the video-oriented position she was applying for."
For Barkanic, it was a risky but necessary move. After six months of sending countless "generic" resumes without so much as "any feedback or a single lead," Barkanic said, "I knew the traditional approach wasn't working for me so when I saw the multimedia job opening, I brainstormed a way to, at the very least, get Heather's attention." Case closed.
