What are You Doing to Differentiate Yourself?
Seen recently in a marina bathroom Milwaukee: a pile of resumes tacked to a bulletin board stuck in a plastic sleeve with a picture of a smiling guy and the slogan, “Seeking Employment Take a Resume”. In the women’s bathroom! My husband saw the same thing in the men’s bathroom. What a creative idea! After all, the person who could hire him might have a boat in the marina.
Once I met a job seeker who wanted to get into the IT Department at a local hospital. He rode the elevator most of the morning one day in an effort to meet the VP Information Technology. He “ran into” her close to lunchtime and started a conversation about their ongoing system conversion. She was intrigued, invited him to the office like an old friend and introduced him to the team. In a short while he was a member of the team.
A current client coming out of the insurance industry saw the perfect opening at USAA. He submitted his resume according to the ad instructions. Then he started finding ways to get in front of the hiring manager, even though he does not know who that is. He reached out to two former co-workers currently employed at USAA. He found several people with a title that might be the hiring manager. We figured out some creative ways to get introduced to all of those folks.
What are you willing to do to get a job?
Are you willing to put yourself out there and try something unusual? How can you get your credentials in front of the right person?