It’s no secret that Shopify receives a lot of job applications. It’s a pretty great place to work. Evidence. While looking to hire a copywriter I was presented with some very, very interesting resumes.
- One was written on the back of a frisbee.
- One person bought Facebook ads that linked to his resume and targeted me with them.
- A few people created blogs all about why I should hire them (example).
- And the list goes on…
Anyways, Forbes contacted me for an article about all the wacky stuff people do to get jobs. Here are some of the excerpts:
How far would you go to get your dream job? Would you buy a Facebook ad targeting the company? Deliver your contact info to the corporate headquarters written on the back of a Frisbee? Stalk the hiring manager’s Twitter and write blog posts responding to things he had tweeted?
Mark Hayes has seen all of these tactics and more. The Head of Public Relation for Shopify is no stranger to receiving creative job applications in response to his company’s job ads – here are a fewnotableexamples – and he says the best ones all have something in common. “If a creative application makes me respond, ‘I have to meet the person behind this’ then it’s mission accomplished.”
…and this:
And for those companies eager to recruit outside-the-box thinkers into their ranks, Hayes has some advice – you better be just as creative as those you seek to hire.
“I’ve heard of companies that complain that they receive boring resumes and then I look at their job posting and the company and think, well, no wonder! If you’re an employer that’s looking for candidates to go the extra mile, not only does your company need to be a desirable place to work, but your job postings should encourage a creative response.”
Thanks so much to J. Maureen Henderson for including me in this article. You can check out her personal blog “Generation Meh” or all her articles on Forbes.
Mark Hayes 