Creative job applications

[EmilieT]

Hi guys, 

I was reading about some really unconventional recuitment methods earlier, and it reminded me of some other reading I had done on creative resume ideas I had browsed online before as well. 

In terms of recruitment methods, the article explains how McDonald's used the Social app Snapchat to encourage applictants to send through a short 10 seconds-long video explaining why they wanted this position, and Walmart used Virtual Reality handsets to put future managers in realistic situations that tested their customer-facing skills. 

Resume-wise, I have seen online some people adding colour, graphs, images, or swapping the classic format altogether for a website or a video.

What do you guys think of these ways to recruit or apply? Are there any examples of recruitment or application methods that stand out for you? Do you think it should be more common to put emphasis on personality and not just skills? 

Let us know in the comments!

[jonsie]

I saw an advert for recruitment at Amazon the other day inviting people to go on a tour of the workplace. It's the first time I had seen them recruiting.

[EmilieT]

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@jonsie wrote:

I saw an advert for recruitment at Amazon the other day inviting people to go on a tour of the workplace. It's the first time I had seen them recruiting.

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@jonsie That's an interesting first step for applicants to get a better idea of what they might be getting into! What sort of role was that for? 

[Cleoriff]

I'm old school and admit it. I don't get this 'creative' way of applying for a job at all.

Advertise the job, shortlist from the applications, interview and choose the best candidate.

Occasionally we have included an element of role play, where we have asked each applicant to undertake a task relevant to the job they are applying for but that's it.

I fully understand some people are awful at interviews but if you have a well rounded approach covering a few elements, then there will be one who stands out.

Gut feeling is also great benchmark.

[Anonymous]

I interview dreadfully because I get so nervous but in the last two interviews I've done I've felt better as I've tried to foxus on coming across as engaged and enthusiastic

People can toss technical questions at me all day long and will happily answer them, it's the HR "where do you see yourself in x years" type questions that get me.

Going back to the topic, think the VR one sounds quite interesting.

I had my CV professionally rewritten about 8 years ago when I was 'at risk of redundancy' as while it was tidy it wasn't exactly visually stunning, the person that did it added a soft background and wrote a statement summing me up at the top, it's in a format I can easily edit.

Don't think i'd have the guts to apply using a video.

During that time I also wrote a speculative application to the owner of a company whom I'd dealt with, consisting of my CV and cover letter

A couple of weeks passed and I heard nothing and then one morning when I was at work my mobile rang.

He'd asked his HR Director to give me a call and tell me that they'd be interested in taking me on but unfortunately they couldn't offer me a role working remotely.

I had to decline as I didn't have the financial resources to relocate.

[jonsie]

I can remember when your experience, your qualifications and your appearance were good enough to be accepted for employment. There is so much competition these days for a specific job that I would hate to be seeking a particular position  in the job market.

So much depends on your interview technique rather than your ability to actually do the job means that desirable employees are so often overlooked in favour of people who impress at the interview stage, I sometimes shake my head in despair when agencies are used to sift through candidates rather than an employer having the good sense to know when someone actually has the ability to fill a role within the company.

You do have to wonder sometimes what makes these young people whose only life experience exists on paper can possibly know from an application what constitutes someone who appears to have he necessary paper qualifications ad impressive CV from those who will be more of an asset to an employer and much more suitable long-term.

So many deserving applicants these days are filtered by age, gender and ethnicity without even being given the chance of an interview.  I'm thankful that when I was in the job seekers market that an agency was never involved in the interview selection process.

[Cleoriff]

I agree @jonsie . Agencies nowadays must handle 50% of all applications. This is generally because most of the posts are temporary.

So the employer never sees the applicant as they are interviewed by an agency. The 'lucky chosen few' turn up to do the job and then it's up to the employer to decide whether they are good enough or not.

Thank god there were no such agencies when I started working.

We did have nursing agencies eventually...though they did cost the NHS a lot of money.