Finding a Job Using Uncommon Search Tactics

Thought this was a great article as it focuses on out of the box thinking in relation to your career search. There are definately some worthwhile tips in here and seemed timely as tough times require more inventive and creative tactics in your job search. Article courtesy of msn careers.com Enjoy!

Rules are meant to be broken. Think outside the box. Be original. These are all clichés meant to inspire and remind you that creativity can often be rewarded in life.

Yet, even the most adventurous of us can't overcome our reservations when it comes to job hunting. Everything you've been told about the application and interview processes emphasizes being professional. Don't try to be funny in your cover letter. Wear a conservative business suit. Show how you'll fit in as one of the team. In other words, do what everyone else is doing. For some people, that just won't do.

Tony Beshara, author of "Acing the Interview," has seen his share of unusual job search methods over the years, ranging from quirky to bold. And several of them have been successful. "For a marketing job, the candidate bought a pair of baby shoes, wrapped one in a box along with her résumé and sent it directly to the hiring authority," Beshara remembers. "The box had a tag that said 'Let me get my foot in the door and you will be pleased.' When she went to the interview, she took the other shoe with her, which was a great way to start the interview."

Another job candidate who was hoping to land a sales position sent his résumé to the hiring manager with miniature star tickets that fell out when you opened it up. Across the top he had written "Hire a Star."

Quiet and clever tactics don't work for everybody, though. Beshara recalls another job seeker who decided to wear a sandwich board that read, "Brand new, hardworking MBA needs work." He then stood at one of Dallas' busiest intersections during the morning rush hour. "He had a job by noon."

Other tactics aren't as premeditated or elaborate.
When marketing and management expert Mark Stevens met with a candidate whose credentials showed great promise, he was disappointed when the interview didn't go well. The applicant wasn't engaged in the interview and as soon as he left he threw away his résumé. "The next day, I received a FedEx package from him, with a book of poetry on human loss and a loving letter about how his mother had died that week," Stevens remembers. He knew he hadn't made a good impression and asked for a second chance. Stevens gave it to him and ended up hiring him.

When you're hunting for a job, keep in mind that these unorthodox methods worked for these job seekers. Not only did they have the guts to try them out, but they also encountered hiring managers who were willing to take their efforts seriously.

Although wearing a sandwich board on a highway isn't the most reliable way to land a job, that job seeker did set himself apart from the thousands of other new MBAs fresh out of school. In a competitive job market, look for any opportunity, big or little, to give yourself an edge over the other applicants.

How to get hired by a 'Best' company

This article caught my eye from cnn.com. Although the focus of the article is providing tips on how to get your foot in the door with the top ranked fortune 100 companies...many, if not all of the tips translate well to targeting any company you are trying to go to work for. Enjoy!

Even during economic downturns, Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For are constantly scouting for talent. Here's how to get your foot in the door.

It helps to know someone. Almost all of the 100 Best rely heavily on employee referrals. Principal Financial Group and many others get about 40% of their new hires this way. At Wegmans it's a family thing: About one in five employees is related to at least one other staffer.

Play up volunteer work on your résumé. These companies are enthusiastic about community outreach, and they prefer to hire people who are too.

Get ready to interview and interview... and interview. The process varies wildly from one company to another, but you could be facing a series of 12 to 15 one-on-one chats or one long interview with a panel of up to 50 current employees.

Unleash your inner storyteller. By far the most popular interview style is what's known as behavioral, meaning that you will be asked to describe troublesome situations in past jobs and tell exactly how you handled them.

Do creative research. A proven way to stand out from the hordes of other candidates is to know more about the place and the industry than your rivals. A Google search won't do it. Says Jay Jones, recruiting manager at Alcon Laboratories: "Detailed research, including talking to our customers, is so rare it will almost guarantee you get hired."

No lone rangers need apply. By and large, the 100 Best want team players. "I actually count the number of times a candidate says 'I' in an interview," says Adobe's recruiting director Jeff Vijungco. "We'd much rather hear 'we.'"

If you've moved around a lot, be ready to explain why. A checkered past won't disqualify you, but most of these companies are looking for people who want to build a career over the long haul. Be persuasive about why you're ready to settle down here.

Be open to learning new things. Showing passion is a must, and most of the 100 Best pride themselves on creating "learning environments," so talk about the skills you'd like to acquire or polish. A turnoff: declaring that you're already the best at what you do.

If at first you don't succeed, don't give up. Almost every Best Company keeps track of what FedEx calls "silver medalists" - people who barely missed getting hired - and alerts them to new openings. If possible, register on the company's website. Four Seasons, for one, has hired people seven or eight years after an initial meeting.

Don't coast on their reputation. One final tip: Don't apply for a job just because the company is on our list. In the words of Mike Gallagher, HR director at SAS Institute, "We know we have a reputation as a great place to work. But if the reason you want to work here is that you want subsidized day care or a great gym, you won't last." Or, for that matter, make it through the first round of interviews.