The Creative Job Hunt: 5 New Ways To Find Employment

People have become pretty creative about their job hunt. Newspapers are rife with layoff stories, and so this was timely: Fortune has just released their list of best companies to work for! For those of you who’ve gotten laid off and are in a nationwide job search, don’t despair. When it comes to job hunting, it pays to be somewhat creative — that is, so you can stand out above other job candidates and applicants. And this is precisely what some enterprising people are doing in order to secure new jobs and survive this recession. Their stories are testimonies of people’s resilience during tough times. How are these job seekers doing it? They’ve decided to think outside the box and pull out all stops to try to get hired:

How Creative Is Your Job Hunt? New Ways To Find Employment

1. Hit the pavement, literally.

Paul Nawrocki, a 59 year old former operational manager in the toy industry, lost his job when his company closed down, and when he found himself down to his last unemployment check with a sick wife to support, he decided to take his job search to the next level. He touts a sandwich board on his person that states “Almost Homeless”. His methods have been described as “depression-era”, and it’s gotten him attention. An interview with him states that he’s gone through the traditional job hunting routes, and that he’s still waiting for results. Hope we get an update soon! Here’s his website where we can track his progress.

2. Wear your resume.

Kelly Kinney is serious about wanting to get a job. She’s getting her message across by emblazoning her resume on her t-shirts, as well as on her car window and postcards for potential employers. The good news is that she’s been getting some leads, and has been carefully evaluating them. Here’s what her shirt looks like:

3. Set up a web site and go Web 2.0.

How about launching a web site that is aimed to market your skills and work experiences? If you’ve got skills that you’d like to present via the non-traditional route — especially if you’re in a creative industry (e.g. music, the arts, design etc) — why not set up a web site (or Squidoo lens, MySpace or Facebook pages depending on your orientation) that provides prospective employers a look at your professional background and profile? With such a site, you can maintain a one stop shop for all your work information, and refer to it through other Web 2.0 channels such as Linked In, job boards and social networking avenues.

4. Offer a finder’s fee!

There’s this guy named Michael Checkoway whose background is in public relations and event management, who’s on the job hunt. And he’s using his expertise to try to get employment by offering a free travel package or cash as a finder’s fee for anyone who can hook him up with a job — and his giveaways are calibrated according to the size of the salary he gets. Great gimmick! It worked for him.

5. If all else fails, go to Plan B: try changing careers.

Now if your job search isn’t going so well, you can think about other alternatives. Would you consider a whole different career path instead? It pays to have some other interests and skills in areas that may not be related to your current work as it may be a potential backup plan in case your job hunt is stalling. In this particular story, some bankers found their calling as stand up comics! The lesson here is that we don’t have to pigeonhole ourselves into one kind of job or career. By being flexible and giving other opportunities a look, we may actually surprise ourselves and find equal or even greater success at new things.