Recently, we featured creative “application-sites” that helped candidates land jobs with 37signals. Now we’re curious to hear about folks who have used this approach elsewhere: Have you landed a job somewhere by creating a specific site (or know someone else who did)? Are you a company that solicits or hires off sites like these? Any other unorthodox job seeking stories (i.e. not the same ol’ same ol’ resumé/cover letter drill) that paid off? Tell us about it in the comments.
Anonymous Coward
on 04 Jan 11This seems to be domain specific to only design & architectural jobs related jobs.
ML
on 04 Jan 11AC, three of the four sites in our orig post were for programming/support jobs, not design. No reason why this approach can’t work for other areas too.
Chris
on 04 Jan 11Being in advertising and married to a designer, I’ve seen lot’s of fun approaches in the creative industry and always wondered why people with other skill-sets don’t try such a unique approach.
Going through applicant resumes is one of the most mind-numbing tasks you can imagine, contrary to popular belief they are actually read by humans.
I’d take an interesting layout, or hell, even some color on the resume just to break the monotony – a completely fresh approach would definitely capture my attention.
It’s funny, in a culture that places innovation in such high esteem, the process of applying for jobs is so boringly predictable.
Zach Holmquist
on 04 Jan 11While I have never used a “creative” application for myself – the company I work for : Neutron Interactive required it for Front End Developers.
We were getting so many applications and it was difficult to tell if the applicant did the work on their own or if they did a single line at an agency. A talk with the CEO we wondered if there was a way to have people submit a URL and if we were interested we’d ask them to apply.
The end result can be seen here: http://neutroninteractive.com/front-end-team/ – the responses to it were fantastic! Individuals would respond with some of the most creative work and pulling out all the stops. Some people complained – but why would we hire that person? Easy way to widdle the candidates down.
I think this method let applicants know it is okay to be creative and we set a bar high on what we were looking for. It was so much fun to see all the responses and we couldn’t be happier with the applicants we hired from this method!
Aaron
on 04 Jan 11I was applying for a programming job at a company that used Python extensively. I had no Python code I could show off publicly so I decided to create a Tetris clone 3 days before my interview. It was rough and buggy (I only had evenings to work on it), but it worked well enough to impress and got me the job.
Anonymous Coward
on 04 Jan 11@37signals
Holy cow, the purple self promotion advertisements above the comments for Job Board, Sortfolio & 37signals has become a bit much hasn’t it.
2 rows max was okay, now 3 rows is way too much.
Brandon Tilley
on 04 Jan 11@Zach
That is quite interesting! It’s refreshing to hear that companies are into this—I think it’s easy for applicants to be afraid to do something creative or different in case it sends the “wrong vibe.”
Dave Bloom
on 04 Jan 11It’s great, because it allows you to show what you know (and say, clearly, what you may forget to stress in an interview) to your prospective employers. I highly doubt that many hungry employers would be able to resist navigating a well-designed page if a link were provided. Nor would they resist watching a two-minute ‘About Me’ video if it meant they could skip the stack of paper lying on their desk.
Plus, what better way to demonstrate what you know by putting up a site that teaches the discipline or applies it to a special context?
For example, I’m mapping my own UX site that shows how I found UX Design through DJing, and how to apply a semantic Information Architecture to music.
If I give enough of a crap to go through an entire design process, with documentation, for free and on my own time, I think that gets a strong, passionate message across. That message is – “I am a nerd.”
Wait, I mean “I like this stuff enough that I’ll get really good at it, and create value for your organization. Hire me and clear your desk of the other applications.”
I appreciate 37sigs for turning me on to this approach, though reading their ReWork book makes my meetings that much more unbearable.
Holla,
Bloom
architectderek
on 04 Jan 11Back in 2003, when the architecture job market was in a slide, I made a creative booklet resume and mailed it (old school I know) to my favorite firms. I think this approach could easily be applied to a website.
In 2006 I started my own architecture firm and decided it was time to share my resume concept in the form of a creative resume guide and the actual resume I made back in 2003
My resume was for architecture positions, but I think it can apply to any creative industry.
Ricky Salsberry
on 04 Jan 11I created a site specifically for a studio in Chicago, which got me an initial interview where I didn’t get the job, then someone else at the same place saw it, called me in, and it helped get me the job.
The site was basically my cover letter tailored to the company, 5 pieces of work, and my contact info.
It was for an interactive position, so it made sense to make a microsite.
Also, for the interview that went well, I showed my work in a Keynote, so the digital work is shown in its environment, instead of printing a website.
I think the microsite idea is a great way to go to help chase down “that job” you really want.
Jeremy Crapsey
on 04 Jan 11I applied for a web job a few years back. The guy was taking forever with my application. After about the 3rd week I got some inside information on what e-commerce frameworks they were using. I spent a few days learning all about it and creating a dummy e-commerce site called “Jeremy’s Cookies”. I was hired the day after I sent them the URL.
Dragan Babić
on 04 Jan 11We recently pushed a job ad through our company Twitter account, company blog and my personal blog, and we had one guy make a job aplication site, you can see it at http://hocudaradimzasuperaweso.me/ (which in Serbian means “I want to work for Superawesome”.
He didn’t get the job though, but we remained in contact with each other.
roto
on 04 Jan 11I landed my first job this way back in 1998. It was choc full of animated gifs and extra large title text. I ended up managing a dev team and had a blast during 11 months with the company.
Tim
on 04 Jan 11A few months back, I wrote a few pages for specific product manager position. Nothing fantastic but not too bad (IMHO): what I do, why I’d be good there, a couple of proof-of-concepts using their service, some ideas of where they could improve and my contact info+resume. Not perfect but I was hoping it would make me stand out and show that I was willing to spend time specifically for them.
Result: according to Google Analytics, nobody even looked at said-page. I had dropped by the office to introduce myself to the right person before sending the email, in the hope of increasing my chances, but the link was just never clicked apparently.
So, yeah… the difficult thing with applications like these is that they require a lot of time to make (which is why they’re supposed to stand out), but this experience will make me think about if it’s worth it.
So, I’d be interested in seeing what the accompanying email looked like because mine obviously didn’t do much.
Bright side: I now have a template for specific-looking applications :)
Evy Wilkins
on 04 Jan 11We provide a free online resume website for professionals and we get feedback from our users about how DoYouBuzz.com has helped them land jobs. This guy actually did an internship with us and went on to land his first job out of college via Twitter and his online resume. http://www.francois-hugede.com/. Other folks have had luck including a chef and an executive assistant… proving that creative, web-based initiatives are not just for the design/programmer world!
Michael
on 04 Jan 11I once tried using old-fashioned flattery to get my foot in the door with a major technology research firm.
A little background study revealed that their principal had just published a book about industry trends under her own name. I was able to locate her email address and sent her a glowing fan letter. I enclosed writing samples under the guise of sharing my own ideas inspired by her book.
I imagined she’d see what I could do, think to herself, “Why isn’t this guy working for us?” and mention it to some VP who would contact me.
As we exchanged a handful of emails, I resisted the urge to ask for a job outright, instead speaking admiringly about her firm and their work.
My ploy backfired: she ended up enlisting me to pen a flattering Amazon review of the book, but never reciprocated with a job offer as I had hoped. Possibly I overdid the flattery. I guess it’s hard to envision a groupie as a colleague.
Anyway, the whole experience was a lot more fun than customizing a resume and cover letter.
Tony Ramirez
on 04 Jan 11This site didn’t work for a TOMS (shoe company) retail marketing internship.
Not sure why, I thought I was a lock!
TOMSneedsTony.com
Dylan Hafertepen
on 04 Jan 11I tried a couple “out of the box” methods for an interface design position at AirBNB.
A tailored resume-folio page: http://www.studiomoh.com/airbnb/ And then I took out google ads for the names of everyone that worked there, so that searching for themselves would reveal an ad for my resumescott
on 04 Jan 11This is interesting. I’m currently working on a new site and while it’s something I’ve wanted to build for a while and I believe will be a sustainable resource for entreprenures, I’m not building to be a business, but to enhance my profile online and hopefully, help me build a new site. Should be up in about a month.
Luboš Svoboda
on 04 Jan 11I’ve also created my site for application only (actually it was my very first “home page” — after so many years!). It’s on http://svoby.cz — done very quickly after a few hours, sent to only one specific company.
I don’t know, if it helped (maybe not), but after many hard meetings — I’ve got job there ;)
Scott (edit)
on 04 Jan 11Last line of previous comment is suppose to read: “and hopefully, help me land a new job.” My bad
Sacha
on 04 Jan 11I don’t know if that counts, but I ended up working with Hipmunk after writing a blog post about their interface (even though I didn’t really write it with that goal in mind):
http://www.attackofdesign.com/hipmunk-redesign/
I think the best way to get hired is to demonstrate value. Building a cool site can do that, but I think helping out the company you want to work for with a real-world issue is an even better way.
Brad
on 04 Jan 11I applied for a job at a video production company by delivering them a resume and cover letter taped on top of a huge box of plastic toy balls, the kind that you fill up a big pool with for kids to jump in.
I then proceeded in my cover letter to make a bunch of “ball” puns. For instance, “You must think this is a ballsy way to apply for a job” and “Maybe I should have supplied you with a more traditional job application, but I think those are ball-ogna.”
Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
Magaziniker
on 04 Jan 11Our social media recruiting blog: Julie is leaving and searching her successor on http://julie-geht.posterous.com providing between the lines insights into her job and our agency. In geman only, sorry.
Joseph Oliver
on 04 Jan 11I find your writing ability and the way you sell yourself through words has a larger impact than the medium you use (cover letter, website, twitter, smoke signals). Writing in a conversational tone and adding a little light humor seems to attract employers more than sounding like the hard sell (of yourself).
Tailored websites work well because you can express yourself in what you don’t say rather than what you do. Personality shines through design.
Dylan
on 04 Jan 11I made this video for Hubspot and got a lot of attention including a tweet from their CEO.
Here’s my application for 37’s recent customer service job. I didn’t get the job, but Jason did like the video. ;)
Mike Volpe - HubSpot
on 04 Jan 11Dylan’s video is awesome. It did catch the attention of a number of us. The site he linked to seems to be down right now, here is a YouTube link for those of you who want to see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GFdfkFkl2g If you are a marketer and admired what old spice did, you’ll really like the video.
Andy O'Dower
on 04 Jan 11We’re big fans of this approach…we’ve felt the pain on both sides of the hiring fence. So much so:
We built a start-up called Beyond Credentials to offer non-developer college students + grads the ability to create pages just like this (since we’re not all developers or have blogs)...after reading Getting Real, of course. Here’s a sample from a NW student in Chicago:
Susan Xu’s Page
Students have to pay with their grades to become members, then they tell their story, go beyond their resume including writing samples/video/pics/portfolio, promote their personal URL , print business cards just for them. Then they can track their views as they use their link to apply for jobs and network instead of the old school resume. Many companies join our site to view and hire OR request that students send them a link from our site as part of the application process…which is about the coolest way for us to build critical mass.
Here are some more students with great stories to tell:
PM Field’s Page
Cindy Chia’s Page
Would love to hear your opinion of our approach…and if you guys are ever looking for interns, you know where to find us!
Thanks, Andy O’Dower
Maksym
on 04 Jan 11When I was looking for my first software development job right after the graduation I created both a website (www.mostapenko.com) and an interesting looking resume (http://www.mostapenko.com/maksym-resume.pdf).
Different layout and some color on the resume got me a lot of compliments and everyone wanted to hear a story on how I come with this resume, so it is a good ice breaker for the interview.
Also, I found out that using a different layout you can convey more useful information that is actually going to be read. Referencing to the website on the resume is another way to grab more attention from the person, he is very likely to go there and read at least something.
Ram
on 04 Jan 11I just started a blog for this purpose a few weeks ago. There are actually quite a few reasons for the blog:
1. Capture my experiences of learning/practicing Rails
2. Captures tools and motivators I used along the way for future reference
3. Practice/Improve my writing
4. Create a portfolio of Web Apps to present to potential Employers
I don’t find the sit-down interview and resume practical for finding talented individuals. I rather review the work someone has completed as opposed to reviewing a summary of work completed (resume/cv). In cases where someones work cannot be reviewed, even case-studies or credible testimonials are sufficient.
Best of luck in 2011! - Ram
Shawn McBride
on 04 Jan 11I work in hardware but I’ve always kept software as a hobby and built a web application to scratch my own itch. It doesn’t make any money for me, but just the fact that I created it has landed me a nice freelance gig, and I’ve seen employment interest from more than one company. It’s nice to know that, if I were looking for a job, my hobby “resume” could open up and entire industry where my traditional resume wouldn’t even get me in the door.
VP
on 05 Jan 11Working at airbnb I’ve seen a lot of applications. Those who bought space on the side of facebook definitely got a look at as well as Google. That lookout didn’t guarantee an interview, however, it made the applicant stand out. A current designer of ours sent us a mock “new design” of airbnb and got everyone’s attention (everyone stopped what they were doing to gather around the computer screen to look at this “application”. He’s a designer here full time now. Anything out of the box and creative is a great idea.
Steve Benjamins
on 05 Jan 11Inspired by one of the 37 Signals applicants (can’t recall which one), I created a mini-site for a job I was applying for earlier this year (I got the job—in no small part because the organization was really impressed by the mini-site approach).
You can check out the mini-site I created at http://www.ugm.stevebenjamins.com/ (Full disclosure? I think I may have even borrowed some of the copy from the original 37S applicant)
Eric Raslich
on 05 Jan 11What is the procedure for making multiple applications and hosting them on the same domain? Is that not cool to do? I realize in a professional domain it may be mistaken for not “wanting it” enough, but from a student’s perspective right now I’m just throwing my hat in as many rings as I can. Is this anything worth considering or is it a moot point?
Daniel Zarick
on 05 Jan 11Tomorrow I start a new job at Twilio. I initially got the attention of the CEO by using this site (amongst other things): http://daniel.willneverstop.com/twilio
It is potentially worth noting that I submitted this last summer (July 2010, so it is outdated), and I got the job a full two months before finishing college.
Chris Lloyd
on 05 Jan 11I beat out over 800 other candidates for an internship at Opera Software using a creative “application-site”. They accepted a resume in either PDF or HTML format so I wrote a HTML5 and microformat compatible version of my resume using a tool I wrote specifically to compress pages using data-uris. I included screenshots and s of my work and talks. Unfortunately, though, they never read the comments I left in the source code… I also used the same technique to jazz up the coding test they set. The effort was more than worth it: I had a blast and was able to help launch OperaWatir.
Christopher Wright
on 05 Jan 11Jason Zimdar’s application inspired me to do something similar several months ago – it was a success. One application, and it led to an interview followed by a job offer (which I accepted).
I spent about a day or two carefully crafting the site: I made sure my code was clear and well indented, left a comment for them in the source, and used javascript to obfuscate my email address to avoid spambots. The reviewing panel all independently happened to look at the source and got talking amongst themselves about those little touches, and it helped establish that I had good attention to detail.
As a result the interview was much more about seeing if we would get along together, as there was less pressure for me to talk up my skills and desire for the role.
Big thanks to Jason and 37s for sharing that original application, it certainly helped me! :)
karle
on 05 Jan 11Intersting…posted this yesterday, but the post has been removed?
Anyway, http://www.visualcv.com is another site that lets professionals build a custom CV, but with much richer conent.
Deltaplan
on 05 Jan 11I’ve tried something like that a few years ago, but it was at a time when the web wasn’t omnipresent as today (and many companies outside the technology domain didn’t even have any Internet access) , so what I had made was something that looked very much like a website, but sent it to the recruiter as a PDF, doubled with a printed version “just in case”.
The answer I got was quite unexpected. They quickly called me, but not to tell me they wanted to see me, they called me to tell me how badly they had resented my application. They called me pedantic, told me that they considered such an unusual application as a lack of respect for them, that there was no way they would ever consider a candidate seriously if he wasn’t applying with the traditional CV & cover letter (I have to mention that this was a spontaneous application, not an answer to a job offer, so it was not as if they had requested a specific format for the application material).
In other words, they were both shocked, and feeling sorry for me. They thought that it was their moral duty to warn me about my own stupidity, and that they needed to stop me before I was doing the same error with another company.
Of course, I was really disappointed, I had taken so much time to build this custom application (several weeks) because it was something of a “dream company” for me (long before I realized that working shouldn’t be any “dream”...). They had treated me like I was a little child doing something very inappropriate, who had to be both punished and educated to avoid doing it again.
Darren
on 05 Jan 11When I was coming out of my junior year in college, I remember laying out my resume in landscape, 3 columns, and used colored headlines for more contrast. I had an instructor at the time who encouraged us to break the rules, but made us a sheet of paper as the constraint. Thinking back, I think someone pulled off making origami work…
I also reworked a nutrition facts label to express my skill set/proficiencies. Landed my first job wearing a t-shirt that read “will intern for jewelboxes.” Good times.
Brian
on 05 Jan 11So … any thoughts on how to successfully accomplish this if you’re currently employed? That’s a tougher nut to crack and I’d love to hear others’ approach to this.
Ian Lotinsky
on 05 Jan 11The man in charge of our QA team did a clever thing back when we were hiring. He followed us on Twitter, where we eventually announced the deployment of our redesigned site. Upon discovering that new, he poked around the new site as much as he could and sent us a document with all his bug findings. We ended the headhunting immediately and gave him the position.
Gasón
on 05 Jan 11The agency where I work now found me through a comment in Smoking Apples and approached me for an interview.
After some googling I decided that it would be interesting to work for them so when they asked for a CV I made this custom website (in spanish): http://gastongordon.com.ar/devego/
They really liked it and I got the job.
Also they skipped the regular tests for coding on me after looking at the source.
So yes, it works =)
Derek
on 05 Jan 11I remember reading about someone trying to get a job with an ad agency who purchased Google AdWords for the names of the heads of several large agencies. He knew that ad executives are arrogant and occasionally Google themselves, and when they did, an advertisement telling them they should hire him popped up.
His approach worked. He got interviews with several agencies and is now working for one of them. Total cost? $6.
Jeppe
on 05 Jan 11I saw this creative approach – written in the snow. It’s in Danish, but maybe David could translate for you?
Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ9g5bnSq5E
Sadly enough, he didnt get the job ;)
Barney
on 05 Jan 11I’m amazed that nobody has submitted this cracker yet: http://www.barneysvideoresume.com/
Christopher Wright
on 05 Jan 11Brian – is the problem that you don’t want your employer (or anyone else) seeing the application? I just dropped it in a subdirectory of my web site and gave out a direct link to the company I was applying to. I added a robots.txt file to make sure it didn’t get indexed by any of the major search engines, but I think it’s implied that the site shouldn’t be shared with the public without your consent.
byugrad97
on 06 Jan 11I’ve submitted four creative application sites in my marketing career. In retrospect, two were a bit silly and unfocused (one was to 1800flowers – you can imagine). The other two were creative in an understated way and demonstrated how I would add immediate value (in one I built a small-scale version of the company’s product). In both of these latter cases, I got the job. There’s a very fine line between clever and silly but it’s a hard line to find sometimes. Even so, you’ve gotta try!
Peaches
on 06 Jan 11Just be wise and don’t include a picture of yourself as some of the hideous 37s Applicants did. You don’t want to make hr sick before breakfast.
Chris Stegner
on 06 Jan 11A test project really worked to get me placed at a great job.
In teaching myself AJAX as it first hit the scene and new drag and drop techniques, etc. I made a very clean and simple social network called Fo.rtuito.us. Somehow it landed on Techcrunch, then Digg, Del.icio.us (big at the time), Diggnation and then hundreds of blogs…all to my surprise.
Luck looked my way and a social network startup in my area happened across this test project of mine and found that I was local and I had a new job two weeks later.
Vinit Patil
on 07 Jan 11This is an example of a great use of Google adwords.
A candidate in advertising bought google ads for the names of three creative directors he wanted to work for. When they googled themselves (see how vain advertising people are?) they saw a Google ad requesting them to contact him.
He got interviews with all three CDs and took the job at a great agency Droga 5.
Nick Cramer
on 07 Jan 11Last year I applied to Media Arts Lab, the division of Chiat Day that does Apple’s advertising.
Created this page: http://nicolasscott.com/mal/
Got a fantastic response, but alas, not enough TV experience to get the gig.
This is an emerging trend I started to notice earlier this year and actually wrote a manifesto about called CampaignYou. If anyone is interested I’d love to get an early reaction.
This discussion is closed.