When you’re looking for a new job and you’ve exhausted all the usual methods to find one, what are your options? For the relentless and perhaps more innovative minded amongst us the answer might be to try creative job hunting.
What do I mean by creative job hunting?
Speculative applications
This involves contacting businesses on the off chance they have an unadvertised vacancy. This isn’t as crazy as it might sound. The hidden job market accounts for around 60% of vacancies in the UK according to research.
Approaching a business in this way can show initiative, commitment and a genuine interest in the company which is exactly what a potential employer is looking for.
- Consider the geographic area you would want to work in and narrow your search to which companies offer the kind of work and opportunities you are interested in.
- Once you have a list of businesses of interest do the research. The more you know about the company, their products or services and customers the more likely you are to give a good impression.
- Research doesn’t need to be limited to generic information about the company. If you search for relevant newspaper articles you might uncover information that you could use to sell your skills and knowledge to the employer. For instance, if the employer is expanding in to new markets overseas and you speak relevant languages this would be useful information for when you draft your CV/Resume.
- Tailor your CV/Resume. Don’t spoil all your hard work by sending a generic CV/Resume. Tailor it to the employer and the kind of work you are looking for. For more information on how to go about this take a look at Creating a killer CV/Resume.
- The covering email or letter is crucial in this approach. Within a few sentences you need to grab the employer’s attention. You would need to convince the employer of your interest in working for them and how you would add value. This is where all your research would pay off.
- Find out who would be the best contact person within the company and then consider the best way to send your CV/Resume to that person. Don’t just contact the HR department but take time to identify who the manager is within the department you wish to work. You’ll be more likely to get a response. You could use email. This is the easiest way but also the most common. Your email might end up in their spam folder. Many email spam filters reject emails with attachments if the sender is not known, so while easy this method of delivery is not without risk.
- You might want to go old school and send your CV/Resume with covering letter by post. Although this would not be a bad idea this approach is also not as uncommon as you might think and you risk it being considered junk mail.
- If you want to stand out try to think of ways to deliver your CV/Resume a little differently. You might want to hand write the name and address on the envelope or, if you know anyone who works for the company you could ask if they would hand it to the appropriate person or put it on their desk or you could hand deliver it to reception.
- Be inventive by all means but whatever you decide to do keep it friendly and use your common sense. Don’t stalk the manager or harass staff as they leave or enter the building if you want to stand out for the right reasons.
Informal networking
Consider who you know who might work at the companies you are trying to find employment with. They may well hear about vacancies before they’re advertised or be able to sing your praises to the relevant manager which could pave your way when a vacancy becomes available.
You’d be surprised how well connected you might be. Just mentioning your interest in a type of work or employer could uncover a friend of a friend of a friend who might be useful.
If you haven’t already done so, now would be a good time to set up a LinkedIn account. Here you can profile your experience and make connections with others in your industry and field of work. Most importantly you can make connections with those in senior positions within companies you may be interested in approaching for work. You may find out when vacancies become available and crucially you may be contacted directly by companies if your profile on LinkedIn is interesting enough to draw their attention. 95% of recruiters are on LinkedIn looking for candidates to fill vacancies (Forbes, 2020), so this is not an option to be overlooked.
Social media
Other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram might also be useful. Take care to ensure your profiles on these platforms are either professional or private. Following or sending a friend request to company accounts or those of relevant personnel in those companies would provide you with useful information if vacancies or developments are posted on these platforms. Its not unusual for companies to use these free and widely used platforms to advertise a vacancy.
Attention grabbing antics
While these sort of creative job hunting antics are headline grabbing and not without success I would proceed with caution. Never intimidate or target an individual. A notable example of success using this method is Hader Malik who found work after standing in Canary Wharf tube station in London with CVs and a sign in November 2021.