New, Creative Ways to Get a Job

Only a few years ago, the Internet was rife with warnings about all the ways that social media use could get you fired. This ranged from the various thoughtless things people posted on Facebook, to the infamous Ketchum/Fedex Twitter disaster, when a Ketchum executive posted a rather unflattering tweet about his client's hometown.

More recently, though, we are seeing how the reverse can be true as well: using online tools and social media can land you a job, especially if you can use them creatively.

A great example that was making the rounds last month was the advertising copywriter who used Google AdWords to land a job. Noticing that no ads popped up when he googled the creative directors he admired, Alec Brownstein purchased ads for these searches; thus, upon googling themselves, the first thing they would see would be a link to Alec's website. Ultimately, Alec got interviews with four of the creative directors, and two offered him a job.



Another example of advertising directly to employers comes from Marian Schembari, who used Facebook ads to land a job in the publishing industry. Initially, she was unable to get interviews, so Marian started taking out ads targeted toward people working at major publishing houses. She was able to get a job within two weeks, and even a year later, colleagues she meets at conferences still remember her as the girl whose ads appeared on their Facebook.

Clearly, both strategies relied on a certain level of originality. But can we use these same strategies, even if we won't be the first to employ them? In part, it depends on the position you want to apply for, but ultimately, it's another potential route to getting a job. In response to the criticism that this approach may no longer be considered innovative, Miriam says, "Would you not write a cover letter just because it’s not “innovative” enough?"

Or, as Alec Brownstein puts it, "The people who you want to work for can’t hire you any less than they already are. So shoot for the moon."