Unemployment - Help the ATS family!

I know a lot of people will be losing their unemployment very soon. That is until Obama makes it a political issue and starts hammering Republicans to give up another 99 weeks.

In the mean time I thought it might be a good idea for those of us that are employed or were successful in landing a job to share some of the creative ideas on how we were successful?

This is what I did when my work dried up at the end of 2010 (AND, AND) before I ran out of money.

Put money away for gas and filled up my gas tank
Bought 25 USB sticks (Buy in bulk)
Bought Resume Paper
Bought Resume Envelopes
Refined my resume and had a few different people look at it.
Cover letter for each position applied for.
Built a very cool PowerPoint on who I was and why I was the right person for the job (Modify for each job applied for.)

I looked for a job on every job site I could find but I found indeed was the main web site I used. When I found a position I liked I did research on who the decision makers were. I used LinkedIn for this task or called. You would be surprised on how helpful a receptionist is if you are super nice!

Once I found who I thought was the right person, I customized the PowerPoint for that specific job and I included the decision makers name and company name in the PowerPoint and cover letter and explained why I was the only possible person for the job. I put everything into the resume envelope and addressed it to that person.

Then I got my butt in my Jeep and physically drove to the location and dropped it off. I used a total of 10 USB sticks, resumes and resume envelopes before I had 4 interviews and one job offer which I took. I actually got a call the same day I dropped off one of my packages. It took me a total of 3 weeks before I was working again.

I used to be a truck driver but went back to school in 1997 and now I am in IT. Having said that, if you are smart and use some of your limited resources before you are broke, I am confident that no matter what field you are in this may work for you.

Everyone is filling out resumes online or sending via email and decision makers are inundated with those delivery methods. To me that was a light bulb that went off when I first started thinking about my unemployment. You have to make yourself unique and stand out from the rest. Even if you are a "stale candidate", doing something like this may put you in a better position to get that face time you need.

My final point here is, each interview I went on, I was complemented on my unique delivery method so I think it may be a good idea.

I hope this helps!

p.s.
(I used too much animation in my PowerPoint according to the guy that hired me so be careful with that..)

Correct me if I am wrong but you handed out USB sticks with your power point? People accepted these? In your opinion would this work for others outside of the IT industry? We hire people but I would be cautious sticking a unknown USB stick in my computer. I have never heard or thought of such a way.

The ultimate way to reject capitalism is to go around the system.

There are many ways to do it. And its all good as long as you are not hurting anyone.

reply to post by AuntB


In this context, I think there is more danger in launching your browser than viewing the content of a USB drive. I didn't just drop off the USB stick without explanation. It was sent with a cover letter and a resume. The cover letter outlined what was on the USB stick.

I am sure there were those that didn't view the content on the USB drive or even look at my resume but I consider it their loss... 4 out of 10 is not bad though huh?

At any rate, I was successful and I had a job in 3 weeks in one of the worst times of the recession and in South East Michigan no less. My end result was a job so I would say your concerns are unfounded to a large extent but that's just my opinion...

Edit to add: Yes, I firmly believe this would work for any position as long as you outline what is on the USB drive. Your goal is to get a job. If you jack up someones computer in the process, you will not get a call. Or you might, but it may be from the police for criminal activity in spreading a malicious virus.

reply to post by Germanicus


I don't know about rejecting it but leaving politics aside, I was just trying to get a job. You are right though... Creativity breeds innovation and I think above everything else today you have to be more creative than the next person to get a job.

Getting a job today is a job in and of it self!

Originally posted by AuntB
Correct me if I am wrong but you handed out USB sticks with your power point? People accepted these? In your opinion would this work for others outside of the IT industry? We hire people but I would be cautious sticking a unknown USB stick in my computer. I have never heard or thought of such a way.

I won't let my users put unknown USBs on my network -- most of my network I have turned off the USB ports in Group Policy

Originally posted by spyder550

Originally posted by AuntB
Correct me if I am wrong but you handed out USB sticks with your power point? People accepted these? In your opinion would this work for others outside of the IT industry? We hire people but I would be cautious sticking a unknown USB stick in my computer. I have never heard or thought of such a way.

I won't let my users put unknown USBs on my network -- most of my network I have turned off the USB ports in Group Policy

I don't know how big your office is but I would have a revolt on my hands if I did that. I use other tools to protect my network and I have never had a major breach of security. I have a nice firebox for perimeter security and I run AVG at the desktop along with Group Policy. Today, you have users wanting to use their own devices like smart phones and IPads and they want to connect them to the network. How do you deal with that? You may deny that today but you have to evolve and CEO's are pushing this.

The point here is, if you have a hiring manager that wants to see the content they are going to see it regardless of how much perceived control the IT person has, even if that means you are going to review the content before they launch it.

Anyway, the idea of this tread was to try to offer advice and creativity in a job search. Either my approach was very unique and creative or I am just too good for an employer to pass up. I would like to think its the latter but I think it was a combination of my creativity in the tools I used for my job search and my superior network skills that landed me my job.

I can't really offer any ideas about applying for a new job. I can, however, help folks with their resume (mine always got a lot of compliments). I know this is scary for some so feel free to use aliases for yourself and your previous work experience. You can always change those details back later.

Or I can give you a generic template for resumes, that way I don't see any personal info.

School is out for the summer in two weeks, please don't hesitate to contact me if I can help.