Knowing what I do for a living, friends sometimes call me when they see particularly outstanding resumes—good or bad. This week I got a call from a friend who’s a hiring manager at a technology company. He received a resume that was so creative that they decided to interview the candidate immediately.
This candidate had packaged her resume in a box about the size of a cookie container. The front of the box showed her name, an interesting graphic, and her branding statement. On the back was her cover letter. The sides of the box included interesting statements about her previous accomplishments.
Inside the box, the job seeker placed her resume and a bag of candy. She explained in her cover letter that the candy was meant to entertain the employer while they reviewed her resume. Both her resume and her cover letter had the polish of professionally written documents.
The hiring manager absolutely loved receiving this package. He told me that he decided to interview the candidate before he had even looked at her resume! Her inventive but professional marketing told him that she not only possessed the creativity her resume claimed but a good eye for design as well.
Creative resume packaging like this doesn’t work everywhere. It’s important to know your audience and to target your resume appropriately. That being said, if you’re applying for jobs that require creativity, graphic design, or originality of any sort, feel free to switch it up like this. Your resume then does more than just talk about your capabilities—it actually demonstrates them!
An important point to remember when creatively packaging a resume is that the content of your resume still needs to look very professional. The candy box candidate presented a cover letter and resume with personal branding and effective keywords. Nonetheless, it was her interesting approach that got her the phone call she was hoping for.
For a complimentary resume analysis, submit your resume via e-mail to info@greatresumesfast.com. You can view professional resume samples online at http://www.greatresumesfast.com.
