You're unstoppable! Because only you would click here without having any idea what you're going to get! I love your spirit of curiosity and sense of adventure. But on the real...if you're ever on a game show and they offer you $100,000 cash orrr "the contents of this mystery box," take the freakin' money! You can thank me later.

 

Now, here's your surprise story.

 

I have a long history as a job seeker of trying (ahem) "atypical" tactics to get in front of employers. In a future blog post, I'll share a story about something I tried during my college years. Spoiler alert: I went to college way back in the 1900s, so that story doesn't involve smartphones or social media. 

 

Today's story, however, does involve video. When I was conducting my last job search (circa 2017), I had the bright idea that the best way for me to grab employers' attention was to make an application video! My rationale was I stood a better chance of persuading a total stranger to spend a couple minutes watching a video than reading a resume. And yet I'm now writing a blog??? Anyway....I scrapped my PDF resume, used iMovie to crank out a video application, and started emailing the link directly to hiring managers. 

 

So what happened? Really, not much. I only sent the video to about 10 employers before I pulled the plug on my job search and went full steam ahead on my corporate training business. What I can tell you is that every employer who actually watched the video (I set it up so I could tell when they viewed) did contact me. So maybe I was onto something with this idea. 🤔

 

Without further delay, here is the director's cut (that always sounds more cinematic) of my video job application!