31 Of The Most Hilarious And Bizarre Ways People Have Tried To Get Hired For A Job

It might seem shocking that people are trying such unhinged things to try and get a job, but it does make one wonder if such hacks actually work. To learn a bit more about this, Bored Panda reached out to Peter Duris, who is the CEO and co-founder of Kickresume, for his insights.

Peter explained that “sometimes a stunt can pay off—there are some great stories about strange things candidates have done in order to either advertise their job hunt, or attract the attention of a specific company. Paying for a Google advert or even for an entire billboard to advertise yourself as a candidate is a bold tactic that quite a lot of people have tried.”

“Marketer Alec Brownstein made the news years ago by taking out online ads that would show up when creative directors at top agencies googled their own names. These kinds of stunts show that you have imagination and a sense of humour, which can make you stand out from the crowd.”

He added that “sometimes these tricks can miss the mark. For instance, candidates who go too far to get in touch with hiring managers at their dream company can make them feel uncomfortable by contacting them outside of work. Even if you try to get in touch with them sensitively, it still might make them feel as if you’re trying to dodge the company’s normal hiring processes.”

One of the reasons why people have to go through crazy lengths to get hired is that the job market is saturated with too many applicants. Peter explained that “the job market is a very competitive place and people feel like they have to stand out, especially if they’ve already been searching for a long time and have not had any luck securing a role.” 

“I think candidates can get frustrated if they feel like they’re doing everything right, and still not getting anywhere. So this can lead to people thinking, ‘Let’s try something different.’ Searching for a job can also feel very impersonal sometimes. People might feel driven to try these stunts in an effort to bring more of their personality into their job hunt, showing off their creativity.”

“You probably do see more of these types of stunts in the creative industries, because people are trying to demonstrate that they have the imagination and creativity to succeed in this field. Many of the most famous stories in the news about these tricks to impress the hiring team are about people trying to break into this sector,” he shared.

Being a job applicant in today’s market means having to jump through a lot of hoops during the application process. If a person is applying to more than one company, they have to fill in forms that always tend to have a lot of questions. It can become tiresome to copy-paste answers or keep having to share samples of one’s work.

Experts state that a candidate should make themselves stand out by sometimes spending 15 minutes extra on what they are sharing with the hiring manager. By doing this, they are showing the interviewer that they put in a bit more effort and that they give importance to the quality of work they are doing.

As you can probably tell from this list, folks have gone to extreme lengths just to try and stand out to the hiring manager. To help candidates on this journey, experts share that it’s important to apply to at least 200 positions. This will help put out more feelers and make it more of a possibility to get hired in companies they actually like.

One mistake that people often make during the process is to only apply through job portals and not do any cold outreach. Networking and directly reaching out to the recruiting team or company head can help people bypass the screening process and stand out. Although there might still be rejections, these are a few ways to make the job application process easier.

A difficult fact that all people applying for jobs need to come to terms with is that they’ll end up facing rejection. Getting that email from the hiring company can be absolutely gut-wrenching because it means that some time and effort has been wasted. It can also be tough for people who need the work in order to manage their household.

A good way to deal with these negative feelings is to remind yourself that you’ve dealt with uncertain times like this before and come through them. Rather than dwell on the tough moments, it’s important to keep applying and reframe each rejection as a stepping stone to the job of your dreams.

Hopefully, all of these crazy tricks that folks have used to try and get hired inspire you to come up with your own creative hacks. Even if they don’t always work out, one might suddenly hit the mark and get you the job that you want. So, until then, don’t lose hope and keep applying.

We’d love to hear if you’ve ever done anything unhinged to try and get a job. Share your stories in the comments.