41 Of The Smartest And Sneakiest Things You Can Do At Interviews To Land A Job

When I'm looking at non-profits, I go on LinkedIn and find board members. I message them directly, explaining that I'm interested in the org, but looking for a perspective from someone truly dedicated to the mission. Twice that has turned into a referral to the org from a major donor, securing the position without even submitting a resume.

I got turned down by form email for an interview during a consulting company’s recruiting visit on my campus.
Which was fair as I wasn’t qualified—but my brother had interned for them and I knew I could do it.
I told them they were wrong, and I’d be there outside their little reserved student center offices while they did their interviews if they had any gaps.
I guess they did, because they talked to me and I was one of two people hired that semester.
Wild to think how arrogant that was!

It's not the most unhinged thing but it could be weird. I find out who I'm interviewing with, Google them, taking notes on what I find - work accomplishments, hobbies, and interests. Then I weave all this info as casually as possible in to the interview, like we're old friends. This is my best strategy and if I can get an interview it works pretty well, especially to keep them as a contact for later.
Being Neurodivergent, networking has always been the hardest part so I needed these strategies.

My husband told them he didn’t really want the job 😂 he was being honest (neurodivergent) but they interpreted it and his laid back attitude (because he didn’t care if he didn’t get it) as confidence. They made him an offer of a 12 month contract and he turned it down, glad to have the excuse that he didn’t want a contract. So they offered him perm as a new hire (they -never- do that) and more money. 15 years later he’s still running rings around them.

I was 16-17 and wanted to work at the drive in movie theater for the summer, found out the owners had a granddaughter, and she was my age, I shot my shot and then mentioned I wanted to work there, had the job immediately.

not unhinged, but perhaps unorthodox. After many attempts to land a job in a field where I had no experience, I finally asked one interviewer, "why would you hire me? what would be the advantage of hiring an inexperienced but capable person?" I did get that job

The most unhinged thing I did was for the second job I ever got. Friend working there told me they always do interviews in alphabetical order from their selection, so I sent in a whole bunch of fake applications close to my name spelling. They called a handful in along with me...

Put at the bottom of my CV "2 truths and a lie. World record holder, can cook minute rice in 59 seconds, as many tour de France wins as Lance Armstrong. Interview me to find out more"

I walked in to the mall on Halloween in my costume to help a friend find a job. I had no resume and looked like chuckles bride. We went to 10 stores and I chopped it up with the managers having casual conversation. 5/10 store offered MES interviews AND I WASNT EVEN LOOKING

Not totally unhinged, but feels illegal: Copy and paste the job responsibilities from the job description to your resume, under previous roles, where applicable. Do the same thing with your professional skills. I’ve gotten quite a few interviews this way, and learned mostly everything I needed on the job.

Not for getting an interview, but at the interview (for a clothing retailer when I was in college): the interviewer asked why she should hire me.
For some reason my anxious brain replied with: because I’m the best you’ll ever get and I look good on a regular basis.
I got the job. To be 19 again….

I walked into a tech interview a decade or so ago and immediately brought up a news story about the company's merger. We talked about that and nothing else. Not only did I get hired, he donated a week of his vacation time because my kid was born a month after I started lol

I went on LinkedIn, found someone who worked in the role I wanted to apply for, asked them if they enjoy it and said I'm thinking of applying and asked for a referral. It was a win-win because they received a referral bonus. Scored the job offer with just that one application and happily working there now.

First week dating my now husband he was on his first week at a new job. He didn't actually apply, he just showed up & started working. On payday I couldn't wait for him to get home to see what happened. He said the owner asked who hired him when he handed him his check...

i would find the hiring manager, add them on linkedin with a personalized message, found their work email and emailed them, and just kept emailing them every week until i either got an interview or they tell me to buzz off. never got an email telling me to stop, i only got interviews. also liked and commented their posts on linked in, so they would keep seeing my name everywhere. if my plan didnt work i was gonna escalate it lol to calling them, and going in person

I LinkedIn cold DMd 40 directors of product from eBay and told them why something extremely specific sucked (buying books). A few replied but one got back to me and scheduled a meeting with her and 5 of her PMs in that 30 min meeting - I just cooked them like they were strangers. Then offered to help fix it if they wanted. I skipped the first 2 interviews and went straight to the onsite (did not get it though)

I called a job every single day until they hired me. It worked. Worst job i ever worked lmao

I was going for an office job when I never had one. I told them I used to work at a bank and have them a number to my friend, who I told them was the manager. They actually called and answered all like "yeah dude he used to work here. He's the best. A real bright young man. I wanna marry my daughter off to him, I love that guy so much." Then he went on about me being a legend and whatever. They knew it was nonsense but they liked the initiative I took, so I got the job

My key was immediacy. When am I available to start work? IMMEDIATELY. First job, I asked for an application from the boss. She gave me a job app, so I stayed there n Filled it out, handed it in. Then I asked to start immediately. My mom left and picked me up after. Hustlah!

Honestly, I ended up with 3-5 interviews per week just by applying to jobs between 1-5 am. I focused on postings that were posted within 1 week and I would get a call or email for an interview with 1-2 days. I also had a recruiter fine tune my resume.
Also, take advantage of recruiting agencies. They not only advocate for you but they also have relationships with multiple hiring managers. Sometimes they hear about roles that never get posted. That’s how I ended up in my current role