I Made the World’s First Snapchat Cover Letter
Possibilities are endless with Memories, why not job search?
As you’ve most likely heard, Snapchat’s recent update included the much discussed addition of Memories, an archival feature that doubles as a way for users to upload content from their phone’s camera roll onto the platform.
This is a drastic change.
With the newly footloose camera roll, Snapchat‘s floodgates are open for carefully curated, thoughtfully produced material. Companies and brands previously constrained to the same limitations as the rest of us now have the world at their disposal.
But we too are freed of our in-app camera and editing constraints.
Content creators have been gifted with an enormous opportunity to connect with audiences in new, impactful ways. Snapchat has become a vessel for creating, compiling, and distributing all types of media, providing possible direct engagement with its hundred-something million users.
In tangential news: Instagram should be frightened.
So What Did I Do
On the forefront of the Snapchat-content revolution, with the future of new media in sight, what does an unemployed, recent college graduate create?
I made the World’s First Snapchat Cover Letter.
If you’re on your phone, you can check it out by adding me on Snapchat here, searching my username: couuor, or if you’re not a Snapchat user, here. Lots of options, but don’t worry, that’s the end of my self-promotion.
The snap story cover letter, aptly titled “Three Reasons to Hire Me”, is a 72 second compilation of 9 ‘snaps’. It’s simple, general, and expressive. At the end of the day, we’re on Snapchat — it should be fun!
Employing my film school education, I was able to incorporate green screen effects, animated stickers, and non diegetic music; adding an essence of production value while keeping the piece very Snap-esque.
Why Did I Do It
When it comes to job searching, I’ve completed enough generic, online applications and black-box submissions to realize that any differentiation is often an enormous leg-up on the competition.
We’ve all tried the basics: the uniquely-crafted resume template, an emoji in the email subject, an original website. For every attempt that works, hundreds don’t.
So when I heard that Snapchat’s new Memories feature allowed access to the camera roll – and thus, virtually everything imaginable – I knew there was an opportunity to be had. As a fantastic storytelling platform already, Snapchat has a few characteristics that made it particularly well suited for my cover letter experiment.
Why (I Think) it Works
- Video – This is obvious enough: video is a compelling medium. Feeling creatively contained by the traditional written resume and cover letter, I was relieved to be able to visually articulate some of my stronger suits.
- Snap Story – Important distinction: the cover letter is not a video, it’s a Snap Story comprised of videos. And in being so, viewers maintain the ability to click through and navigate the 9 ‘snaps’. This agency over content consumed makes it far less intrusive, and much more likely to be watched.
- Connection – Companies, entrepreneurs, writers — everyone is jumping on the Snapchat train, many willing to connect on the platform, and they’re just a snap away. Even better, the ability to know when snaps are opened alleviates any stress over whether your message may have been ‘lost in the inbox’. Now you can definitively know if you’ve been ignored or not.
In just the few hours since sending the Snap Story, I’ve observed a level of engagement far greater than any other social media platform allows. Only time will tell if we can deem it a ‘success’, but I’m excited to see where it leads!
Endless Possibilities
I’m a proponent of unique job-searching tactics , but “Three Reasons to Hire Me” is really just one small example of the innumerable use-cases created by Memories.
Snapchat, thankfully, is not just becoming a job-searching platform— that would be a devastating development.
Snapchat is becoming a platform for everything.
Between the introduction of Stories in 2013 and Discovery in 2015, Snapchat has long been becoming more and more like television. More accurately, Snapchat consumption has been becoming reminiscent of TV. Upwards of 10 billion videos are being viewed each month, and the majority of those are in-app, user generated material.
Now that content creators have free reign, what users consume can begin to have quality and depth, and can be delivered to them in a direct, engaging manner.
I can’t help but feel we’re at the precipice of a monumental change in Snapchat, and it’s exciting to be a part of it. As we explore the new possibilities, I’m excited to see what we find.
For me, I hope it’s employment.
