How My Creative CV Completely Failed
by ALEKS CURAC SARIC
My last post was about how a nice little hack on my LinkedIn profile got a me a new copywriting gig.
At the end of that article I promised to tell this story. The story how my cool and creative CV completely failed to get me a job or to make any kind of impression.
Be Unique
I used the same title above as I did in the LinkedIn story because it’s the same way of thinking that got me a completely different result.
Everyone who is looking for a creative person to hire is looking for a creative way they applied for the job.
So you should focus on how to stand out in a way that really screams how cool and creative you are. The way I screamed in via origami.
I was applying for a designer position and my idea was this. Print out my CV on special paper and fold that paper using the origami technique into something the person in charge of hiring has an interest in.
So I did a little light stalking (the good kind, if there is a good kind) and found out she really loves dogs. Then I transferred my efforts into teaching myself how to fold an origami dog. As you can see below I even made a box with green and blue paper to symbolise grass and clear blue sky.
Box was also a way to deliver the dog unharmed :)
Suck it
Cute, right? There is no way anyone could just pile it with all of the other CVs, right? Surely I would at least be invited to interview, right? Well, wrong, wronger, the wrongest!
A week later I got an email which basically said: thanks for applying but at the moment we don’t think your skills are good enough for the programming position.
Yup, you read that right — programming position. They were so unimpressed I didn’t even get a personalised rejection email but one of those template ones and for a job I wasn’t even applying for.
Well, what can you do.
Believe in yourself
Yup, that is exactly what you can do! I believed I was a good designer and the origami CV idea was great so I used it again. This time it was for another agency and it was an origami X-Wing (the guy in charge was a Star Wars fan), which took couple of week to learn how to fold in all the right ways, but it worked!
The guy called me to come down for an interview the same day and said that even if I don’t get the job he will pay me to fold him another X-Wing as he had to destroy this one to get to read my CV. He also mentioned that I risked a lot as he is such a huge fan that he almost just left it folded :)
So there you have it.
Also if you must steal my idea then you are not creative enough for whichever position you are applying, sorry.
Cheers,
Aleks
