13 Crazy Stunts Job Candidates Are Using To Get Your Attention

You want crazy?

Sit down with your favorite hiring manager and ask him or her about the job candidates they’ve had the pleasure to interview lately.

The job market may be improving, but the competition remains stiff. A great cover letter and strong resume only go so far these days in getting job candidates noticed, according to a recent Careerbuilder survey of 2,300 hiring managers.

Instead, for better or for worse, some of the current crop of job hunters yearn to be indelibly seared into the minds of interviewers.

And that’s where the crazy comes in.

Would You Hire Any Of These?

Some of those candidates are doing whatever it takes to stand out. Here’s the 2016 list of crazy job interviewing tricks, courtesy of Careerbuilder:

1. Had a priest contact the hiring manager and ask for the candidate to be hired.
2. Bought a first class upgrade to sit next to hiring manager on a transatlantic flight.
3. During the month of October, candidate came dressed in a costume for Halloween.
4. Candidate’s wife made homemade lavender soap bars for the hiring manager as a thank you for taking the time to interview the candidate.
5. Sent a pair of embroidered socks with a note saying he would knock the company’s socks off if hired.
6. Asked hiring manager to share an ice cream cone.
7. Showed up in his camp counselor attire with some of the children from the camp he worked for to show his leadership capabilities.
8. Sent a shoe with a flower in it as a thank you after the interview. The note said: “Trying to get my foot in the door.”
9. Mailed hiring manager money in an envelope.
10. Arrived to interview in a white limousine, an hour early, dressed in a three-piece suit. The open position was middle-wage and had a required dress code of khakis, company button-down and black shoes.
11. Candidate kissed hiring manager.
12. Gave hiring manager a book on a subject he knew the manager enjoyed.
13. Wore a tie that had the name of the company he was interviewing with on it.

Then There Are The Truly Bad Ways To Stand Out

There are other ways to stand out, even if the candidate didn’t mean to.

For instance, there’s the tale of the recent college graduate. Ten minutes into the interview his cellphone rang and he looked up apologetically and said “I thought I’d turned it off. Sorry.”

He pulled the phone from his pocket to quiet the ringer. But when he glanced at the screen, his face lit up.

“I’ve been trying to reach this girl! Do you mind if I take this?” he exclaimed.

“No, I don’t mind at all,” the manager replied. “You can take it outside. Just don’t bother coming back in.”

I know that’s a bit harsh, but life’s lessons don’t always come easy, right?

So, tell us about an unusual or crazy encounter you had with a job candidate in the comments box below.