This post is meant to stress the importance of being a non-conformist when searching for jobs. Not only a non conformist, but those that are willing to be progressive; willing to put themselves out on the line to set themselves apart from the cookie cutter molds typically seen in society and by employers.
A best friend of mine Joseph Vincent Wagner, Joey Pots and Pans, or Jose Wagnarly, has recently applied for upwards of 40 jobs. Of these 40 jobs he has not gotten any responses or feedback from any of the potential employers.
He came across an offer on craigslist that read:
“Entry Level Sales and Marketing - Ninjas Only!!! (San Jose)”
He decides to send his resume to the company along with the photo I took of him on our ninja photo adventure in the redwoods. Within a couple hours he gets a response from the company, lands an interview, goes in the next day and nails it. He is now set to shadow an employee and do a final interview on Monday, putting him in a position to work in an up and coming advertising agency earning a very good salary with benefits.
They thoroughly enjoyed his sense of humour and out of the box thinking, not being afraid to throw something like that out there. When applying for jobs…your resume is lost in a stack of hundreds, sometimes even thousands, so before you send it think about a way to make yours really stick out. Not to mention his major is criminal justice bringing me on to another point, where if you have the skills and right attitude a company is looking for, they don’t care what your major is.
I mean I send them ‘Tots and Motts,’ so my future employers are prepared to sign up for extra insurance to cover the special kid that could be working for them one day. So good luck Wagnarly, who would have thought 20 dollar ninja swords could be such a good investment.
