A few weeks ago, HRSBT reported on the various résumé blunders HR professionals encounter on a daily basis. When we are bombarded with typos, inaccuracies, and spam, it is refreshing to see a job candidate actually take the time to make sure his or her résumé stands out among the rest (and that he or she used the correct “your/you’re”).
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Case in point: A man from Lithuania recently came to the United States in search of a job. He left his home country and his job as a chief marketing officer at a start-up company in the hopes of making it big in the tech industry in San Francisco, California. Knowing he was up against a lot, the man set out to make sure he got noticed in his quest to find work.
Lukas Yla was determined to find his dream job, but he knew the stakes were high. “I knew that I might be written off just because I didn’t graduate university here, or I don’t have work experience in the United States,” Yla said. Instead of typing up his résumé and sending it to every company he could think of, Yla went the creative route and started his search by visiting the local bakeries.
Once Yla found the best bakery in San Francisco, he set out to find some lunch and settled on a burger that was delivered by Postmates—an on-demand food delivery service. As part of his master plan to get noticed, Yla then designed a T-shirt with the Postmates logo (after three tries, he successfully found a company that would infringe on the trademarked logo and name) and dressed as a donut delivery man. The most genius thing of all: His résumé was taped on the inside lid of the donut box.
When top executives opened the box of donuts, they were greeted with, “Most resumes end up in [the] trash. Mine—in your belly.” Yla hand delivered 40 boxes of donuts across the Bay Area, but did it work? “Most of the time they’re shocked,” Yla said. “They’re like, how did you get into the building?” Yla says out of the 40 deliveries, he was able to land 10 interviews.
As for the Postmates infringement, when Vice President of Strategy for Postmates, Kristin Schaefer, was asked about his use of their logo, she said, “We loved it.” The CEO of Postmates also agreed and reached out to Yla, directly. “[Yla’s] actually getting coffee with him next week, so you know, maybe he’ll even get a job offer from us,” Schaefer said.
What’s the craziest or most unusual, standout résumé you’ve received? Share it in our comments section below, or e-mail us, and it could be featured in the next HRSBT!
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