On this first day of April, 2016, I applied for a job in a manner consistent with my authentic self and completely appropriate for a day that celebrates The Trickster. In other words, I had fun. It is doubtful that anything will come of this application. But it might quite possibly entertain someone in a cubicle somewhere - someone needing a bit of fresh air.
The job market is insanely saturated with people looking for gainful employment. I honestly do not know how one expects to get noticed amidst the barrage of electronic submissions. In the past, I have agonized and strategized to no avail. So I have come to the realization that I need not invest more time and energy into an application than a potential employer invests in looking at one. This seems only fair.
Here is my simplified process for creating a job application:
1) Create a blogger or wordpress site with links to all sites that indicate the breadth of your knowledge and experience. If you do not have sites representing the breadth of your knowledge and experience, then clearly you must develop some. Good luck.
2) In your resume, type only two sentences: "(Your Name) requests you look at this web site: (insert the link to the web site which lists links to all other web sites)." End with "Resulting questions will happily be entertained." Use your own verbiage to make it fresh and authentic.
3) In your cover letter, type the bare minimum of information: your name, what you can do (in one sentence), and your hope to meet someone from the company for a chat.
4) Dress these up with any homemade graphics.
There you have it. No fuss, no muss.
Applying for jobs need not be such an all-consuming and grief-filled process. The more you can streamline it, the more time and energy you will have to apply for even more jobs! And in today's economy, the more times you can circulate your name into the magical cloud of data that is the internet, the better.
Poisson d'Avril!
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