unforum

[Yxkull]

Rabbit holes and job applications

[notgordian]

What you're describing is possible, but extremely difficult--realize that most recruiters are hard-pressed sorting through stacks of resumes and don't spend enough time looking at them to catch many codes and ciphers--and there's a good chance they'd just brush it off as a mistype, which would HURT your chances.

Having said that, this story from Red5 Entertainment's recruiting drive might help give you inspiration. http://www.red5studios.com/about/goldenticket -- it's coming from the other end of recruiting, but it showcases the concept you seem to be aiming for fairly well. It's a good idea...you just need to be very careful doing it. Apply the marketing tricks you'd be expected to use for the job: know your audience, craft a slick, professional looking product, and let the medium speak for you as much as the message.

EDITED for your viewing pleasure, here's an example of what NOT to do. The Aleksey Vayner Saga. (Actually, for creative positions, even THAT might work)

[catherwood-offline]

1) Most recruiters are not the people doing the hiring -- if a recruiter doesn't understand your resume/CV, they might not ever pass it along to the hiring manager (who also may or may not catch your cleverness)

2) Get your foot in the door first (with classic techniques), and THEN show them how clever you are. The job I have now involves internet research. During the interview, I explained to them about ARGs and how we do domain research and web traces to identify "in-game" websites. You could put this sort of thing on your resume/CV under hobbies and interests.

2b) At this same interview, I was sitting alone in an office between seeing people, and I had brought along some puzzles to bide my time. Later the hiring manager told me that he had seen me working on puzzles and that sold him! The job entails "creative problem solving", and I had been carrying the Google U.S. Puzzle Championship practice test with me. That would be another type of hobby/interest to add to a resume/CV if you have any affiliation with puzzle solving teams.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

A very slippery slope, indeed. IF I were to try something like that, I'd be sure the primary content were left "undamaged" so your chances of looking unprofessional are minimized. The added content would be a bonus and should be relatively easy to "find".

If you're comfortable with giving them an obviously non-informative letter that is sure to make them say, "Where's the rest?" and make them instinctively turn the document over and look closer, it could work, but the secret content would have to be really obvious. So obvious, it may negate the whole idea because it'll look amateurish.

Something like

Who I am
What I've done
What I can do for you
...............................................................
My education
Years of employment
W...
E...
B...
S...
I...
T...
E...
.........................................................................
Conscientious
Organized
Many happy returns

Pretty bad samples, but you get the idea.

[konamouse]

I don't think you need a rabbithole. Most recruiters and Human Resource folks are googling job applicants all the time. Even those of us comfortable with ARGs often miss them. And then we start looking for them where they don't exist even.

If you have a website, make sure it represents yourself professionally. If you have any potentially damaging comments associated with your real name, remove all traces. Many folks have lost job offers when the HR people have found their MySpaces and personal blogs.

Don't try to get clever in your cover letter. It's going to get thrown away. Unless you are trying for a job in an advertising agency that is familiar enough with ARGs to look for the rabbithole, it is not going to work.

Just my 2 cents.