Matt Bivons knew he had to do something extraordinary to stand out as a job candidate in a tough job market. So he built a Web site.
But it wasn't just any ol' resume site under his own name. Instead, in early June, he launched BSFShouldHire.me, an interactive online campaign targeted at Baltimore-based e-mail marketing firm Blue Sky Factory that showed off more than just his resume and connected visitors to him via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. His efforts earned him a second interview at Blue Sky recently, among a field of more than a dozen applicants.
"It's very easy to say, 'I'm driven, I'm innovative, I'm creative.' You need to show it," said Bivons, 24, a University of Maryland, College Park graduate who quit a job a couple of months ago to commit himself full time to getting a better one. "I definitely can respect the competition in today's environment. I wanted to make a little noise to stand out."
For years, assertive job hunters have been able to cast a wide net using the Internet. But most job sites are now clogged with resumes and applicants, making it difficult for people to separate from the pack.
A tense job market sparked by a national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent and 14.5 million people out of work has many applicants approaching their job hunt more creatively and with more laser-like focus.
"In order to get seen, candidates have to do something a little extraordinary these days," said Tim Namie, who recruits in the information technology sector as a managing director for Manpower Professional in Linthicum. "They have to think outside the box."
That's why Bivons and others are turning to targeted online campaigns to go after their dream jobs.
A rash of "hire me" sites sprouted up across the Web this year as job hunters try to cut through the noise of millions hunting for jobs by directly targeting the employers they want to hire them. Some sites were inspired by TwitterShouldHireme.com, which was launched in March by a 24-year-old California woman who dreamed of working for Twitter, a fast-growing Internet startup. The sites have a Web feel with a personal sales pitch and tabs to click on their resume, recommendations, contact information and their social networking sites.
Cheap and free tools are now readily available for people to start full-blown campaigns that can get them noticed in the job market.
