Situation. Applying to marketing companies has become a personal challenge, always attempting to outperform my previous crazy job applications. Positions in NYC are extremely competitive and I would now guess a majority of the positions are mostly filled from within the industry before they’re posted – being posted more as a matter of requirement. I’m up to the challenge.
Task. Dream up the most powerful experiential application possible, immersing the hiring manager and demanding their attention. The experience should clearly convey my personal and professional tenacity. The application would be sent to another dream company - BBDO, an amazing industry-leading firm in NYC.
Action. Design an Experiential Job Application on an iPad. I decided to make use of my old, almost obsolete 1st generation iPad (trust me, it really is obsolete and only worth $50). The hardware would be my personal ambassador marching within the walls of BBDO. The “Andrew Carson Experience” iPad is armed with an orientation video, resume, music video resume, clips of me answering interview questions, writing samples, recommendation cards (see below), my own social media content, my own marketing blog posts and much more. The box was also redesigned to fit “The Andrew Carson Experience,” equipped with pictures, instructions, headphones and candy. The entire experience is meant to blow someone’s socks off and make them immediately familiar with me and my professional work. Success?
Recommendation Card
Orientation Video
Result. I sent the application by courier on August 11. Being completely honest, I have not yet heard back. I have now called contacts, left messages and emailed multiple people in BBDO and have not heard a peep. I know – anti-climactic.
Lessons. Although this is extremely frustrating, I am personally satisfied with my own work and I have learned a lot designing this experience (no but really, I’ve learned quite a bit - look at this thing!). Perhaps next time I should do more research on the individuals to whom I send my apps and target them better. I hope this serves as a lesson for you, my reader, for any unfulfilled project you personally undertake. At the end of the day the only things you are left with are drive and tenacity (sans iPad), which are infinitely patient and always win the long game. I’m most certainly not done yet, so on to a better application...ideas?