January 20, 2020, by Leah Sharpe

Want to get a foot in the door? Send in a shoe.

By Steve McComish, MD at Nottingham PR agency Motive

It’s boom time for Britain’s creative industries with the sector worth more than £100bn and growing at twice the rate of the economy as a whole according to the Government’s own website.  Many graduates of all disciplines, are being attracted to the sector by the promise of rewarding careers and job satisfaction. And there are plenty of opportunities with the number of people employed across the creative sector estimated to be more than 2m in 2019.  

But when it comes to applying for creative opportunities there really is a clue in the name. If you want to stand out it pays to showcase your creative side and not just send in a standard CV.  

The competition is fierce when it comes to breaking in to trainee positions in industries such as videography, music production, video game design, online publishing and their supportive marketing and public relations sectors.  

So it’s those who are willing to do something a little different who are most likely to be invited in for a meeting. The good news is if you’re struggling to think of an original way to introduce yourself to a prospective creative employer you can find plenty of inspiration from the efforts of others.  

At Motive we have seen plenty of great examples over the years of graduates eager to showcase their original thinking. We have had CVs on pizza boxes, postcards and shoeboxes.  

Speaking of shoes we’ve had several arrive from young people eager to get a ‘foot in the door’ each laminated with the candidate’s summary CV.  

Perhaps my own personal favourite was a cardboard chicken and egg, both sent in by the same candidate and posted on the same day because he wanted to see which would come first (it was the chicken).  

I know other agencies have received even more outlandishly creative approaches.  

Another agency owner told of receiving a giant C along with a giant V each adorned with handwritten information about the sender.  

These approaches make it impossible for the employer to ignore the candidate. The objective is to amaze and amuse the recipient. If it makes it on to their Twitter feed then you know they can’t really say no to your request for a placement or interview.  

Not everyone will feel comfortable sending in something totally unique but the very least you should do is take the time to design an eye-catching CV which speaks of your creativity. These should be colourful, well formatted and sent as PDFs rather than word documents.  

If you can present your CV in a unique format then once again you’re making it very difficult for the employer to ignore you. I have received CVs in the form of the perfect playlist, the greatest Grand Prix Circuit and even a Tinder Profile.  

At Motive we receive hundreds of CVs every year but 95% of them are bog-standard black and white word documents. The good news for employment seekers is this makes it very easy for you to stand out.  

Find out more about putting together CVs, cover letters and applications. 

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