In honor of the holiday and the fact that everyone is rushing to get out of their offices, I am not going to burden you with heavy career advancement tools or advice today. Your brain needs a break every now and again – and so today, instead of advice, I hope I can give you a giggle.
One of my closest friends shared with me that her sister in college who recently started an exciting new job as a Zamboni driver. She responded to a craigslist ad and her approach – while nontraditional landed her the job...and had my sides splitting. Below is the email my friend's sister sent in reference to the Zamboni position.
_______________________________________________
Subject: Future Zamboni Driver Seeking Self-Actualization
I recently saw your advertisement on Craigslist seeking to fill a position as a Zamboni Driver. I am available on all nights from Friday to Monday after 4:00 pm. I have experience performing maintenance at a hotel and a few additional places. Please contact me if the job is still available. I believe that I was placed on this earth to flatten and smooth ice. My passion for flat surfaces exceeds standard verbal expression, so I have included for you a haiku:
Zambonis all day
Zambonis all night and day
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Simply hilarious! And believe it or not – she's now getting paid to drive a Zamboni. Please friends – DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! Typically being clever and sarcastic is not the best way to make a great impression on an employer. Every workplace culture is different though – and so the traditional, vanilla professional approach may not always be the most fruitful. So, take the funny email and do two things with it.
1) Laugh. It's funny. I don't know about you, but I need to laugh after a stressful few weeks.
2) Learn. I believe we can learn something from everything – even something as outrageous as the above Zamboni correspondence. You need to know how to navigate the professional world but you also need to be prepared for non-traditional employers and know that the hiring process may call for some creativity and ingenuity.
Have you ever gotten hired through creative or non-traditional means? If so – please share! I personally am comforted by the fact that being quirky sometimes pays off!
photo credit: sarkasmo via photopin cc
