When perusing hiring tips on the internet, I never came across anything that states, "Look for someone who is wearing a t-shirt that says, 'Hire Me, I'm a Programmer'", or anything even close to that.  In Alyson Shontell's recent article on BusinessInsider.com, she explores an apparel company called  Hire Me Tee which will design as many "Hire Me" slogans a job enthusiast could need. They can wear the shirts to promote themselves.  While this will for sure garner attention for the job seeker, do you think this type of personal advertising will genuinely work?

It seems as though over the past several years, job seekers are conjuring up unique ways to stand out from among the crowd, and this definitely is an example of this new trend.  Perhaps a recruiter who is hiring for a Customer Service position will see someone wearing the shirt, but would the hiring manager pursue interaction with the job seeker based on the message on their t-shirt? 

Many other somewhat aggressive job seeker tactics have risen in popularity over the past two years.  Recently, a candidate came by our office immediately after applying for a position on our website to hand us a hard copy of his resume and to speak with us more about the role.  Since I provide recruiting support to OpenView and our portfolio companies, I esteem any extra effort from a candidate who displays their interest in a role, but this type of aggressive behavior asks whoever the job seeker meets to stop what they are doing in order to attend to them.  Without a scheduled meeting in advance, this kind of "drop by" interview attempt can appear rude, even though the job seeker's motives were not.   How do you handle a forward candidate?  How were they received by you and your company's management teams?

Diana Winings Martz is a Recruiting Analyst at OpenView Labs, where she is responsible for recruitment for the firm and its portfolio companies.