Social media is really changing how people apply for jobs, especially in the ad world. Rather than a standard cover letter, resume and portfolio, people are building websites, starting twitter campaigns and even posting youtube cover letters. Here are two recent examples of people trying to get jobs at Crispin Porter + Bogusky:

1) Last month, Chris Kahle (http://twitter.com/chriskahle) launched his own twitter campaign. He offered to pay $1 to charity for the first 200 people who tweeted Alex Bogusky urging him to hire Kahle. The tweet also included a link to his site where he had a message to CP+B. It was clever and yup, he got the job. (Here’s a link to his site, but it looks like it’s down right now: http://thisischriskahle.com/projects/cpbtweet/)

2) The latest is a YouTube cover letter to CP+G from two soon-to-be Miami Ad School grads. This effort is having its own viral effect as people are now tweeting the video or blogging about it (like me). This was just posted on June 4^th so it remains to be seen if they’ll get the job, but I’m sure they’ll get noticed. Check it out here.

So, what do you think about these new fangled ways to get a job? Is it just a clever way to get noticed during these tough times? Do we risk spamming and annoying potential employers? I think it’s clever for now and is a great way to get noticed. The first ones have the most to gain. As someone who also hires, I think it can get old as more and more people take these approaches. Sure, I’ll be entertained by the first few. But, after several people try to reach me this way many times… I’m likely to start tuning it out. What do you think?