Even though the United States is going through a labor shortage, high-profile jobs are still tough as ever to get. In a world where hundreds of applicants send in their resumes for the same job, it can be hard to stand out.
Karly Pavlinac Blackburn of Wilmington, North Carolina, was lamenting that the jobs she wanted were too competitive when a colleague suggested the 27-year-old do something dramatic to get her name out there.
“I was actually talking to my former colleague about getting in front of employers—and he was like, ‘Well, Karly you need to do better … show up in a creative way … what about a resume on a cake?‘” she told Good Morning America.
So Blackburn did just that.
Blackburn dreamed of getting a job at Nike’s new business incubator, Valiant Labs in Beaverton, Oregon. So she decided she’d get a cake with her resume printed on top and send it to the person who makes hiring decisions. She picked the perfect day to send the cake, September 8, 2022, or as they call it in Beaverton, Just Do It Day.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy. She couldn’t just drive over to a bakery, pick up a cake and deliver it to Nike 3,000 miles away.
\u201cKarly Pavlinac Blackburn, the #PoolePack alumna who recently sent her resume to @Nike on a cake, was a part of the Andrews Launch Accelerator a few years ago. \ud83c\udf82 \n\nRead her story. \u27a1\ufe0f https://t.co/g2Mjmq1Ht9 @NCStateAlumni\u201d— NC State Poole College of Management (@NC State Poole College of Management)
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She ordered the cake ahead of time at an Albertson’s grocery store near the Nike campus and contacted Instacart to make the delivery. Luckily for Blackburn, the delivery driver was Denise Baldwin, a single mother of three, who goes the extra mile for her customers.
“That’s just how I do my Instacart. Like every order I take, I take it as if I was putting groceries in my home or taking stuff to my spot or a family member that needs help,” Baldwin told Today. “I take every order into consideration and make sure I do my best with every order.”
With the delicate sheet cake in one hand and her 8-month-old son in the other, Baldwin traversed the 300-acre Nike campus and wouldn’t stop until she found her person. “I knew navigating Nike’s large campus was a feat, but combining a giant party with tons of people on top of that adds another layer of complexity to this delivery,” Blackburn wrote on LinkedIn.
Even though security asked Baldwin to leave the cake at the front desk, she was firm that she had to hand deliver it to the correct person. With the help of security, she was able to do just that.
Baldwin was inspired by Blackburn’s dedication to furthering herself.
“You have inspired me,” Baldwin told Blackburn. “This was meant to be. I am a mom and I am tired of doing Instacart. I know I have more abilities and qualifications to get something better. I’m so glad this worked for the both of us.”
Blackburn posted about the cake delivery on LinkedIn where it went viral, receiving over 132,000 likes. Even though she didn’t get a job at Nike, her resume got her a lot of attention from potential employers.
On Monday, January 30, Blackburn will start a new job at CureMint.
“I will be the director of growth marketing at a software startup called CureMint—we make software that helps dental companies automate their business,” she told Good Morning America. “To be on the other side of the job hunt feels good. It has definitely been a roller coaster with the virality of the LinkedIn post.”
Blackburn hopes that her unique way of approaching her job search inspires others to find imaginative ways to get themselves noticed.
“Don’t be afraid to do something out of the box and never give up on what you really want,” she told Good Morning America. “Because it will happen, you just have to keep going.”
Source: https://www.upworthy.com/woman-who-sent-nike-resume-cake-lands-job