A few months ago while helping a couple of friends career hunt, I came up with an idea that I feel can help stand leaders out amongst the crowd. It’s called the Idea Sheet and it’s purpose is to help career seekers the chance to showcase their proactive and creative thinking skills.

I’ll be totally upfront that this is still just an idea and I have no proof that it’s worked yet, but I’m hoping one of you curious leaders out there gives it a shot.

The Rationale

The whole concept stemmed from the fact that right now I feel the current hiring system doesn’t currently give people the chance to showcase their ‘future thinking’ skills. The resume does a great job highlighting a person’s past experiences; the interview gives people a chance to showcase who they are in the present and sometimes it touches upon forward thinking; however, all in all there’s no way, I feel, to really gauge how creative and ‘wise’ someone can think about the future.

As an applicant, I feel that if you’re really passionate about working somewhere you should find a way to really promote just how much of an impact you can have on a company/organization, not just from what you’ve done in the past, but also what you can do in the future.

I feel the idea sheet will show how ambitious someone is, and their resume and interview will be a solid foundation to show employers that they are capable of executing it.

This tool is very much like what a business proposal that a company would create to get the business of another company.

The Process

The process is of developing an Idea Sheet is quite simple.

1) Find a company that is in line with you’re passion/interests that you want to work with. Really do your research and see what it’s like to work there and if this move is a step in the direction of what you want your career to be. Even if they are not hiring, I still say give it a shot. Why not right?

2) Think of an idea that can benefit the company. After all your research think of an idea based on your knowledge, skills, and experiences that can have an impact on the company (i.e. impact can be in any form, such as, profits, system improvement, customer engagement, etc… anything that has a potentially high ROI).

3) Use Idea Sheet outline (at bottom of this page) to flesh out the idea in a way that really explains to the company just how much of an impact your idea can have. 

4) Submit the idea sheet. This is where it gets a bit tricky. If you’re applying for a position you can attach it to your resume (same file) and see how it goes, or just apply with your resume as they ask. If you just do your resume, you can then take the Idea Sheet in for your interview, but the catch is you have to get the interview first!
Another alternative is to submit your resume and if you don’t hear back, email the Idea Sheet as a way to get their attention again.
If you are trying to create a position within the company for yourself (yes that is possible, I have friends who have done it… all comes down to how bad you want it) then what I would do is send it along with your resume to someone at the company that can help. Use LinkedIn to find a key decision maker.

5) Be willing to execute the idea. Please don’t make an idea sheet for an idea you’re not willing to execute on. Ideas that don’t see the light of day are just dreams. Ideas only have an impact when they are executed in reality.

*Remember* While this might seem like a lot of work to get a job, it’s not meant to be done by someone who’s shooting darts at 50 companies to land a ‘job’. This is to be done by those serious about finding a career they believe they want and are willing to do the work to get it. Good people rely on chance, great people rely on choice.

FAQ

1) “What if they take my idea and don’t hire me.”

In my opinion, that’s not a company you want to work for anyways. Any entity that steals an idea without giving credit in my mind is out of integrity. All great companies would realize the potential in the way you think and want to at least talk to you about it before making any decisions. At the end of the day, karma will get them.

If say that did happen, and say the company was already developing the idea (so they’re not out of integrity) use it to your advantage. Explain in your next interview how you did this and the idea was so good it was an idea they executed. Remember this tool is to show people how creative and ‘wise’ you are.

Finally to address this point, if anyone takes your idea and doesn’t hire you, you didn’t really lose anything anyways. Ideas are a dime a dozen. If you’re truly passionate about something you won’t run out of ideas. I’ve been posting on my blog pretty much everyday about leadership stuff and am still backlogged in my head with ideas. New ideas will come so don’t sweat it.

2) “What if it doesn’t work?”

You’ll never know until your try. And even then if you try and it doesn’t work, and least you’ve learned something. Remember there is no right or wrong, there’s just creative attempts to get what you want and when you take actions in line you’ll eventually you’ll get to where you’re going. As a mentor of mine said recently, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

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So overall this is a very low risk way to really land that career that you want. The best way to tell if you’re aiming at the right company is that you should be excited to do this process. If it feels like work, you’re probabably not passionate about the work/company you’re trying to get into.

If you do try this out, let me know! I’d love to hear learning/success stories and who knows, maybe it will be something that companies require applicants to do.

If you have any questions/concerns/ways to make this better please comment below!

Below is the outline of the idea sheet. I’ve used 2 random examples that were in line with the people I was helping. Please feel free to apply the concepts to your own idea…

Click here to access full outline of
‘Idea Sheet’