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Intern “Legos” Herself to Land a Job

We rarely come across any truly creative approaches to the job search process. Most times, the gimmicks come across as way too desperate. However, today we found a winner.
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Intern “Legos” Herself to Land a Job

Today on Reddit, we noticed a post from an extremely creative person (pastlightspeed) trying to land an internship at an advertising firm, and she pulled out all the stops. I would definitely hire her.

I present to you Leah the LEGO GIRL.

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We reached out to Leah for a short Q & A to find out more about her job search, and the viral reaction to her “LEGO strategy”.

How has your internship search been going?

Looking for a job can be a bit frustrating at times. Your schedule and timeline are often different from employers, and sometimes it feels like a numbers game. I’ve applied for dozens of jobs and had a handful of interviews, but sometimes there’s just another candidate that edged you out. I know I’d be a great addition to any team, but I needed a better way to communicate that rather than just sending in a boring resume.

What inspired your lego idea?

I’m Danish, so LEGO is a big part of my childhood and heritage. When one agency prompted me to create an advertisement with me as the product, it just clicked in my head. I spent an afternoon designing the model on LEGO Digital Designer then created the instructions and packaging to go along with it.

Tell me a bit about the response since you’ve posted on Reddit? (any employers reach out to you?)

The response has been overwhelming but in the best of ways. I posted my kit first on r/LEGO since I love seeing what other people have built, and thought they might enjoy me using LEGO in such a serious application.

On a whim, I took the photo of all of the elements together and submitted it to r/pics expecting it to be buried. I was also floored there were over 2000 comments!

It seems that people really liked the idea and it igniting a lot of discussions. I also took a lot of constructive criticism and advice from Redditors who were in the marketing/advertising field. That kind of advice is golden!

How are you preparing to showcase your strengths during the interview phase?

I had a great experience at my last company for over a year and a half, where I was given large projects and worked on several teams and departments. I showed I was capable of doing a higher level of work, and the company was great about finding new challenges for me. This kind of experience makes for great anecdotes during an interview and impressive final results.

I also spend a lot of time beforehand running through examples and how I can succinctly summarize a project, my contributions and the strengths it demonstrated in as few words as possible.

I’m also really comfortable meeting new people, so interviewing doesn’t really make me nervous. I see it as a chance to meet someone new and sell myself to them all while leaving them with the impression that I’d be an easy and fun person with whom to work.

And lastly, how can playing with LEGOs make someone a better person?

LEGO’s are a great thing because you’re only limited by your own creativity! While designing my set, I also realized how much spacial reasoning and puzzle solving there is to build a fun LEGO set — if I didn’t have the right piece in the right color, I had to improvise with other bricks to achieve the same look.

Thank you to Leah for her answers and insight – and continued luck with the job hunt!

Pamela Skillings
Pamela is the co-founder of BigInterview and an expert interview coach on a mission to help job seekers get their dream jobs. As an HR authority, she also provides consulting services to companies wishing to streamline their hiring process.

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