Would You Pay For An Interview?

Let's get the introductions out of the way quickly, shall we? Yes, this is my first blog. Yes, I'm an aspiring (read: unemployed) business professional, hoping to break through the clutter. NO, this will not be a waste of either of our time!!

Now that that's been cleared up, back to the subject of this inaugural post.

Would you pay for an interview?

Let me rephrase that. How much are you willing to do, to land the perfect job with the perfect company? As we all know, it's a much larger job market out there. You may be the ideal candidate, but HR professionals are sifting through hundreds of resumes per day. How do we break through the clutter?

I recently attended a Job Fair. Tens of thousands of job-seekers handed in their resumes to any and every employer's booth that would accept them. In an attempt to differentiate myself, I would submit my resume PLUS a $5 Tim Horton's card to whomever I felt a "connection" with. (Who couldn't use a Timmie's coffee?!?) A couple of interviews later, it appears to be quite safe to presume that the tactic was a rousing success!!

It's kind of funny that we spend hundreds of dollars on business attire that everyone else has, or editing our resume over countless hours only to have it look identical to thousands of others, yet, it may be as simple as spending $50 on gift cards to land that $50K position at your ideal company.

So, would you pay for an interview?