A good résumé and cover letter are no longer enough. These are the creative ways job seekers are getting to the front of the line.

Lileth Greenwood, a recruiter for Fort Lauderdale Behavior Health Center, speaks to job seekers at a job fair Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Florida
Marta Lavandier/Associated Press
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Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom.
People often talk about the Great Wealth Transfer, where trillions of dollars will be passed down from Baby Boomers to the next generation. Our elders are also giving us
a whole lot of junk
.
On the agenda today:
From homebuilding to trucking, these parts of America’s economy are
already in deep trouble
.
This small-town sheriff’s feats inspired Hollywood movies and made him a legend.
What if it was all a lie
?
Bill Ackman’s pickup line is awkward —
but he’s onto something
.
Microsoft is going to “rethink” the company’s business for the AI era,
internal memo shows
.
But first:
Can I have your attention?
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This week’s dispatch
More than a résumé
blackCAT/ Getty Images
In today’s tight job market, the traditional résumé-and-cover-letter playbook for finding work just won’t cut it anymore.
We’ve written a lot about the ”
Great Freeze
” — companies and employees staying put with few large-scale layoffs, but also little hiring. Employers’ reluctance to add staff means job seekers have to get creative in their job search.
In the past week, Business Insider wrote about two people and the lengths they went to secure their dream opportunities.
My colleague
Tess Martinelli
interviewed a guy who, in his second-to-last semester of college, sent his future boss 50 cents through Venmo along with a link to his résumé. Not the most conventional way to get noticed, but it worked.
“I felt regret the moment I sent the message, but it ultimately launched my film career,” said
Darshan Patel
, a 28-year-old film and marketing professional in Brooklyn, New York. “It taught me that you have to do something unique to get attention in this job market.”
The second example is
Felix Wallis
, a 23-year-old research engineer for an AI startup. Right after graduating from college, he bypassed traditional applications and focused on one startup whose product he had used and liked.
He coded a fix for its interface and posted it publicly in the company’s Facebook group. That got him noticed and ultimately led to a summer internship.
“You can’t fake interest or passion — and proving you have them is, in my experience, the best way to get hired,” Wallis told my colleague
Joshua Nelken-Zitser
.
For job seekers, the takeaway here isn’t simply to do something weird to get a job. Instead, both people showed genuine and deliberate interest in their roles. They were bold enough to do something memorable to stand out from the pack.
Did you get hired using a unique hack, strategy, or tactic? Business Insider wants to hear from people who’ve cracked the job market with a bold or unconventional approach.
Please fill out this quick form
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Are we already in a recession?
Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI
The US economy seems OK on the surface. GDP growth has been north of 3% for the last two quarters, and conditions in the labor market appear to be gradually cooling. A broad view of the economy can overlook the significant developments unfolding beneath the surface.
Major employers in industries like homebuilding and restaurants are looking shaky, offering ominous signs about the direction of the overall economy, Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, writes for BI.
The seven deadly signs for the US economy
.
A bullet, a legend, and a lie
Ray Di Pietro for BI
In the early morning of August 12, 1967, in Adamsville, Tennessee, Sheriff Buford Pusser said his wife, Pauline Pusser, was fatally shot while on a police call with him. Buford, who had a bullet wound on his jaw, said the assailants peeled off.
Buford’s survival became an instant fascination. Books and songs were written, and the “Walking Tall” movie franchise gave him the Hollywood hero treatment. But questions swirled if someone else killed Pauline. When her body was exhumed in February 2024, one question remained: Could it have all been a lie?
Shattering a legend
.
May I meet you?
Bill Ackman has expressed support for Alpha School’s unique model.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
When Bill Ackman tweeted his dating advice — using the opener, “May I meet you?” — he was both mocked and praised. While the line itself is awkward, the implicit advice about confidence is worth heeding.
BI’s Katie Notopoulos studied pickup artists and compared their approaches to Ackman’s. She thinks the pros would agree: Have the courage to start a conversation.
Experts in rizz
.
Microsoft scraps its playbook
Chalinee Thirasupa/REUTERS
There’s a new AI advisor in town at Microsoft. CEO Satya Nadella has tapped Rolf Harms to “rethink the economics of AI,” according to a memo obtained by BI’s Ashley Stewart.
Harms is the author of a 2010 white paper that forced a cultural reckoning on Microsoft’s cloud computing. Nadella said in his memo that the company needs an AI reset, just as it did with cloud.
Thinking about rethinking
.
This week’s quote:
“You should’ve seen the memes that are on the internet. Have you guys seen some of them? We’re basically holding the planet together — and it’s not untrue.”
— Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the chip giant
being in a no-win situation
amid AI bubble chatter in an all-hands meeting Business Insider listened to.
BI
How military name tapes are made
The AAFES Name Tape Plant in Fort Knox manufactures nearly every name tag worn by service members across the US Armed Forces. With only 17 employees, the plant produces up to 3,000 name tapes each day, and
as many as 60,000 a month
.
More of this week’s top reads:
A
“2008 global financial crisis” hoodie
that costs $180 is sold out.
Blackstone’s HR chief opens up about the evening that
tragedy struck the firm’s headquarters
.
Navy secretary says it’s hard to get workers
to want to build warships
if they get paid what they might make at Buc-ee’s or Amazon.
Jeffrey Epstein’s accountant of 22 years raised alarm bells at JPMorgan.
Now Congress wants answers
.
Exclusive:
Sam Altman’s eye-scanning Orb startup told workers
not to care about anything outside work
.
Rich people have trillions of dollars they want
to give to hedge funds
.
Meta just solved this annoying problem with Slack
after we complained about it
.
The BI Today team:
Steve Russolillo
, chief news editor, in New York.
Dan DeFrancesco
, deputy editor and anchor, in New York.
Akin Oyedele
, deputy editor, in New York.

Grace Lett
, editor, in New York.
Amanda Yen
, associate editor, in New York.
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