Non-Traditional Ways to Get a Job: Part I

How a Wallet Could Land You Your First Job

By Michael Ortiz de Villate (August 30, 2017)

To work in creative, you need the wow-factor, that one thing that will help you stand out from other qualified candidates. You could be the most talented graphic designer in your school or region, but someone else could have one teeny-weeny advantage.

To avoid the challenges most graduates had to land their first jobs, Tuesday Poliak came up with an ingenious way to land herself a callback from every creative director she aspired to work for. Tuesday Poliak is currently executive vice president and chief creative officer of Wunderman D.C., a leading global digital agency. Poliak Graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., in 1994, a time where digital portfolios were non-existent. It was a heavy price to pay to print out a portfolio, which meant most could only print one or two to send out to an agency. Poliak found a way around that and was able to print her portfolio not just once but eleven times at a low cost.

Poliak got every creative director to pursue her by shrinking all of her work down to the size of a wallet. In fact, Poliak created 11 unique wallets that looked like they belonged to each of the creative directors they were assigned to. Inside, she created a realistic version of their driver’s licenses and placed examples of her work inside the photo sleeves. Where bills would normally go, she put larger ads. In the back was a phone card with her contact information, alongside her resume (made to look like an American Express card) and her school ID (to show them her educational background).

The trickiest part for Poliak was getting past reception in order to drop off the wallet — to literally drop it off somewhere random in the office. Poliak would leave it lying around for an employee to find and deliver to the creative director.

After all was said and done, Poliak successfully got a call from every creative director she reached out to and accepted her job with TBWA/Chiat/Day Venice as an art director. We’d call that a job well done.

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