The site launched a few weeks ago and Stearns says it's been a whirlwind ever since.  Some of his business school classmates sent the link to a few HR/careers bloggers and within days of the site's launched he was interviewed by CNN. He says the other kind of interviews have occurred as well. His plan—find a position in marketing; the success of the site has gotten him interested in the social media world. He and his wife (who doesn't reveal her name to protect her privacy) have been contacted by so many unemployed people that they are also thinking of continuing to maintain the site even after he gets a job as a way to help others.

I've been keeping an eye on these campaigns (and some even odder ones) ever since last summer when Joshua Persky, an out-of-work investment banker, appeared on Park Avenue wearing a sandwich board that said "Experienced MIT Grad for Hire" while handing out resumes to passers-by. Mr. Persky's effort didn't lead to a job immediately, though it got him lots of publicity. "It was a great adventure but like the Wizard of Oz, I landed right in my backyard," he told me. About five months after his stint on Park Avenue, he got a job through a recruiter he had previously worked with.

My latest favorite is a blog post by Jeremy Blachman, who had early success with his blog-turned-book, Anonymous Lawyer, sold the television rights to it, and moved to Hollywood to try to forge a career as a writer for television. 

Blachman embedded his "hire me" request in the midst of a reflective post on the eve of his birthday. He questioned whether he had enough new ideas to continue on the path as a writer ("I think trying to be a writer is giving me less to write about"), and whether the goal he'd set out for himself is even one that he still wants to pursue ("I guess what's been kind of disappointing for me is looking around and realizing people doing this kind of stuff don't necessarily seem more fulfilled or content or happy than people doing all sorts of other things.") He wrote:

"Can you use me?  Do you know someone who can use me?  For a brainstorm, for a project, for a job? For ten minutes, for a week, for a year?  I miss thinking about things, with other people.  If you want help coming up with a name for a cereal you're inventing, that seems like a fun project to work on.  I get strange looks when I tell people this, but I miss working with numbers.  I like numbers.  I like Excel.  I miss using that part of my brain, and I don't know how to use that part of my brain while crafting sales pitches for TV shows that will never get made.  

Do you have a project that requires someone to play with numbers?  Maybe I can help.  Do you want to show me your corn field and have me write some web page content about it?  That sounds cool.  Do you want me to riff for 20 minutes about what I think the future of books are, and whether there might be a business opportunity in helping to transform the publishing industry?  That would be fun.  Can I help you train a monkey to open jars? That seems really cool."

Blachman has long used his blog to explore his feelings and says he wasn't too worried about what people would think. That said, he did remove the post for a few days when he had scheduled an interview at a hedge fund and did not want the interviewer to stumble upon it. So far, some interesting things have happened. He had a series of brainstorming sessions with someone about a possible book collaboration. He received suggestions from people who seemed to genuinely care about him. He even got the oddball request to "contact me" about a mysterious venture. 

What do you think of these campaigns? Have any of you tried anything like this? 

by Marci Alboher, Working the New Economy