You won't believe the lengths some desperate candidates go to to make sure they stand out from the masses of candidates in an increasingly competitive job market. From super-quirky resumes to attention-grabbing billboards, we reveal the 25 most creative ways people have nailed their dream job.

Forget the usual email attachment or A4 sheet of paper. Craft enthusiast Melissa Washin sewed her resume onto a variety of printed fabrics to stand out from competing job seekers and get noticed. Her cunning plan worked a treat – employers were bowled over by her creativity – and she snagged her first design job not long after graduating.

A sure-fire way to grab the attention of any potential hipster employer, Canadian graphic design graduate Brennan Gleason brewed his own craft beer called 'Résum-ale', displayed his resume on the packaging and mailed bottles of the home brew to various media companies. Needless to say, in no time at all the college leaver scored a plum creative director role at a trendy digital marketing agency.

Richard Christiansen, the founder of successful New York ad agency Chandelier is a fan of the unorthodox approach when it comes to job hunting. The media professional once sent a creative agency in London a rotary phone in a box. The stunt immediately grabbed the attention of the key decision maker, who got in touch away to arrange an interview.

Job hunter Pasha Stocking splashed a cool $7,000 (£4.8k) to hire a billboard on the busy Interstate 95 in Connecticut. The Hire Me! ad failed to land Pasha a job but thanks to the widespread media coverage it garnered, she was able to start her very own public relations company specializing in none other than helping people rent billboards.

Out of work and at his wits' end, Irish graduate Féilim Mac An Iomaire also plumped for the billboard approach, but instead of simply asking to get hired, he decided to pull on potential employers' heart-strings, begging them to save him from emigrating. Luckily, the ad generated several interviews and Féilim eventually bagged a lucrative role at bookmaker Paddy Power.

After bagging a first class degree in media production, Adam Pacitti should have walked straight into a decent job but 250 applications later, he was still out of work. The media graduate decided to take drastic action. He spent his last £500 ($732) on a billboard ad, which went viral and landed him 60 job offers. Once he'd accepted his dream job, he even took the trouble to rent out another billboard ad to say thank you.

Talented Alec Biedrzycki put his gift for music to good use when he wrote a song called 'Hire Me' to find a job, uploading a cheesy video to YouTube in the hope that prospective employers would come across it and offer him work. While he had to put up with the usual offensive comments from haters and trolls, Alec's cheesy song worked its magic and he ended up being offered a job in marketing.

Given it's the preferred mode of transport for the city's senior execs, what better place to grab the attention of a prospective employer than in the back of a London taxi? Canterbury University graduate Emma Clifford thought so, and placed ads outlining her resume on the fold-down seats of a black cab. The gamble paid off and Emma now works at a prestigious publishing house.

Targeted online advertising can make all the difference, as job seeker Alec Brownstein discovered in 2010. He spent a mere $6 (£4) on a Google AdWords campaign homing in on the names of creative directors he wanted to work for. When they Googled themselves, the following message appeared at the top of the page: 'Hey, Goooogling yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too' with a link to Brownstein's website. The campaign was a big success and Alec landed a position at a well-known agency.

Staying with Google, designer Eric Gandhi created a super-clever resume mimicking a page of results from the search engine with the message: 'Did you mean: Eric Gandhi?' along with the search query, 'Creative+Hard-Working+Talented+Excellent Designer+Unique+Autodidactic+'. The offers flooded in and Eric went on to accept a role at the Weather Channel.

Known in the local neighborhood for her eye-catching festive lights, Georgia resident Liz Hickok decided to use them to help her find a job and had the following message spelt out in fairy lights: 'My wish - HR Job. Liz Hickok Linked In'. Luckily, the seasonal stunt worked with Liz scoring four interviews on the back of her twinkly message.

Keen to secure a position at British Cosmopolitan – no mean feat – college student Katie Oldham created a website showcasing her skills and sent key staff at the magazine cupcakes printed with a quick response code linking to the resume site. Cosmo editor Louise Court was so blown away by the stunt, she tweeted a pic of the cupcakes and offered Katie a summer internship on the title.

With little work experience to distinguish himself from other candidates, science graduate Jonathan Kaczynski came up with a novel way to present his resume back in 2007 – as a niftily designed subway map, with each line representing a different section of the resume, from education to computer skills.

Hot on his heels, student Kevin Wang from Guangzhou, China opted for a similar approach in 2008 with this subway map resume. Instead of lines representing different parts of his resume, the subway stations mark Kevin's life experience milestones such as becoming class vice president and joining the APAC orchestra.

Marketing grad Alfred Ajani had applied for 300 roles before he decided to stand outside London's Waterloo station during rush hour with a sign that read, 'Marketing Graduate (BA Hons 2:1 Coventry Uni) Ask for a CV'. Alfred got noticed, and then some – he was even offered a job at Barcelona Football Club – eventually settling for a position at a top marketing firm.

With 600 job applications under his belt yet zero offers, high school graduate Josh Butler realized desperate times had called for desperate measures, so he decided to attract the attention of potential employees by auctioning himself on eBay back in 2011. The auction went viral, securing Josh several interviews. Fast-forward to 2016, and he now has a successful career as a FFA Broker in the City of London.

New Yorker Nicholas Begley's unique idea was to print his resume on candy bar wrappers, listing his experience and skills in the ingredients section. A snap of his quirky resume appeared on Reddit in 2013 and went on to take the internet by storm, attracting potential employers in their droves. Naturally, the savvy job seeker didn't have to wait long until he was offered a role with an app company, no doubt run by a chocoholic.

Lucky job seeker Logan Beam landed his dream role after doing his mother a favor. “She couldn't go to her 25th reunion two years ago,” he says. “I was studying at Wittenberg University at the time and went in her place. I wore a name tag with her maiden name and met many of her classmates. Among the attendants was Elizabeth Nickol, whose family founded All-American Clothing. The conversation led to an interview, then an internship and eventually a job.”

You could always take your cue from Susan Villas Lewis and go for the cheeky option. The Dallas-based job seeker decided to turn the tables on her potential employers, creating a website outlining what she was looking for in a boss. The website may have put off as many employers as it attracted, but sure enough, it certainly got her noticed and Susan soon landed her dream job.

Programmer Andrew Horner did something just as cheeky with his 'reverse job application'. Instead of pleading with employers for a job, he created a website asking employers to apply for him to join their company. The website went viral and Andrew's bravado snagged him an impressive 44 job offers.

Facebook isn't just for friends as Ian Greenleigh discovered when he placed cheap ads on the social networking site targeting marketing managers in his home town of Austin, Texas. The ads linked to a Hire Me page and within no time at all, Ian had received tons of work offers, including one for his dream marketing position.

Placing ads on Facebook is all well and good, but college student Chris Putman went even further and landed a job interview from the social networking site thanks to his hacking skills. When Facebook was launched at his college Georgia Southern in 2006, Chris created a worm that made thousands of profiles look like rival MySpace. Facebook was so impressed that he'd identified a hole in the site's security, the firm didn't hesitate to offer him an interview.

Famed for creating iconic video games like Monkey Island and Psychonauts, uber-developer Tim Schafer showed off his creative chops even before he was hired by Lucasfilm in 1989 when he created a genius cover letter in the form of a computer game adventure. Recognizing his potential, the company went on to offer him a job and the rest is history.

Fresh out of uni, ambitious marketing grab Kim Huynh showered potential employees with Valentine's gifts as part of her tongue-in-cheek 'Could Kim be the one?' job search campaign. A tag on each gift linked to Kim's resume website. The result? The offers flooded in and Kim was able to bag a senior marketing role.

Creating cool things on spec for the company you want to work for is almost guaranteed to get you noticed. IT whiz Brandon Foy created his very own Windows Phone ad, which ended up getting hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube. The ad didn't escape the attention of Microsoft big-wigs, who were so impressed, they offered Brandon a UX designer job.