I thought I’d seen everything in terms of weird job ads until I read a story in Ad Age recently about an advertising agency looking for social media types.

The story was about the agency that works on Old Spice advertising, itself a bit over-the-top in a fun way.

“Beginning today, the posting says, applicants will have a week to complete “one or more of the challenges listed below” and then create a “case study presentation deck outlining what you did and why it was effective,” Ag Age reports.

How much will you next potential boss ask you to do to get a job?

The challenges all were social media related, such as “Challenge 8 – Create the most reviewed recipe on allrecipes.com in a single week using cottage cheese as an ingredient. The reviews don’t have to be good,” Ad Age says.

They all sounded like a lot of work to me, but they show the state of the job market today, namely that a potential employer can ask a lot of you before making a hiring decision.

Be prepared to do more than ever before to secure that next job. You may be asked to do more than say you’re good, you’ll have to show it.
John N. Frank