Toronto man rethinks the traditional job hunt

Instead of submitting applications for his dream job, marketing pro Saul Colt let employers apply to him. It was all part of his #WinSaul online campaign, which wrapped up on October 19 at midnight.

Colt, who's a lifelong Torontonian, decided to use his marketing skills to find his ideal marketing job. He recently completed a yearlong contract with the San Francisco-based accounting company Xero and was planning his next career move.

Along with bringing Zipcar to Canada and helping to grow the Toronto-based startup FreshBooks, Colt has also consulted for numerous local and international organizations. Lately, he says, he kept running into walls when inquiring about certain jobs. Some companies said they couldn't afford him; others said he'd get bored working for them.

"Ultimately, this is my life and my career, so why wouldn't I try to find the greatest opportunity ever?" he says. He launched his campaign on October 11 with a blog post, a few tweets and by sending an email to 1,000 people asking them to share his unique project.

"The response has been crazy," he says. In total 41 employers applied to hire him; 20 of them were legitimate. And of those 20, Colt is seriously interested in seven. While he thinks he'll have secured a job by next week, he also hopes to have inspired others looking for work.

"You're really put into a position of inferiority," he says of the traditional job hunt. His #WinSaul campaign shows that anyone can bend the status quo. "Why can't the jobseeker have a little bit more control over their destiny?"