During these hard times and job layoffs, some are no longer depending on the traditional job-search methods instead they are becoming more proactive and creative with securing a job. Here are some of the methods some innovative job seekers are using to hasten their search.

In UK a father of three, Darren Arme, desperate to find work after being laid off stood by the roadside carrying a placard which read: “Labourer, fencing, driving, groundwork, male escort, anything.” Although Mr Arme said he crossed out male escort as it was only meant as a joke to keep up his spirits. Three weeks later Arme was offered a job. “I was over the moon when he offered me a job,” he said about the job. “When you are standing there for so long you start to get a bit low and think ‘is it going to happen?’ “But then someone pulled up and said, ‘I think you have got balls standing here doing this, I’ll take you on tomorrow’.

Another man, James Williamson a recent MBA graduate of La Salle University started driving a cab in New York City while he searched for a job with his qualifications. What made his search so fascinating was how he did it. Williamson posted his resume in the back front seat of his cab with the hope that a potential employer-cum-passenger will see it and hire him. This man should get an ace for thinking outside the box.

Paul Nawrocki, a former executive after nine months of fruitless searching turned to the classic advertising device of two signs slung by straps over the shoulders, to promote himself on the streets of New York. “Almost homeless,” read the sign, “looking for employment. Very experienced operations and administration manager.”

As easy as carrying a placard or standing on the sidewalk seems, it takes a lot of guts and ‘eating humbling pies’. Imagine an an-out-of-work executive carrying signs and standing on a sidewalk for hours hoping to find work - this is true determination and persistence.

In the face of global economic meltdown, the world is fast becoming a place for survival of the fittest, can you pull these creative stunts to survive?