The pros and cons of (checks notes)... having your CV printed on a pizza box

In a world where getting noticed is half the battle, Pizza Hut has come up with a novel idea to boost your career.

Your next Pizza Hut delivery might come with more than just a hot slice – it could include a job opportunity.

That’s right, the iconic delivery brand’s "ResZAmes" campaign allows customer resumes to be printed directly onto pizza boxes and delivered to employers across New York City, one of the toughest job markets in the country.

According to a press release citing CareerMinds data, 75% of resumes are never seen by a human. To combat this, Pizza Hut’s chief marketing officer Melissa Friebe described the campaign as a way to “cut through the noise” to help job seekers stand out in a competitive market.

To join the initiative, participants must visit the ResZAmes website and enter the zip code of their target employer to check if they’re in an eligible delivery zone in New York City. Pizza Hut will then review the submissions and select 25 winners whose resumes will be hand-delivered in custom pizza boxes to their dream companies.

The tasty stunt isn’t without a successful precedent. Earlier this year, Matthew Parkhurst, co-founder and CEO of tech startup Antimetal, told CNBC that a $15,000 pizza campaign generated over $1m in sales for his company. Parkhurst delivered more than 1,000 pizzas to startups and venture capital firms in San Francisco and New York, successfully attracting the attention of tech influencers and potential clients. The pizza stunt brought Antimetal 75 new clients.

Our take

Novelty CVs remain niche enough for job applicants to genuinely stand out, and with only 25 winners being picked, it’s unlikely prospective businesses will get ‘over-saturated’ with comical CVs, causing the stunt to quickly become ‘cheesy’. (Both puns are shamefully intended).

We fear, however, that the pool of employers who might be genuinely receptive to a ‘hilarious’ application for a serious career could be minimal. The creative industry, however, might be well placed for such an approach, given our whimsical bent.

It’s also been pointed out by social media commenters that the physical nature of the CV might allude to employers who insist on digital or AI application scanning.

Still, perhaps the mere fact that so many people are talking about Pizza Hut’s stunt is proof alone that the campaign achieved exactly what it ordered.