But for one job seeker in Phoenix, Arizona, it came down to just holding a sign.
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"It says 'Please take a resume, got laid off, looking for a job,' and I wanted to make it as easy to read as possible," Patrick Hoagland told KPHO-TV.
Melissa Digianfilippo took a photo of Hoagland and his sign on her drive back from lunch.
"I gestured for him to come over, grabbed his resume and the light changed, so I had no time to talk to him," said Digianfilippo, a marketing firm co-owner, said.
Hoagland said he would stay out on the sidewalk for at least four hours a day.
"At least four hours a day. One day, I stayed out there for eight hours and I was out there the day it was 118 (degrees)," Hoagland said.
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Though he was smiling in the photo, the 30-year-old husband and father was feeling pretty low at that moment, despite sending out dozens of resumes online.
Weeks later, he was still jobless.
"It caught me by surprise and I really need to get a job so I chose to stand on the corner with a sign," Hoagland said.
Digianfilippo was impressed by his creativity and she shared his resume.
"I just thought I have a wide network so I'll post it on social media and see what happens and it was crazy. It blew up," Digianfilippo said.
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"It was just craziness of phone calls, text messages, e-mails," Hoagland said.
That turned into hundreds of replies and inquiries.
He narrowed his offers down to 17 then to one. The one at a concrete grinding company.
Hoagland is now hungrier than ever for success.