You never know what’s going to catch the eye of a hiring manager…so why not get creative once in a while?

A restaurant manager talked about why they picked someone for a job interview because they did something surprising on their application.

Read on and get all the details below.

If they fill out the application in red crayon…

“Back when I was the day shift GM at a certain steak restaurant (no, not that one, the other one), we were doing a hiring streak for the new location’s grand opening.

I had a BIG stack of applications to go through.

LOL.

A few stand out as being memorable, like the guy who listed his fellow inmates and his parole officer as references (I was willing to give him a shot, but he missed his interview by being arrested and in jail again), or the woman who had “tons of experience” listing her last 5 restaurants where she’d worked a total of 2 weeks.

But the one that really caught my attention was the application written in red crayon. Yes, seriously. Neat printing throughout, but completely done in red crayon. I called this guy in for an interview just for the hell of it.

When he showed up he was well dressed (polo shirt, black jeans, comfortable non-skid shoes), had excellent references, a decent work history, good knowledge of restaurant work (dish pit, bussing, and prep), and overall, was perfect for the job.

Finally, at the end of the interview (I’d already decided to hire him. I’d be insane not to!), I asked the big question: “Why did you fill out the application in red crayon?”

Good idea!

“Well, I figured you’d have a ton of applications to dig through, so I wanted to stand out.”

After his second day on the job, I jokingly told him “You’re the best worker we’ve got! Any more like you at home?”

“Well, I’ve got a brother who could use a job.”

He brought his brother in the next day for a trial run. Hired him on the spot, too. The brothers were still working there when I left 4 years later, and they took over my position as co-GMs.”

Reddit users spoke up.

This person weighed in.

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

And this reader spoke up.

You gotta find some way to stand out in a crowd!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who told the interviewer exactly what she thought of him before she left for the day.