Don’t bring mom to the job interview, warns Fortune’s Anne Fisher. Here are some of the goofiest things job seekers have done when meeting hiring managers.

(Fortune) — Even in a relatively strong job market, it can be tough to make yourself stand out from the competition. So it seems some job hunters these days are resorting to, um, innovative (or is that desperate?) ways of making sure their interviews are unique and memorable.

In a poll of hiring managers a few weeks ago, Accountemps (www.accountemps.com), a worldwide accounting-and-finance staffing firm based in Menlo Park, Calif., asked them, “What is the wackiest or most unusual pitch you’ve heard from a job seeker about why he or she should get the job?”

Here are the top ten:

The job hunter…

  1. “…told me to hire him because he was allergic to unemployment.”
  2. “… said that we should hire him because he would make a great addition to our softball team.”
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  3. “…said he should get the job because he had already applied three times and he felt that it was now his turn to be hired.”
  4. “…said we had nice benefits, which was good because he was going to have to take a lot of leave in the coming year.”
  5. “… drafted a press release announcing that we had hired him.”
  6. “… explained that he had no relevant experience for the job he was interviewing for, but his friend did.”
  7. “… delivered his entire cover letter in the form of a rap song.”
  8. “…told me she wanted the position because she wanted to get away from working with people.”
  9. “…brought his mother to the interview and let her do all the talking.”
  10. “…when our company moved to Texas, gave us his resume in a ten-gallon hat.”
    What’s the biggest mistake you ever saw someone make - or (gulp) maybe even made yourself - in a job interview? Post your thoughts on the Ask Annie blog!

From: FORTUNE Magazine
By Anne Fisher
October 11 2007: 12:00 PM EDT
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