A friend of mine wanted to work at a tech startup that was hiring. The position was a few steps above her experience level, and in a completely different vertical from where she'd been before.

She knew this, so she went WAY above and beyond to stand out.

1. She did a ton of research on the company and figured out their values and personality as much as possible.

2. She built a quick website with a URL similar to whyCOMPANYshouldhireNAME.com — it was her resume, but customized to the company's needs. Making the site was easy for her, but it showed that she wasn't shooting resumes at every company she could find; she put both time and money into this site.

3. She figured out where the office was located, then found a local bakery (the company has a big focus on keeping things local) to deliver enough cupcakes for everyone who worked at the company along with a note thanking the company for reviewing her resume and considering her.

The effect of this was really noticeable. Especially the cupcakes: now everyone in the company knew she was an applicant for the job, and they — of course — liked her quite a bit because she'd already given them a gift.

She ended up being offered the job, despite her lack of experience and comparatively unimpressive resume.

The key is to do something that will keep you top-of-mind. If you can get the rest of the company to know who you are, that means they'll be asking, "Hey, did we hire the cupcake girl? We should hire the cupcake girl."

Good luck!