Three standout applicants navigate prejudice, apathy, and computer algorithms to snag their dream jobs – highlighting how backwards the hiring process can be.

No degree? A criminal record? Good luck getting called in for an interview. Traditionally, applicants who don’t have the right pedigree have been excluded from the candidate pool, but many are saying it’s time for this attitude to change or your company could lose the war for talent.

What we know is that recruiters often evaluate candidates on criteria that is unrelated to their skills, like level of education or even where a person went to school. While given that certain companies require stricter hiring practices because of their industry, the majority of businesses are simply exercising archaic recruiting practices in their job ads and interviews. This means not only are these companies failing to notice the value and impact that these individuals can bring to their teams, but they are recruiting the wrong way.

“The old rules don’t apply anymore,” says founder and CEO of Red Branch Media, Maren Hogan, “particularly for progressive companies” who are already experiencing skill shortages in the tech sector. MasterCard now partners with LaunchCode to source qualified candidates who may not have the requisite university degree to fill all their empty programming seats.

Rather than get stuck in a “web of [your] own making,” where outdated practices reject exceptional talent for the wrong reasons, this media maven with over a decade of recruiting experience suggests recruiters should consider what she calls ‘personas’, personalized profiles that embody company values and positive motivators, in order to attract talent. “Personas change the game,” assures Hogan “because they are about a person rather than a ‘candidate’ or ‘applicant’.”

Hogan points to three examples of people whose individual paths to success were fraught with obstacles, and how their experiences demonstrate the value of the person behind the application, how to recruit holistically, and why you should sometimes hire the square peg.

Shelley Winner

Shelley Winner spent her youth living in the shadow of her father’s drug and alcohol addiction. He first got her drunk when Shelley was 11. At 13, she started smoking pot. By 34 she was using and trafficking methamphetamine, heroin, and prescription pills. After a short-lived stint smuggling drugs across state lines, she was arrested, and received a four-year sentence at FCI Dublin, a low-security prison for female inmates, 98 miles from her hometown of Carmichael, California. With her father having been in and out of jail for most of her life to that point, Shelley joined 70 percent of children with incarcerated parents who follow them into the prison system.

“What if…” asks Shelley, now 40, “…you were known for only one thing, and it was the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

After discovering that she was pregnant, Shelley turned her life around, transforming her street hustle into a positive force for change once she was released. However, Shelley’s success did not come easily, as she experienced reluctance to hire ex-prisoners firsthand when a job offer was rescinded once the company discovered she had served time. Candidates with conviction histories are often branded “untrustworthy”, or “unreliable”, even though it’s been proved that individuals with conviction records remain employed approximately 20 days longer than other employees in certain industries. Determined to succeed, Shelly decided to plead her case with the hiring manager over email, who eventually reconsidered.

Robert Coombs

In the last 10 years, Robert Coombs, COO for The Class by Taryn Toomey, has advised top government officials, held events at the White House, testified before the US Congress, spoken at TEDx, and had initiatives featured in The New York Times. Despite these accomplishments, Robert was frustrated that the traditional method of sending out a carefully crafted resume and cover letter in response to a job ad rarely, if ever, delivered his application to a live human.

After receiving countless auto rejections, Robert changed his strategy. His response to this auto screening: if you can’t beat ‘em bot ‘em. So, Robert created his own bot to customize his applications and send out resumes for him, nearly 3,000 in fact. “What surprised me was the shocking data that came out of the project,” says Robert, namely that “the old-fashioned job application process was broken.”

Nina Mufleh

Having headed up marketing and social media campaigns for Fortune 500 companies — and even the Queen of Jordan — Nina knew she had the skills necessary to make a splash at AirBnb, and even improve their business. However, after nearly a year of trying to snag her dream job, she hadn’t reached her goals. So, she leveraged her marketing skills to create a viral marketing campaign that took an in-depth look at AirBnB’s opportunities in the underexploited Middle Eastern market. Her campaign, nina4airbnb, proved to be massive success and attracted the attention of AirBnb executives.

Nina’s story addresses the issues that candidates face in today’s job marketplace, and how to stand out amongst the crowd. “I would advise candidates who are focused on one company – or even a handful of companies,” she says, “to invest some time in understanding what that company’s priorities are, what problems they’re trying to solve, and then tailor their messaging in a way that shows how they can be useful to solving those challenges.”

Nina Mufleh really wanted to work for AirBnB. And I mean really wanted to. However, after nearly a year of trying to snag her dream job, she hadn’t reached her goals. Instead of despairing like most people would, she remained proactive and decided to pool all of her experience and skills into making sure she was noticed.

Having headed up marketing and social media campaigns for Fortune 500 companies — and even the Queen of Jordan — Nina knew she had the skills necessary to make a splash at AirBnb, and even improve their business. Armed with this, she created an in-depth report looking into the capabilities of AirBnB and how they could move further into the current underexploited Middle Eastern market.

Her campaign proved to be massive success. Initially it generated some traction among her peers and contacts, before finally becoming truly viral — eventually grabbing the attention of the mainstream media and the company she wanted to work for.

Following this success, Nina worked with Upwork, where she used her unique expertise to help millions of talented freelancers better sell themselves in a constantly changing and competitive environment.

Nina recently spoke at SmartRecruiters’ Hiring Success 18 conference where she headed up a speaking session discussing her experiences with the nina4airbnb campaign and how she applied it to her future success. Here is a taster of a few insights we gathered from Nina Mufleh.

What was it about Airbnb’s employer brand that attracted you to the company?

Most importantly, I believe in their mission to create a world where we can all feel a greater sense of belonging. What attracted me to their employer brand was working with and learning from a world class team.

Where did the idea for nina4airbnb.com come from?

After nearly a year of making little to no progress in trying to find a job here, I realized that I would have to change my approach drastically to start seeing results. I put on my marketing hat, thought of myself as a product and began thinking of different strategies I could employ to generate demand around hiring me.

What kind of response did you expect, and how did this compare to reality?

I designed the campaign for success, and expected it to generate quite a bit of chatter, but I have been completely blown away by how much it continues to spread. Nearly 3 years later, I still receive messages of support from around the world — especially from people who are facing similar challenges.

How did you help to generate so much buzz around nina4airbnb.com?

I tapped into my personal and professional network and asked them to share their reactions to the report on Twitter with the aim of creating some social-proof around the conversations. The timing, choice of platform and details were all integral to starting the initial conversation and then it grew exponentially when mainstream media caught wind of the story.

What advice would you give a candidate desperate for a role with a particular company?

I would advise candidates who are focused on one company – or even a handful of companies – to invest some time in understanding what that company’s priorities are, what problems they’re trying to solve, and then tailor their messaging in a way that shows how they can be useful to solving those challenges.

Where on a CEO’s list of priorities should be “recruitment”?

I’m a strong believer that your products and company are as strong as your team and that recruitment and company culture should always be at the top of a CEO’s priority list.

Who was/is your biggest professional influence and why?

My co-founders at The Online Project. The personal and professional growth that we experienced alongside each other helped us push our careers in a completely new direction.