Viral Donut Resume Hack That Landed Job Offers and Closed Enterprise B2B Deals

Lithuanian marketer Lukas Yla refused to let his résumé disappear into Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) (considering Rezi AI didn't exist yet) after landing in San Francisco in 2016.

Instead, he launched a multisensory, hyper-targeted campaign built around artisanal doughnuts—one that job seekers are still talking about nearly a decade later.

Recruiters continue to cite the stunt as proof that tangible ingenuity can break through automated systems and land interviews.

The $10 Donut Résumé Hack Sparked an Unforgettable Job Campaign

The idea struck mid-bite in a San Francisco bakery.

Yla realized that a warm box of doughnuts could do something a résumé couldn’t—get noticed.

He sewed a faux food courier uniform, printed an insert that read "Most résumés end up in trash. Mine in your belly." and added his CV and LinkedIn link inside each box.

Hyper-Target, Don’t Spray: Hand-Delivering 50 Boxes Exclusively to Chief Marketing Officers

Yla didn’t blast his résumé to 100s of companies. He hand-delivered exactly 50 boxes to chief marketing officers at firms he admired.

Receptionists were intrigued by the disguise and often walked him straight to the decision-makers.

The approach demonstrated creative execution, marketing instincts, and sales-funnel thinking—before he even said a word in an interview.

How a Local Résumé Hack Went International in Days

Halfway through the campaign, Yla emailed several journalists.

He was soon featured by Forbes 30 Under 30, BBC, and Good Morning America.

The coverage expanded his professional reach and reinforced the stunt’s credibility as a serious marketing play.

The Résumé Stunt That Changed His Career Path Forever

The doughnut campaign led to around 15 interviews and multiple job offers.

Yla was unable to accept a U.S. offer due to visa restrictions, but the visibility helped him land a director role at mobility-tech company Bolt in Europe.

Since then, the doughnut résumé has become a case study in marketing creativity and job-hunting boldness.

The doughnut idea has been recently used by the B2B Startup Delve to close Enterprise deals worth ~$8k-$20k.

In another campaign, Delve swapped Donuts for Doormats. Instead of résumés, Delve sent branded doormats to hand-picked prospects—with a CTA that tied directly to their offering. No cold emails. No outbound spam.

The results were roughly $500,000 in closed deals within one day from a campaign that cost just $6,318.

It’s a high-conviction playbook: creative, physical, and unforgettable.

Gen Z Resurrects the Gourmet Résumé for the AI Era

In 2025, with more than 4 million Gen Z Americans unemployed and AI shrinking entry-level roles, Yla’s tactic is going to make a comeback.

The hunger for visibility—and for jobs—has made creative outreach more relevant than ever.

The blueprint to hack the Job Market without spamming resumes is simply a 2-step process:

1. Engage the senses: Use physical experiences like doughnuts, hand-crafted notes, or small, useful gifts to make your résumé unmissable.

2. Target with intent: Research specific decision-makers and customize your outreach. A few personalized efforts beat a thousand generic ones.

Yla’s doughnut stunt proved that smart, sensory-driven creativity can bypass digital filters and connect with real people.

Even in an AI-dominated hiring world, human originality still matters.

Top Tweets of the day

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Reminder, the coding LLMs are not just good at coding. I've tested them for writing and they are pretty damn coherent. Obviously, Deep Research (OpenAI) works well too.

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There's niches for everything.

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Either pay big money for experts or hire someone 80% as good as you.

Rabbit Holes

1. AI Video Is Eating The World — Olivia and Justine Moore, a16z by Latent Space

2. Commanding Your Claude Code Army by Peter Steinberger

3. How the Attention Economy Is Devouring Gen Z — and the Rest of Us by Ezra Klein

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