Trick or Vote

Now, Halloween isn’t the most job search friendly holiday. Not only do you have to worry about incriminating pictures of you in your costume will be posted on Facebook, but you can’t exactly walk around from employer to employer and say, “Trick or Job!” Still, Halloween is a $6 billion industry by itself, so you shouldn’t completely ignore it in your job search. However, it’s a Sunday which means that we’re looking at non-profit jobs. It’s not as easy as you might think to find a non-profit that you can tie into Halloween. Last year we took a look at Children’s Dental Health Project, and this year we’re going to take a look at Portland, OR based Trick or Vote. They are a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that has volunteers “dress up in costume on Halloween and knock on doors in their neighborhoods reminding people to vote.”

Trick or Job!

Now, this idea may seem a little weird, but it makes sense. Apparently, “knocking on doors increases voter turnout by a whopping 8-12%, more than any other method,” yet most people are uncomfortable knocking on strangers’ doors—except for on Halloween. It’s all about getting out the vote, and Trick or Vote has found an extremely effective way to do that. In 2008 they had “30 organizations operating in 35 cities,” and “costumed volunteers knocked on 100,000 doors on that single night.” And the plan was to go even bigger in 2010. Obviously Trick or Vote’s operations are extremely time sensitive, so now is probably the worst time to think about getting involved, but you should still reach out to them and see if there will be any opportunities in the future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• TrickOrVote.org
• Get Involved with Trick or Vote
• About Trick or Vote
• Trick or Vote News
• Trick or Vote Videos

Did you dress up for Halloween?

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