When applying for jobs or sitting through interviews, candidates can choose to give the recruiter a small token, or "leave-behind." As the name suggests, a leave-behind is a type of object or document that individuals can quite literally leave behind for a client, interviewer, or supervisor. A leave-behind can take on one of many forms, from simple documents like business cards or postcards, to more creative options like small figurines.

Supplying a client or interviewer with a leave-behind can greatly boost your professional image and help the other party remember who you are. As hiring managers may sit through hundreds of applications, a creative leave-behind may help you stand out among the other candidates. A well-designed leave-behind may prove to the recruiter your sense of sincerity, passion, and commitment.

While some individuals may feel the need to go all out with their leave-behinds, using one of the oldest traditional mediums such as printed documents can be appreciated by everyone. Paper leave-behinds offer great flexibility at affordable prices. Some suggestions for paper leave-behinds include:

Business Cards
Brochures
Calendars
Crosswords
Folders
Notepads and Sticky Notes
Postcards

An effective leave-behind should be easy to read and store (you don’t need to provide a 100-page booklet!). To give a further lasting impression, a leave behind can feature some aspect of amusing or engaging material. For example, instead of slapping a few sentences in standard font on a blank piece of paper, using different font sizes, styles, and colors can make your leave-behind interesting to read and will increase the chances of a recruiter keeping it and remembering you later.