Student’s video resume has Wall Street howling

University counselors generally advise students to follow standard employment channels and e-mail a basic resume and cover letter to companies. Scented paper may have worked for fictional Harvard Law student Elle Woods in Legally Blond, but in real life keep it simple. "Don't use ballerina pink or avocado green paper," says Stanford employment services director Lance Choy.

If you do make a mistake, own up to it and move on. Apparently, that’s not Vayner’s style. He recently sent cease and desist letters to Web sites showing his video, but bloggers piled on more mockery. "If you stand by the fact that you are the greatest thing since sliced bread it is going to turn people off," says Castellini. A better idea is to suck it up and start kissing up with a sincere apology.

That worked for law firm summer associate Jonas Blank. The Harvard Law School grad mistakenly sent an e-mail about his summer job to the 40 or so members of Skadden's underwriting group. "I'm busy doing jack s---," he wrote. Blank quickly sent a second e-mail, apologizing for the first which, "showed a total lack of discretion, responsibility and judgment, and undoubtedly did my reputation and my future here no favors." His begging worked: Blank now works full-time at the firm, making a salary over $150,000. Company policy forbade him from commenting on his e-mail.

But avoiding embarrassment completely is better than a hundred apologies. So tailor your application to the industry, says Rose. Some fields, like advertising, fashion or entertainment, are more tolerant of creative applications. Vayner's video would be great, if he was applying to write satire for The Onion. But for banks, it's a flop. "The more conventional the industry, the more they want more conservative business practices demonstrated," says Choy. Before you apply, learn about the company and talk to alumni so you understand the industry.

Fortunately for Vayner, e-errors have a built-in delete button. The fall-out, while permanently archived on the Internet, doesn’t last as long with employers. "People have short memories," says Rose, "Wait until the smoke clears, and then you'll realize that people have relatively short attention spans."

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