EXETER – Donny Neuman is marketing herself to potential employers by printing her resume on a T-shirt and wearing it wherever she goes.

You may have seen her at Great Bay Kids, Main Street School or RiverWoods, all places she volunteers. She jokes she might go to a golf tournament next because “that’s where all the CEOs are.”

“I just needed to do something so bizarre that maybe I’ll get something,” said Neuman, an Exeter mother of two. “I’ve seen people advertise businesses on T-shirts. Why can’t I advertise myself? I haven’t seen it done, so this is how I’m going to do it.”

After losing her job in 2008 as the operations manager of a construction company, Neuman, 46, moved to Exeter for a better life for her children. She remembered the area from when she received her culinary arts degree in Portsmouth.

“This is the spot,” Neuman said. “I knew from my 20s that Exeter was a place to raise a family. I wanted the public school system.”

Since then, Neuman said, she has been looking everywhere for a job but even with her years of experience as an assistant to the chief executive officer of Venturcom (now Ardence), she was coming up empty.

“I usually get letters back saying they are having a hiring freeze or there are no openings at this time or ‘you are overqualified for this position,’” Neuman said. “I think I’ve handed out at least 240 resumes by walking into places and dropping them off, not to mention the hours I’ve spent on the computer and hours on the phone cold-calling places to see if they’re hiring. Family, friends, old colleagues, my personal physician; I’ve talked to everybody. Just putting something out there and coming up with nothing.”

That was when she came up with her idea. She said 80 percent of finding a job today is marketing; so she decided to market herself on a T-shirt. Neuman went to Coed Sportswear in Newfields to get a T-shirt printed that reads, “Single Mom Unemployed Please See Back” on the front, with her resume printed on the back. To her surprise, she was given the shirt for free.

With the slow national job growth, job seekers have turned to many creative ways to reach employers. Some have tried humorous YouTube videos, heat- sensitive resume paper that changes colors when touched, purchasing billboard space and even taping a spoon to their resume with the words “Need to Eat.”

Creativity may be needed to put you ahead of others in this economy. Unemployment rates for New Hampshire remain at 5.3 percent, below the national average of 9.3 percent, according to the Department of Labor. However, New Hampshire residents face a tough job market with New Hampshire Employment Security projecting a 0.5 percent annual growth from 2010-12, adding 7,000 jobs. Comparably, long-term projections from 2008-18 project a 0.9 percent annual growth. Tepid consumer demand and cost control in government spending are the two main factors for the projected slow growth in the short term, according to the New Hampshire Economic Conditions report in July.

While the situation remains tough, some see the difficulties others are facing and lend a hand. Neuman is currently working part time as a data entry specialist for Coed Sportswear, the same company that made her shirt free of charge. She is also able to receive assistance from the New Hampshire Employment Program, which helps her with scholarships for her two kids, Richard and Jordan.

Between part-time work, volunteering to keep the assistance from NHEP and raising two children, Neuman said she doesn’t have enough hours in the day to search for jobs as much as she would like. Her T-shirt is doing some of the work for her.

“If I end up with the perfect job, I can assure you that everyone will be wearing a T-shirt like this,” she said.

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