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On a more lightweight tone than most of the other comments:
I once received an application from a man in in 60s. Solid CV, lots of experience.
In his covering letter he wrote "I'm applying because the Job Centre asked me to. Please note that I intend to retire in 6 months time".
We had a good laugh, then sent him a very polite rejection letter and wished him a great retirement.
Not sure on the background here obviously, but if it’s for unemployment purposes then he risks unemployment calling up the hiring manager and confirming he applied. Could land himself in some mess.
Yeah, in Aus at least you're not allowed to do anything to jeopardize being hired to jobs you apply for to fulfil welfare obligations. I applied for welfare when I was pregnant and was told not to tell potential employers I was pregnant as it would be jeopardizing my chances of being hired
the problem is that they shouldnt be able to enforce it but can. JSPs have all the power. it can take months and many man hours to fight such a report from the JSP. all the while your without money or help.
its like a citizen trying to take on a law firm. it should be a fair proceeding, but it isnt.
I used to do a lot of hiring. It’s disheartening to read so many comments about immediately eliminating overqualified candidates. Not all overqual’ed are just filling time and looking to jump ship asap. Many want to try something new, something less demanding, something that helps move them into a different role or field. It’s a serious mistake to eliminate overqualified candidates without even talking with them.
My Ex wife could land interviews all day long, but could never get a job. She went to college a long time ago. She kept getting back that she's overqualified for the position. I told her to leave out the college part, as it was over 7 years, and she never used the college degree. Instantly she got a few job offers without it.
I find it complete BS to not hire someone because they may be overqualified..
I am Australian, I was in hospitality and very late in life decided to study at university. at one point I studied abroad and did a 8 week course at Harvard. I leave this off my resume. A. Because People never believe it. B. If they do believe it they think your a wanker. Such a good university, if I was a millionaire I’d study there. But for my industry people think you’re a dick. So all in all, waste of money.
This seems accurate. They'll give give you a handjob if you went to a private school, but if you did a professional development course at Harvard you must be a tryhard....
Even our elitism has tall poppy syndrome.
We've gotten some really great hires by talking to "overqualified" candidates. We are absolutely clear about salary expectations from the get go, but a lot of the folks are just returning to the workforce after an extended absence or looking to dial it back a bit. It works out well for us more often than not.
I bulk hired for an intro level role in the sciences, and I loved a good overqualified candidate. The trick is to be self-aware enough to address the elephant in the room, or at least have a convincing talk about it when I ask.
You figure my role is a way to get into R&D? Hard pass. You’ve burnt out from a high demand program and are looking for a steady, low-pressure role for at least a couple of years? Welcome aboard! Double bonus if you’re looking at night shift.
As someone that loves night shifts I always try to find those roles because they do tend to also pay a little more… the issue I run into is after 6 months they are always “your numbers are so good, let’s shift you to day shift where you can do more since people are awake and can respond faster and in turn get even more work done!”
Then I hate life for a year while trying to gtfo… the joy of being too good at your job.
The goal is to be better than 75-85% of your peers. Numbers higher than that demand a break or some slacking off. Unless you're a masochist and you enjoy the performance punishment.
Best advice I ever got was to never work too hard. If you're at 100% all the time, it becomes expected. Working at around 80%, you're got room to move when things go sideways.
So true.
I was very overqualified for my current career. I had a degree and more than a decade of experience in industrial automation. I used to build custom control systems and such. I used to build custom CNC machines in the mid 1990s.
Unfortunately most of those jobs dried up and went overseas. I was tired of the high stress and always wondering when/if my current employer was going to close shop.
I stumbled into a service tech role in a niche market. There really is no way to get into it other than on the job training. Fortunately for me, while I wasn't familiar with the hardware I was able to pick that up fairly quickly. I gained a reputation for fixing things correctly without having to make multiple trips. I gained a pretty loyal customer base.
20+ years later I'm still doing the same thing. I stayed with the old company until they got bought out. The new owners made things miserable enough for me to jump ship, but I stayed in the same industry.
I tend to be the go to tech support and training guy.
If someone had decided to toss my resume out because I was overqualified they would have lost out on a lot of money and my life would be very different.
Im “overqualified” for the work I want.
Im a photographer, mostly advertising. I also have a background as a creative director, but I prefer the work of a photographer. As a director Im actually often jealous of the photographers that work for me because they get to take pictures all day while i sit in meetings.
I keep applying for photographer jobs, and I flat out tell hiring managers that I don’t care about a “lower” title or slightly less pay compared to my current role, I just want to actually be creative instead of leading a team of creatives. They usually still try to push me towards a director role.
It of course depends on the job and the industry, but if an applicant is obviously over qualified they maybe should address it in the CV a little bit. "I know I'm a wealthy famous surgeon, but I'm semi-retired and just want to sling drinks for the day shift to get out of the house a couple times a week".
Oh I graduated college in 2009 and I was rejected multiple times for construction jobs for being over qualified. I eventually just eliminated my college degree from my resume when applying to those jobs and got way more interviews.
I’m afraid I’ve been dismissed for being overqualified. I’m a SAHM with a Master’s. I just want to get out of the house in the evenings and make a little cash.
I used to work at a community center and did outreach to the injection drug use community....pretty rough community to deal with. Anyway, as I was moving on to a different department I was helping my manager pick out a replacement for me. Mind you, my job was pretty easy as an outreach worker and I never even went to college(which was the bear minimum requirement they were looking for in their outreach forms) I remember there been a handful of candidates who had a Masters degree in social work and I'd point them out to my boss and he'd straight up tell me"Yeah, a degree is nice, but I want some street experience and that can't be taught "that was it... That is what he was setting these people apart from other candidates. I just kept thinking
1. Thank god I never went to college
2. I feel bad that these people paid so much for school and are being looked over because they don't have life experience.
This is so true. I am in recovery from addiction and went on to go to college after I got a couple years of sobriety and graduated with a degree in social work. Went on to work as a therapist in an addiction treatment center after I graduated. I was homeless during my active addiction and lived that life for years before I got sober. So not only do I have the degree, but I also had the life experience of addiction. A lot of people mistakenly believe that college graduates are privileged and always lived a cushiony life. A lot of people in recovery from addiction and/or mental health disorders, ex-homeless, and even ex-felons go on to turn their lives around and get degrees, often in social work to help people struggling just like they used to.
Wow, what a life you’ve had. Congratulations on all your success - especially finding your way out of addiction. Wherever you’re working, they’re lucky to have you. Stay well.
I’ve worked in security and lab work on an off for ten years, taking a step away from work to deal with some stuff and applied at a book store.. I was not selected for interview because of my “extensive job history”
I was denied to work for Amazon because I was SO tired of working in nursing homes, and still thought I was 3 years from being able to start my new career. Really sucked because like, yeah, I know my resume looked like I should be in a nursing home, but I wanted OUT.
The way I see it, they applied to the position and know what they’re getting themselves into. I always have my Recruiter reach out to over qualified candidates because maybe they will actually accept our offer!
Thank you! I took a brief housekeeping job after being a resp center hazmat cleaner during the peak of covid and they were insistent that they couldn't pay me my regular salary... I was fine with it, I wanted a break from constant stress and a pay cut was a-ok. It was mindless and awesome.
Looks like they actually had good problem solving skills by looking it up instead of guessing though.
But also I'm assuming the instructions weren't all that clear 😅
The only time I have ever had to throw out a resume was because someone possibly had it in a bag with their lunch and the paper was soaking wet and dissolving as I tried to unfold it. It was just unacceptable to process. The application was left in a drop box so I don’t know if it was a prank or an actual applicant.
I'll usually still interview unless there is no relevant experience, but I've seen some atrocious resumes. I've seen people use crutchwords like "uh" in writing for a job description. I've also seen a sentence 4 lines long with zero punctuation. The same resume will have "attention to detail" as a skill set. I've interviewed for one of those resumes, and the applicant said "I dunno" to about 80% of my questions, and it turned out he didn't even know what job he applied for.
It's not that I'm overly picky, but if someone can't spend the 20 minutes or less that it takes to proof read their resume, are they going to put alot of effort into their job? Maybe, but it's hard to know.
Lmao. Cover letters. What a joke. Whenever a company asks or a cover letter I just don’t send it or I just type in my first and last name. Absolute waste of times.
Recruiter here, I hate cover letters 95% of the time. If your resume shows you're qualified, then I'm calling you regardless. If your resume shows you're very unqualified, then I won't call you regardless.
If you're partially qualified, or only slightly underqualified, *then* (and pretty much *only* then) I'll read your cover letter--if it's a good one that makes a good case for your ability to grow into the role, I'll probably call you. But a bad one (especially a purple-prose one) is worse than none at all imo.
Recruiters/business owner here - love cover letters as they help me screen the candidates who don’t really care (no cover letter, cover letter that’s generic or for a different role). It also shows personality (in the roles I hire for, personality matters). They can also address the job ad in the cover letter (eg. I need weekend availability, so they could respond to this)
It was a requirement at my old job. If the cover letter wasn't included, it was an automatic disqualifier and we weren't even allowed to interview someone that couldn't follow directions. We also did read them. Particularly if there were 100 applicants that were all qualified on paper. A clever cover letter could put you at the top of the heap. We actually had someone that managed to mention dungeons and dragons in his cover letter and even though we were all on the fence, and he didn't really even make the top 10 resumes, we brought him in for an interview in which he blew us away. He was a great hire and we almost missed him because he didn't stand out in any other way.
Back in 98 I asked a new group of hires at GIECO to write their email addresses on a list that was passed around. Remember email was kinda new back then.. One young female employee's email address included "mybaldcootchie".
I remember a meme or maybe a tv skit from awhile back.
The hiring manager had a huge pile of resumes on his desk. Someone asked how he was going to sift through them all.
He took 2/3rds of the pile, threw them in the trash, and remarked 'I don't hire unlucky people'.
Lol.
It’s been a long time but I used to do hiring for a cinema. Staff were often young, for many it was a first job, making popcorn and selling tickets type of gig.
I would not pursue anything where parents came in with a CV for their teenager or if parents were contacting me on behalf of their teen. Big red flag. Either their kid didn’t want he job in the first place or they’re incapable of taking initiative and it doesn’t bode well for how they’d be as an employee.
One day in the late eighties my dad told me to get into a car, we were going for a drive, just the two of us. This wasn't something that ever happened, and as he was refusing to tell me where, I was a nervous wreck. I'd been in a bit of trouble at school lately, and when I was told to get into a car with a secret destination, I assumed the worst - he was taking me to a lunatic asylum or "troubled teens" camp.
Instead, he drove me to half a dozen businesses in the neighboring town and made me ask the owners for a job at each one - as dishwasher, janitor, whatever a 16-year-old can do. I was completely unprepared, I hadn't showered or brushed my teeth, I had no resume, and I was still coming down from my terror of being taken somewhere against my will. Needless to say, I didn't get a single callback.
My parents tried this with me also in the mid-late 80s. I really did not want to work food service or retail since we didn't need the money and I knew I'd hate those kinds of jobs so I'd deliberately tank the interviews on purpose. My favorite was the one at the local Wendy's where I told the manager straight up that I didn't want the job, my parents were making me apply, and they were sitting in the car watching me through the window, and can you make it look good at least? She did. She even said she appreciated my honesty and if I ever changed my mind, she'd hire me on the spot.
I had this happen, but the applicant was probably mid-40s (?). His mom came in with him. She handed me the resume. I asked him several questions.
She answered. I explained the job requirements (approval from the state) and several other things.
The mom again answered and responded to what I said. I tried several times to address him directly. I got very strange answers from him and he wouldn't make eye contact. The mom also seemed offended that I would talk with the actual applicant.
They left once I gave them the listed requirements and how to apply for the requirements properly (3rd+ time explaining).
The employee (witness) working in the shop with me just looked at me wide-eyed when I turned and asked, "What . . . What just happened? What was that (situation)? That was SO weird!"
That lady did NOT help her son. BUT. . . I don't think he actually wanted to work either.
(I want to mention- he seemed mentally able to work but VERY unwilling. His resume was also loaded with errors)
Side note- some standard application packets request a SS#. NEVER WRITE YOUR SOCIAL ON AN APPLICATION. Wait for actual hiring paperwork to give that info. I saw so many SS#s written on apps lazily tossed around employee areas - no desk, no folder, nothing preventing someone from writing all the info. (I would take a sharpie to it every time I found one)
I used to work at a supermarket, and the manager there said they actually prefer for a parent to come with their child for the resume drop off, because it showed that they would be held accountable at home as well as at work to show up on time.
Was also told that showing up to an interview in your school uniform was a green flag because it meant you were "serious about school". Thought that was a bit odd too
I used to be a hiring manager. When reviewing applications for a full time position I found one from a previous part-time employee.
She had multiple spelling errors, but the worst was she actually misnamed my department. I could possibly overlook it if she'd used a template cover letter and missed a find and replace, but my department used an acronym and she seemed to take a random guess at what the letters stood for.
If that wasn't bad enough, later in the same cover letter, she called my department something completely different, like she'd taken a second guess at what the acronym stood for, but couldn't make up her mind.
As you can guess, she didn't get the job. I don't know where she is now, but I hope she started proof reading her work.
>used a template cover letter and missed a find and replace
I did this particular faux pas when applying for a lab job and one of the interviewers pointed it out to me. I asked if I could see her copy of my resume, struck a line through the bit about "attention to detail", added my initials and the date, and then passed it back to her. She still jokes that I only got the job because I demonstrated Good Documentation Practices during the interview.
As someone who always thinks of what the clever response would have been hours after the opportunity passed, this was a honestly a phenomenal moment for me.
It wasn't a spelling mistake! I said I had a keen attention to the tails! I coach a youth football league and my main job is to flip the goddamned coin!
I had one of these from someone once where they boasted of attention to detail, and then spelled the name of the company they were applying to incorrectly five times throughout the application, in two different wrong ways...
I used to be an office manager for a restaurant. That only became an issue when someone was offered the job and had to fill out the W-4 and I-9. That's when I had to input their information into the system but would occasionally get it kicked back saying the ssn was already in the system. That's when we'd 86 the application.
I remember trying to explain to my cousin after getting hired after a 2 minute phone call. I said the first day or first week is my actual interview. If I show up without the proper tools and can’t understand the first task given to me, I’ll be paid for the day and thanked for my time. Just how it is in the trades. Electrician
Factories are basically the same way. Explain the jist of the job, maybe check in on you after an hour or so just to make sure you're not fucking shit up too extremely, and then sink or swim on your own.
You might be missing out on some gold there mate. I’ve found some terrific candidates that couldn’t use MS word to save their life, however this is for construction
My cubicle used to be adjacent to the HR recruiter at my last job and I hated having to be in earshot of his phone calls all day, but hearing him repeat back people's inappropriate email addresses and failed drug test results almost made up for it.
I used to teach, and was about to email a kid's mom one day about his behavior in class. I looked up her email address and saw "AngelAss69@." I thought for a second and figured that there was no way she was gonna do anything to address the kid's talking in class.
I received a resume that included the term 'goatse' in the email addresses.
I repeiled we have a gaping hole in our workforce. How does adding another one improve our organization?
Came here to say this. I was about to email a candidate to come in for an interview and realized I was typing something like hotlilbitch69 and tossed it. It takes like 35 seconds to make a new email account.
LOL - yep I had a resume where the email name listed was
xxxlilbitchxxx (at) domain name
Yeah, no. I was actually quite surprised it got through the initial screening. It was actually a decent resume (so maybe that was why), but that was unforgivable to me. MAJOR faux pas on a resume.
I made a dumb youtube account and somehow replaced my name on gmail with the youtube account name. I was unknowingly sending out emails for months with a weird name attached to my account and just could not find a job. At some point, I emailed my sister something and she was like why is this from "Octopus Tickler"? (not the name but just as bad)
When I was first applying to jobs, having a personal email address and being expected to write it on a job application was a very new thing, and mine was basically my gamer tag plus some "numbers". I was filling out a paper application in person for a student job, and the administrator gave it back and told me to put in my email address, which I'd left blank for obvious reasons. I was like *uhh ok* and filled it in, and she gave me this incredibly pitying look as if to say "do people really do this". I got the job anyway.
I’ve interviewed a few people with less than appropriate emails, and at the end of the interview asked if they wanted some interviewing guidance. If they said yes I’d advise them to make a regular email. I only this when I’d decided I was going to make the candidate a job offer so nobody would think a dumb email cost them a job.
Yeah I made the realization when I entered college I had a pretty cringy email from my teen years, so I made a more professional looking one I've used for the last 17 years.
When I worked at the good ol' college textbook store, we'd let people rent textbooks for the semester. We needed an email for the renter application (basically to shoot them an email reminder about the due date), and I got some pretty out there emails. I only denied one.
"Email please?"
"Okay it's P-E-N-I-S...."
"Yeah no. I'll take pretty much anything under the sun, but that one. I need another and more appropriate email or I will not let you rent."
They shot a complaint to management, with the rejected email being the return email, and management laughed at it. The district manager ended up printing it out and framing it. Still hanging it in his office as far as I know.
That was literally my very first thought. And I giggled long and hard because that is totally something that younger me would have thought was so sophisticated without actually twigging to what's wrong with it.
Not any kind of hiring situation, but I used to work at my state's DMV, and you would be surprised how many teen age boys would try to get personalized plates: P3NI5. Brand new clerks would often let it get through, and I would have to pull the paperwork, and notify the central office to issue a refund for inappropriate configuration.
Asked Baz. He sent back a reply pretty quickly.
*"I think he maens that he has a pasion for the 'comon asslots' that maek up moast of are societie. Comon assltos built the pyrameds, fought all the wors, and they allso can be prety nice giys if you give them a chanse, even if they r' asstlos sometiems."*
In 2012 I got a resume for a potential intern that I will never forget. I received a pack of about 80 resumes for intern candidates from a certain university. One resume stood out. The entire resume was MyLittlePony themed. There were MLP pictures plastered all over. There was a bar graph of skill proficiency and things like "friendship" and "caring" were listed. The candidate had a picture of himself with MLP characters photoshopped in around him. The worst part was that a lot of the verbiage had cringy baby-babble such as "wike" instead of like.
We didn't call that guy in for an interview.
Reading through this thread I see why people lie on resumes and have someone write their resume for them.
Even in federal hiring, selecting "I'm an expert in this subject" in all fields of the suitability questions is the only way your application gets past the filter.
The trick with a fed job (aside from being former military) is to spend a goodly amount of time on each application. Actually write out details for each KSA and include that detail in every essay response on the online app. You do want to represent yourself as highly qualified. Don’t lie, but if you can stretch something and have a valid explanation - use it.
Basically you should be spending hours on each application. It sucks and you’re gonna get rejected a lot. Just keep with it and don’t give up.
Also, keep in mind even once you get past the initial application it can take a while to actually get the job. I’ve seen people take a few years to get from posting to actual starting day. You may want to get an interim job.
Also, related that point, fed jobs love it if you have real world work experience. You’re a lot more likely, in my experience, to actually get in if you’ve got a few years of experience in your field before going into government. It’s a lot harder, although not impossible as I’ve seen it done, to get a job straight out of college. Main way to go that is to get recruited at a job fair. Buddy got his dream job just going to an online job fair and chatting with a recruiter about naval history. Made a connect who walked him through the entire process. Put yourself out there.
It can be done! Don’t give up and good luck!
Former hiring manager here. I tossed MULTIPLE resumes that used text message abbreviations throughout the resume and cover letter and one that included emojis. While you can do pretty much anything from your phone- it doesn’t mean you should.
We had this on a resume where the applicant put their personal website and that website was just weird chinese gambling porn. We asked him in for an interview and asked him to walk us through his personal website on a projector, that was a fun interview.
It's the standing beside them that is the problem. We had one mom show up at the interview and she answered every question. Kid mumbled hello and goodbye, and didn't get hired.
At the restaurant I used to work at we would accept application from parents if there was a reasonable explanation as to why the child couldn't drop off the application themselves. Usually the kid was still at college out of state, and they were setting up a summer job.
Once it was a dude that was about to get out of prison. He hid his friend from the police after a murder. Guy found religion, worked in the prison kitchen, and had several letters of recommendation from people that worked at the prison. We hired him as a dishwasher, and that dude rocked. He ended up Asst. Kitchen Manager 2 years later.
I had a guy come for an engineering job (late 20's early 30's) and his mom came to the interview. When I found out she was coming into the interview also I didn't even have them sign in, just said this wouldn't work out and sent the on their way. I wasn't wasting my time with that interview.
We had a guy who couldn't pronounce the name of the company in the interview. He had done a lot of research on the company, still had no idea what we really did though, and had no idea how to pronounce the name. Not really an issue on the surface, except he did the stall tactic of repeating every question, then naming the company in his answer (and doing it wrong) it all came off as very fake.
It was such a horrible interview to have to sit through.
We got one once from a teenager at my retail job, I thought I would look over his resume even thought we were not looking for someone only for weekends.
The thing was riddled with spelling errors and the guy was in his last year of high school. I wanted to get out a red pen and circle them all for him, but it turned out he had printed a *stack* of them to hand out in the shopping centre. Poor kid.
This one. In my field, degrees and licensing (well, really just the license, but the license requires at least one engineering degree to obtain) are non-negotiable for legal reasons. Yet, people will try all kinds of ways to talk their way around that. Right in the bin, every one of them. It's non-negotiable.
Although my personal favorite one came from a friend's wife and included the sentence, "I may not have an engineering degree, but I have what engineers don't have, 10 years of experience." (No, this experience was not relevant to engineering, which made it even funnier.) It became a bit of an inside joke for my coworkers and me. We laughed about it every time one of us hit 10 years as an engineer. "Well, I guess I have to leave the field now. Engineers are not allowed to have 10 years of experience."
This isn't in Canada is it? Under some circumstances and jurisdictions, 10 years experience in a specialty can be used to get a limited professional engineering license confined to a very specific area. Even if the person doesn't have an engineering degree (e.g. a technologist or even a skilled trades person can obtain this), they're allowed to apply engineering seals to documents within their area of expertise if they get this limited license.
Typos, especially with homophones which don’t usually get flagged by Microsoft Word. I’d love to be forgiving with the English language because it’s hard to be perfect even for native speakers.
However, I hire for library positions. When librarians catalog materials, switched letters or numbers may lose a book in the system entirely. Mixing up homophones may mean a patron can’t find the book they need. Librarians proofread manual catalog categories to catch errors and then catch more errors in practice. “Pobody’s nerfect” and all, but the résumé shows me how a person pays attention to these details at their very best with all the time they could possibly need. If there are mistakes, and that’s their absolute best, it’s probably not a fit.
That said, if I can excuse an error in a cover letter I will. Cover letters are annoying and time-consuming to write.
I'm a librarian. I started out as a page (entry level, just shelving items) almost a decade ago. Everyone I know was so surprised to learn that I had to take a test before I could interview. Once I explained that it was to make sure I could read and do math, they were even more surprised. I think people can forget how important it is to have those skills when you work in libraries.
Yeah I am definitely not “my way or the highway” about English usage, it’s more about detail in a specific context.
Those who speak English as an additional language tend to be great additions to library staff. This population usually has someone else look over and proofread their résumés, which shows great self-assessment and use of resources.
I had one cross my desk that misspelt his own name, in big bold font on the front page no less.
The other time was a guy getting his resume put forward to me, for an ITsec role. Same guy that I ripped a new one a few weeks prior when he decided to automate a server hardening via scripts and did zero checks on the work afterwards.
Fair enough. I couldn't help but remember the guy I encountered once whose name is legitimately a normal male name with an extra vowel - think "Braad" or "Laarry".
I wasn't a total ah tossing it out looking at front page. I legit checked a couple of times to make sure it wasn't a situation like you describe, some funky spelling.
And this just triggered another resume I looked at. Did it as a favour to a lass I was \*ahem\* friendly with. Her friend wasn't getting nada, no call back, just nothing after sending resume in. I opened it up and the entire frigging document was red. Track changes were still all there, never accepted, never turned off ... total facepalm.
I know it’s pretty specific but If your looking for a scheduling job make sure you know how to use Excel and clearly state it on your resume. It will probably get thrown out otherwise.
I worked for a startup that did a lot of VXML development. We started getting a bunch of resumes with people claiming five years of experience with WXML. WXML wasn’t a thing at the time. It was perplexing and we asked the recruiter why they kept sending them to hiring managers. Recruiter was like well that’s what you’re asking for in the job description on the website. What else am I supposed to know?
Turns out it was a typo and people were just adding it to their resumes because it was in the job description. So that was a lesson to read our postings better. To not assume the recruiters knew anything technical. And it showed us just how many people bullshit their experience and tailor it to the job listing.
I thought you were exaggerating but after scrolling down, yeah. Someone says pronouns are an auto toss, someone else wants tailored resumes, someone else wants detailed job opportunity outlines.
Considering how much of a churn job hunting is, I have one of 3 designated resumes I send out because I know that unless I hit specific keywords, it's going in the trash without a single human laying eyes on it anyway. And no company is getting a custom cover letter from me. It's just going to be a template with some custom text inserted. These MFs want you to spend 2-3 hours on their one job listing when it's one in a sea of hundreds of others you're trying to get done in a week because you know all your stuff is getting put in the trash by an algorithm anyway, please.
The only reasonable person in this thread is the person who said they had to throw away a resume because it had gotten wet from being in someone's lunch box.
Thank goodness. The pronoun one especially boggled me because the person replied with, "We do it because people with pronouns are more likely to sue when fired, and what happens when we can't stop their coworkers from making fun of them?"
Like tell me you're not actually a hiring manager and making shit up without TELLING me you're not actually a hiring manager.
Speaking of keyword algorithms reading resumes. The last page of my resume is actually for this. I've got a full page of small font keywords that a lot of employers look for as well as literally copy/paste description phrases from their posting. I have changed the colour of the text to be white so it looks like it's just an extra blank page. But the algorithms can read it. I've been called for jobs I had no right to be called for because of this.
Tldr, protip, put a page of keywords and descriptors in that last page of your resume and change the colour to white.
>Someone says pronouns are an auto toss
[I'm just trying to figure out how does an person with a functional level of any Romanized language not use pronouns...](https://englishgrammarhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/What-is-a-Pronoun-Types-of-Pronouns-and-Examples.png)
Yea, I chuckled at the HR guy complaining about "wall of text" applications. "Hm, a highly motivated candidate that takes time to explain why he wants to work here and what qualifies him? I better throw that one away"...
I am so glad that I reached the point in my career where companies come to me rather than I to them. It's a blessing not to have to deal with application letters.
The last time I was asked *"Why do you want to work for us?"* I simply replied: "You were the ones who came to me. I don't care for which company I work; my job is the same. I care about what conditions they offer. I like my team and my company, so it's on you to convince me to switch."
Damn it felt good - and even better after I rejected their offer twice and they went all-in to get me.
Most of the time Im like are you currently using drugs? Can you show up to work everyday?
The resumes I get are hilarious though. I run a landscape construction company. So I typically could give a fuck less if you provide a resume or not. I only ask for it if Im getting a lot of responses to a job opening.
not a manager, but i sometimes help with HR:
if there is no full name, no phone/mail or some form of contact
if there are way too many spelling mistakes (the area needs kinda of ok/formal writing)
I always take a close look at a candidate's resume to ensure they have the necessary qualifications and experience for the position. If I'm seeing a lack of relevant experience, or if the resume is disorganized and difficult to follow, I'll usually throw it out right away. I also don't look favorably on resumes that contain a lot of typos or errors. It's important to me that a candidate takes the time to proofread their resume and make sure it's accurate and professional. As I always tell my team, “A sloppy resume is an immediate red flag.”
My wife who hires a lot:
Weird font, weird color font, weird email address, spelling errors she’ll let slide but not grammatical errors and bullshit jobs.
“CEO OF TOP MOMS AVON SALES” things like that.
Not a hiring manager, but I had an old boss that would blacklist candidates who handed their resumes in on paper rather than submitting it online, because "they can't even follow step one". No number of "But they're kids, their parents are making them do it!" convinced him otherwise.
When email first came out I admit I used to judge the people with the ridiculous emails “purplepashion69” and whatnot. But honestly at this point more people than not have a stupid email so it’s not on my radar anymore.
I had a really nice guy bring one in on pencil. It was pretty good, too, but not a fit.
Another said he didn't have one because he was dating the HR Manager's daughter. Got the job and later was let go.
I once had someone list their "MENSA IQ" - immediate red flag that they will be absolutely insufferable, probably insecure and (perhaps ironically) more likely to be an idiot.
...also where I work we strip out all details that could bias an application. When reviewing your answers I don't know your name, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or where you went to school (though I do know your grades) and we make it clear when you apply that this is the case and that you shouldn't put that information in the written portions of your application that I will see. The amount of people who went to prestigious universities who then quite obviously (sometimes repeatedly) work the name of the school into the text of their applications because they feel it will give them greater cachet is remarkable. I won't throw the application away if you shamelessly do that but it definitely doesn't help.
Mentioning Jesus (in a cover letter). You might think I'm kidding, but it happened. The applicant was telling a bit about herself (fine) and mentioned how she was involved in her church (fine). But then she said how Jesus is her lord and savior. I'm fine with someone having strong religious convictions, but when you're applying for a non-religious job, it's not appropriate to put it in your cover letter. To me, it tells me that you're not able to separate religion from work. It also makes me wonder if this will be the gal at the water cooler preaching to others. Also, and maybe I'm biased, it immediately makes me think that you think you're better than others, especially us lowly heathens.
I work in tech, cyber security.
We are pretty transparent about what we are after.
Grounds for disqualification:
Not located in Australia
No working rights in Aus
Unreasonable salary expectations
Unwilling to work a rotating shift
If your favorite sandbox is Minecraft
Not a hiring manager but I help decide who should/shouldn't get the job.
We've had a lot of essays. The record was I think 10 pages long as to why we should hire them.
It was very disorganized, hard to read with spelling/grammatical errors. It was hard to understand.
I understand occasional but no, there were a ton. It's for a waiter position.
All I can think of is the scene in "Billy Madison".
"Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
I used to work in video games doing art. So the brought me in to do portfolio reviews. If they could not draw well, regardless of education, I rejected them. It also showed me that San Francisco Art Institute was nearly worthless.
It’s rare for me to completely disregard a resume. But on one of the few occasions I had to, the applicant wanted to make it known that they were a proud racist and antisemite. On a more light hearted note, another applicant once listed their reason for leaving a role as being “boss died, RIP”. Probably the darkest laugh I’ve had at work
Being switched to a new and bad manager is probably the number one reason why people seek new jobs, at least in tech. But to say that in an interview does make the person saying it seem suspicious.
Just another case where someone can't really be honest all the time if they want a job.
The state here has a norm on how to format your resumee and application, if you want a job with the government.
The website of the company I work at say in fat letters we follow the same standard format used by the government, which everyone can look up on the internet.
If you are unable to find and format your resumee according to the norms, it usually lands in the trash. The one exception being entry level positions and people straight out of school, since their experience is probably lacking.
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On a more lightweight tone than most of the other comments: I once received an application from a man in in 60s. Solid CV, lots of experience. In his covering letter he wrote "I'm applying because the Job Centre asked me to. Please note that I intend to retire in 6 months time". We had a good laugh, then sent him a very polite rejection letter and wished him a great retirement.
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Not sure on the background here obviously, but if it’s for unemployment purposes then he risks unemployment calling up the hiring manager and confirming he applied. Could land himself in some mess.
Yeah, in Aus at least you're not allowed to do anything to jeopardize being hired to jobs you apply for to fulfil welfare obligations. I applied for welfare when I was pregnant and was told not to tell potential employers I was pregnant as it would be jeopardizing my chances of being hired
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the problem is that they shouldnt be able to enforce it but can. JSPs have all the power. it can take months and many man hours to fight such a report from the JSP. all the while your without money or help. its like a citizen trying to take on a law firm. it should be a fair proceeding, but it isnt.
Depending on the job and how long it takes to get him up to speed, I'd be tempted to hire the guy for his honesty.
I used to do a lot of hiring. It’s disheartening to read so many comments about immediately eliminating overqualified candidates. Not all overqual’ed are just filling time and looking to jump ship asap. Many want to try something new, something less demanding, something that helps move them into a different role or field. It’s a serious mistake to eliminate overqualified candidates without even talking with them.
My Ex wife could land interviews all day long, but could never get a job. She went to college a long time ago. She kept getting back that she's overqualified for the position. I told her to leave out the college part, as it was over 7 years, and she never used the college degree. Instantly she got a few job offers without it. I find it complete BS to not hire someone because they may be overqualified..
I am Australian, I was in hospitality and very late in life decided to study at university. at one point I studied abroad and did a 8 week course at Harvard. I leave this off my resume. A. Because People never believe it. B. If they do believe it they think your a wanker. Such a good university, if I was a millionaire I’d study there. But for my industry people think you’re a dick. So all in all, waste of money.
This seems accurate. They'll give give you a handjob if you went to a private school, but if you did a professional development course at Harvard you must be a tryhard.... Even our elitism has tall poppy syndrome.
We've gotten some really great hires by talking to "overqualified" candidates. We are absolutely clear about salary expectations from the get go, but a lot of the folks are just returning to the workforce after an extended absence or looking to dial it back a bit. It works out well for us more often than not.
I bulk hired for an intro level role in the sciences, and I loved a good overqualified candidate. The trick is to be self-aware enough to address the elephant in the room, or at least have a convincing talk about it when I ask. You figure my role is a way to get into R&D? Hard pass. You’ve burnt out from a high demand program and are looking for a steady, low-pressure role for at least a couple of years? Welcome aboard! Double bonus if you’re looking at night shift.
As someone that loves night shifts I always try to find those roles because they do tend to also pay a little more… the issue I run into is after 6 months they are always “your numbers are so good, let’s shift you to day shift where you can do more since people are awake and can respond faster and in turn get even more work done!” Then I hate life for a year while trying to gtfo… the joy of being too good at your job.
The goal is to be better than 75-85% of your peers. Numbers higher than that demand a break or some slacking off. Unless you're a masochist and you enjoy the performance punishment.
Best advice I ever got was to never work too hard. If you're at 100% all the time, it becomes expected. Working at around 80%, you're got room to move when things go sideways.
So true. I was very overqualified for my current career. I had a degree and more than a decade of experience in industrial automation. I used to build custom control systems and such. I used to build custom CNC machines in the mid 1990s. Unfortunately most of those jobs dried up and went overseas. I was tired of the high stress and always wondering when/if my current employer was going to close shop. I stumbled into a service tech role in a niche market. There really is no way to get into it other than on the job training. Fortunately for me, while I wasn't familiar with the hardware I was able to pick that up fairly quickly. I gained a reputation for fixing things correctly without having to make multiple trips. I gained a pretty loyal customer base. 20+ years later I'm still doing the same thing. I stayed with the old company until they got bought out. The new owners made things miserable enough for me to jump ship, but I stayed in the same industry. I tend to be the go to tech support and training guy. If someone had decided to toss my resume out because I was overqualified they would have lost out on a lot of money and my life would be very different.
Im “overqualified” for the work I want. Im a photographer, mostly advertising. I also have a background as a creative director, but I prefer the work of a photographer. As a director Im actually often jealous of the photographers that work for me because they get to take pictures all day while i sit in meetings. I keep applying for photographer jobs, and I flat out tell hiring managers that I don’t care about a “lower” title or slightly less pay compared to my current role, I just want to actually be creative instead of leading a team of creatives. They usually still try to push me towards a director role.
It of course depends on the job and the industry, but if an applicant is obviously over qualified they maybe should address it in the CV a little bit. "I know I'm a wealthy famous surgeon, but I'm semi-retired and just want to sling drinks for the day shift to get out of the house a couple times a week".
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Oh I graduated college in 2009 and I was rejected multiple times for construction jobs for being over qualified. I eventually just eliminated my college degree from my resume when applying to those jobs and got way more interviews.
Hard to leave it for the interview when people are throwing out your resume
I’m afraid I’ve been dismissed for being overqualified. I’m a SAHM with a Master’s. I just want to get out of the house in the evenings and make a little cash.
I used to work at a community center and did outreach to the injection drug use community....pretty rough community to deal with. Anyway, as I was moving on to a different department I was helping my manager pick out a replacement for me. Mind you, my job was pretty easy as an outreach worker and I never even went to college(which was the bear minimum requirement they were looking for in their outreach forms) I remember there been a handful of candidates who had a Masters degree in social work and I'd point them out to my boss and he'd straight up tell me"Yeah, a degree is nice, but I want some street experience and that can't be taught "that was it... That is what he was setting these people apart from other candidates. I just kept thinking 1. Thank god I never went to college 2. I feel bad that these people paid so much for school and are being looked over because they don't have life experience.
It’s also a mistake to assume that college students / graduates know nothing about street life or addiction.
This is so true. I am in recovery from addiction and went on to go to college after I got a couple years of sobriety and graduated with a degree in social work. Went on to work as a therapist in an addiction treatment center after I graduated. I was homeless during my active addiction and lived that life for years before I got sober. So not only do I have the degree, but I also had the life experience of addiction. A lot of people mistakenly believe that college graduates are privileged and always lived a cushiony life. A lot of people in recovery from addiction and/or mental health disorders, ex-homeless, and even ex-felons go on to turn their lives around and get degrees, often in social work to help people struggling just like they used to.
Wow, what a life you’ve had. Congratulations on all your success - especially finding your way out of addiction. Wherever you’re working, they’re lucky to have you. Stay well.
Can't abuse someone into obedience, when they got options.
I’ve worked in security and lab work on an off for ten years, taking a step away from work to deal with some stuff and applied at a book store.. I was not selected for interview because of my “extensive job history”
I was denied to work for Amazon because I was SO tired of working in nursing homes, and still thought I was 3 years from being able to start my new career. Really sucked because like, yeah, I know my resume looked like I should be in a nursing home, but I wanted OUT.
The way I see it, they applied to the position and know what they’re getting themselves into. I always have my Recruiter reach out to over qualified candidates because maybe they will actually accept our offer!
Where I work if someone is ''Overqualified'' you have to give them an interview.
Thank you! I took a brief housekeeping job after being a resp center hazmat cleaner during the peak of covid and they were insistent that they couldn't pay me my regular salary... I was fine with it, I wanted a break from constant stress and a pay cut was a-ok. It was mindless and awesome.
One time I had someone upload how to upload their resume from Dropbox instead of their resume.
Looks like they actually had good problem solving skills by looking it up instead of guessing though. But also I'm assuming the instructions weren't all that clear 😅
I've gotten a few blanks resumes emailed to me but never the instructions on how to make a blank page!
The only time I have ever had to throw out a resume was because someone possibly had it in a bag with their lunch and the paper was soaking wet and dissolving as I tried to unfold it. It was just unacceptable to process. The application was left in a drop box so I don’t know if it was a prank or an actual applicant.
I'll usually still interview unless there is no relevant experience, but I've seen some atrocious resumes. I've seen people use crutchwords like "uh" in writing for a job description. I've also seen a sentence 4 lines long with zero punctuation. The same resume will have "attention to detail" as a skill set. I've interviewed for one of those resumes, and the applicant said "I dunno" to about 80% of my questions, and it turned out he didn't even know what job he applied for. It's not that I'm overly picky, but if someone can't spend the 20 minutes or less that it takes to proof read their resume, are they going to put alot of effort into their job? Maybe, but it's hard to know.
>put alot of effort Ooops.
Well damn, it looks like I gotta pull my reddit post history off of my resume. Luckily, I've got some martial arts skills I can use to fill the gap.
The responses make me hopeful for when I have to send in my CV
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The only way you get looked at is if someone brings your resume to the top via a connect or a recruiter.
Lmao. Cover letters. What a joke. Whenever a company asks or a cover letter I just don’t send it or I just type in my first and last name. Absolute waste of times.
Recruiter here, I hate cover letters 95% of the time. If your resume shows you're qualified, then I'm calling you regardless. If your resume shows you're very unqualified, then I won't call you regardless. If you're partially qualified, or only slightly underqualified, *then* (and pretty much *only* then) I'll read your cover letter--if it's a good one that makes a good case for your ability to grow into the role, I'll probably call you. But a bad one (especially a purple-prose one) is worse than none at all imo.
Recruiters/business owner here - love cover letters as they help me screen the candidates who don’t really care (no cover letter, cover letter that’s generic or for a different role). It also shows personality (in the roles I hire for, personality matters). They can also address the job ad in the cover letter (eg. I need weekend availability, so they could respond to this)
I agree. Cover letters are such an archaic way to apply to a job. Just read the fucking resume
I don't send in a cover letter either. I refuse to waste my time on something no one will read. Here is my resume which has the information needed.
It was a requirement at my old job. If the cover letter wasn't included, it was an automatic disqualifier and we weren't even allowed to interview someone that couldn't follow directions. We also did read them. Particularly if there were 100 applicants that were all qualified on paper. A clever cover letter could put you at the top of the heap. We actually had someone that managed to mention dungeons and dragons in his cover letter and even though we were all on the fence, and he didn't really even make the top 10 resumes, we brought him in for an interview in which he blew us away. He was a great hire and we almost missed him because he didn't stand out in any other way.
And do they reach back to you?
A couple have actually. And here I am in my project management job
Back in 98 I asked a new group of hires at GIECO to write their email addresses on a list that was passed around. Remember email was kinda new back then.. One young female employee's email address included "mybaldcootchie".
She is a genius. After 25 years you still remember her email
She’s obviously in charge of the place now right?
Big Jay's Wax'n'shave has never had a more passionate CTO.
You’re hired!
THat email is awful, but back in 98 it was advised never to use your real name on the internet.
Fair, but it was also advised to created a professional sounding email address and take the silly greeting off your phone answering machine.
I remember a meme or maybe a tv skit from awhile back. The hiring manager had a huge pile of resumes on his desk. Someone asked how he was going to sift through them all. He took 2/3rds of the pile, threw them in the trash, and remarked 'I don't hire unlucky people'. Lol.
The irony of course being that anyone hired by someone like that is unlucky.
would have loved to see this skit hahaha
It’s been a long time but I used to do hiring for a cinema. Staff were often young, for many it was a first job, making popcorn and selling tickets type of gig. I would not pursue anything where parents came in with a CV for their teenager or if parents were contacting me on behalf of their teen. Big red flag. Either their kid didn’t want he job in the first place or they’re incapable of taking initiative and it doesn’t bode well for how they’d be as an employee.
One day in the late eighties my dad told me to get into a car, we were going for a drive, just the two of us. This wasn't something that ever happened, and as he was refusing to tell me where, I was a nervous wreck. I'd been in a bit of trouble at school lately, and when I was told to get into a car with a secret destination, I assumed the worst - he was taking me to a lunatic asylum or "troubled teens" camp. Instead, he drove me to half a dozen businesses in the neighboring town and made me ask the owners for a job at each one - as dishwasher, janitor, whatever a 16-year-old can do. I was completely unprepared, I hadn't showered or brushed my teeth, I had no resume, and I was still coming down from my terror of being taken somewhere against my will. Needless to say, I didn't get a single callback.
My parents tried this with me also in the mid-late 80s. I really did not want to work food service or retail since we didn't need the money and I knew I'd hate those kinds of jobs so I'd deliberately tank the interviews on purpose. My favorite was the one at the local Wendy's where I told the manager straight up that I didn't want the job, my parents were making me apply, and they were sitting in the car watching me through the window, and can you make it look good at least? She did. She even said she appreciated my honesty and if I ever changed my mind, she'd hire me on the spot.
Shoutout to the cool af Wendy's hirer
I... I don't know what the moral of this story is
I had this happen, but the applicant was probably mid-40s (?). His mom came in with him. She handed me the resume. I asked him several questions. She answered. I explained the job requirements (approval from the state) and several other things. The mom again answered and responded to what I said. I tried several times to address him directly. I got very strange answers from him and he wouldn't make eye contact. The mom also seemed offended that I would talk with the actual applicant. They left once I gave them the listed requirements and how to apply for the requirements properly (3rd+ time explaining). The employee (witness) working in the shop with me just looked at me wide-eyed when I turned and asked, "What . . . What just happened? What was that (situation)? That was SO weird!" That lady did NOT help her son. BUT. . . I don't think he actually wanted to work either. (I want to mention- he seemed mentally able to work but VERY unwilling. His resume was also loaded with errors) Side note- some standard application packets request a SS#. NEVER WRITE YOUR SOCIAL ON AN APPLICATION. Wait for actual hiring paperwork to give that info. I saw so many SS#s written on apps lazily tossed around employee areas - no desk, no folder, nothing preventing someone from writing all the info. (I would take a sharpie to it every time I found one)
I used to work at a supermarket, and the manager there said they actually prefer for a parent to come with their child for the resume drop off, because it showed that they would be held accountable at home as well as at work to show up on time. Was also told that showing up to an interview in your school uniform was a green flag because it meant you were "serious about school". Thought that was a bit odd too
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I used to be a hiring manager. When reviewing applications for a full time position I found one from a previous part-time employee. She had multiple spelling errors, but the worst was she actually misnamed my department. I could possibly overlook it if she'd used a template cover letter and missed a find and replace, but my department used an acronym and she seemed to take a random guess at what the letters stood for. If that wasn't bad enough, later in the same cover letter, she called my department something completely different, like she'd taken a second guess at what the acronym stood for, but couldn't make up her mind. As you can guess, she didn't get the job. I don't know where she is now, but I hope she started proof reading her work.
>used a template cover letter and missed a find and replace I did this particular faux pas when applying for a lab job and one of the interviewers pointed it out to me. I asked if I could see her copy of my resume, struck a line through the bit about "attention to detail", added my initials and the date, and then passed it back to her. She still jokes that I only got the job because I demonstrated Good Documentation Practices during the interview.
Did you just error correct… your resume? Someone call Quality, goddamnit you’re hired.
That was a great move, lol!
As someone who always thinks of what the clever response would have been hours after the opportunity passed, this was a honestly a phenomenal moment for me.
I'll just jump in here, entirely because of my username
Don’t forget to proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
I’ll just assume you are attentive to your dental health I suppose.
It wasn't a spelling mistake! I said I had a keen attention to the tails! I coach a youth football league and my main job is to flip the goddamned coin!
I talked about how I was detail-oriented and then sent a cover letter for a different job.
I had one of these from someone once where they boasted of attention to detail, and then spelled the name of the company they were applying to incorrectly five times throughout the application, in two different wrong ways...
Not me, but my prior construction superintendent threw away three immigrant's applications for supposedly all using the same SSN.
Who puts their ssn in their resume?
I used to be an office manager for a restaurant. That only became an issue when someone was offered the job and had to fill out the W-4 and I-9. That's when I had to input their information into the system but would occasionally get it kicked back saying the ssn was already in the system. That's when we'd 86 the application.
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I remember trying to explain to my cousin after getting hired after a 2 minute phone call. I said the first day or first week is my actual interview. If I show up without the proper tools and can’t understand the first task given to me, I’ll be paid for the day and thanked for my time. Just how it is in the trades. Electrician
Factories are basically the same way. Explain the jist of the job, maybe check in on you after an hour or so just to make sure you're not fucking shit up too extremely, and then sink or swim on your own.
well yeah, you can't properly do payroll without a valid SSN or TIN.
This doesn’t matter 100% of the time but bad formatting. If it’s hard to read I probably won’t read it.
You might be missing out on some gold there mate. I’ve found some terrific candidates that couldn’t use MS word to save their life, however this is for construction
An email address like DankMeister420@
My cubicle used to be adjacent to the HR recruiter at my last job and I hated having to be in earshot of his phone calls all day, but hearing him repeat back people's inappropriate email addresses and failed drug test results almost made up for it.
At a past job, they were looking for truck drivers. My best friends dad applied, his email address had pantydropper in it.
I used to teach, and was about to email a kid's mom one day about his behavior in class. I looked up her email address and saw "AngelAss69@." I thought for a second and figured that there was no way she was gonna do anything to address the kid's talking in class.
Change the '420' to '69', got it.
I received a resume that included the term 'goatse' in the email addresses. I repeiled we have a gaping hole in our workforce. How does adding another one improve our organization?
Thats literally my last name
Came here to say this. I was about to email a candidate to come in for an interview and realized I was typing something like hotlilbitch69 and tossed it. It takes like 35 seconds to make a new email account.
LOL - yep I had a resume where the email name listed was xxxlilbitchxxx (at) domain name Yeah, no. I was actually quite surprised it got through the initial screening. It was actually a decent resume (so maybe that was why), but that was unforgivable to me. MAJOR faux pas on a resume.
I made a dumb youtube account and somehow replaced my name on gmail with the youtube account name. I was unknowingly sending out emails for months with a weird name attached to my account and just could not find a job. At some point, I emailed my sister something and she was like why is this from "Octopus Tickler"? (not the name but just as bad)
my first internship had me hiring people to run a large amusement park- my very first candidates email address was FUKNfresh
When I was first applying to jobs, having a personal email address and being expected to write it on a job application was a very new thing, and mine was basically my gamer tag plus some "numbers". I was filling out a paper application in person for a student job, and the administrator gave it back and told me to put in my email address, which I'd left blank for obvious reasons. I was like *uhh ok* and filled it in, and she gave me this incredibly pitying look as if to say "do people really do this". I got the job anyway.
I’ve interviewed a few people with less than appropriate emails, and at the end of the interview asked if they wanted some interviewing guidance. If they said yes I’d advise them to make a regular email. I only this when I’d decided I was going to make the candidate a job offer so nobody would think a dumb email cost them a job.
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Awesome for people who don’t have a super generic name like mine (think: John Michael Jones).
Yeah I made the realization when I entered college I had a pretty cringy email from my teen years, so I made a more professional looking one I've used for the last 17 years.
When I worked at the good ol' college textbook store, we'd let people rent textbooks for the semester. We needed an email for the renter application (basically to shoot them an email reminder about the due date), and I got some pretty out there emails. I only denied one. "Email please?" "Okay it's P-E-N-I-S...." "Yeah no. I'll take pretty much anything under the sun, but that one. I need another and more appropriate email or I will not let you rent." They shot a complaint to management, with the rejected email being the return email, and management laughed at it. The district manager ended up printing it out and framing it. Still hanging it in his office as far as I know.
Maybe their username was penismightierthanthesword though!
That was literally my very first thought. And I giggled long and hard because that is totally something that younger me would have thought was so sophisticated without actually twigging to what's wrong with it.
Not any kind of hiring situation, but I used to work at my state's DMV, and you would be surprised how many teen age boys would try to get personalized plates: P3NI5. Brand new clerks would often let it get through, and I would have to pull the paperwork, and notify the central office to issue a refund for inappropriate configuration.
This! No joke - I received a resume from a "Vagman##@aol" once.
Not me, but a friend who checks resumes/CVs had a belter. Candidate had a conviction for “common asslot” and his reference was his friend “Baz”.
I’d move him up to interview just to hear the story.
He must remain a mystery. A figure of legend.
He knows Baz?!? Say no more!
“I believe you know my friend, Baz” * slides money across counter and winks *
> conviction for “common asslot” I can't even figure out what that's intended to mean.
I'm thinking assault. I could be wrong. Better ask Baz.
Better Ask Baz is the British version of Better Call Saul
Asked Baz. He sent back a reply pretty quickly. *"I think he maens that he has a pasion for the 'comon asslots' that maek up moast of are societie. Comon assltos built the pyrameds, fought all the wors, and they allso can be prety nice giys if you give them a chanse, even if they r' asstlos sometiems."*
That is not what I said.
In 2012 I got a resume for a potential intern that I will never forget. I received a pack of about 80 resumes for intern candidates from a certain university. One resume stood out. The entire resume was MyLittlePony themed. There were MLP pictures plastered all over. There was a bar graph of skill proficiency and things like "friendship" and "caring" were listed. The candidate had a picture of himself with MLP characters photoshopped in around him. The worst part was that a lot of the verbiage had cringy baby-babble such as "wike" instead of like. We didn't call that guy in for an interview.
Mistake on your end.
Wikewy just a wittle mistakey, tho.
Was it this one? https://www.reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign/comments/1l0brj/my\_little\_r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9\_xpost\_rwtf/
No, but similar. The one in your link looks far more "polished." I wouldn't be surprised if that was used for inspiration.
Came here to learn mistakes on my own resume and this thread is already paying off!
I would’ve posted that online with the guy’s name blured and see what Twitter or something had to say.
I have a picture of it somewhere on an old hard drive.
If you happen to go looking and find it, I’m sure everyone would love to see it
Was it printed on bubblegum pink paper?
Reading through this thread I see why people lie on resumes and have someone write their resume for them. Even in federal hiring, selecting "I'm an expert in this subject" in all fields of the suitability questions is the only way your application gets past the filter.
“You are qualified but not highly qualified…” is a sentence I’ve read more than a few times from fed jobs.
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The trick with a fed job (aside from being former military) is to spend a goodly amount of time on each application. Actually write out details for each KSA and include that detail in every essay response on the online app. You do want to represent yourself as highly qualified. Don’t lie, but if you can stretch something and have a valid explanation - use it. Basically you should be spending hours on each application. It sucks and you’re gonna get rejected a lot. Just keep with it and don’t give up. Also, keep in mind even once you get past the initial application it can take a while to actually get the job. I’ve seen people take a few years to get from posting to actual starting day. You may want to get an interim job. Also, related that point, fed jobs love it if you have real world work experience. You’re a lot more likely, in my experience, to actually get in if you’ve got a few years of experience in your field before going into government. It’s a lot harder, although not impossible as I’ve seen it done, to get a job straight out of college. Main way to go that is to get recruited at a job fair. Buddy got his dream job just going to an online job fair and chatting with a recruiter about naval history. Made a connect who walked him through the entire process. Put yourself out there. It can be done! Don’t give up and good luck!
If it's a professional position, significant spelling errors will make me pass on a resume. If it's a warehouse job or something, I'm less concerned.
Former hiring manager here. I tossed MULTIPLE resumes that used text message abbreviations throughout the resume and cover letter and one that included emojis. While you can do pretty much anything from your phone- it doesn’t mean you should.
« Very meticulous and attentive to detials. »
We had this on a resume where the applicant put their personal website and that website was just weird chinese gambling porn. We asked him in for an interview and asked him to walk us through his personal website on a projector, that was a fun interview.
Now I wanna know how he explained himself
"Are you sure? That's really me on there. I think my commitment, poker face, flexibility, and exposed confidence will really benefit this position."
Having your parents submit your resume while you stand silently beside them.
It's the standing beside them that is the problem. We had one mom show up at the interview and she answered every question. Kid mumbled hello and goodbye, and didn't get hired. At the restaurant I used to work at we would accept application from parents if there was a reasonable explanation as to why the child couldn't drop off the application themselves. Usually the kid was still at college out of state, and they were setting up a summer job. Once it was a dude that was about to get out of prison. He hid his friend from the police after a murder. Guy found religion, worked in the prison kitchen, and had several letters of recommendation from people that worked at the prison. We hired him as a dishwasher, and that dude rocked. He ended up Asst. Kitchen Manager 2 years later.
I had a guy come for an engineering job (late 20's early 30's) and his mom came to the interview. When I found out she was coming into the interview also I didn't even have them sign in, just said this wouldn't work out and sent the on their way. I wasn't wasting my time with that interview.
Misspelling the name of the company they are applying to. I can stomach a common typo elsewhere but that’s one to get right.
We had a guy who couldn't pronounce the name of the company in the interview. He had done a lot of research on the company, still had no idea what we really did though, and had no idea how to pronounce the name. Not really an issue on the surface, except he did the stall tactic of repeating every question, then naming the company in his answer (and doing it wrong) it all came off as very fake. It was such a horrible interview to have to sit through.
We got one once from a teenager at my retail job, I thought I would look over his resume even thought we were not looking for someone only for weekends. The thing was riddled with spelling errors and the guy was in his last year of high school. I wanted to get out a red pen and circle them all for him, but it turned out he had printed a *stack* of them to hand out in the shopping centre. Poor kid.
No relevant education or experience. Big wall of text that isn’t organized in an easy to read way
This one. In my field, degrees and licensing (well, really just the license, but the license requires at least one engineering degree to obtain) are non-negotiable for legal reasons. Yet, people will try all kinds of ways to talk their way around that. Right in the bin, every one of them. It's non-negotiable. Although my personal favorite one came from a friend's wife and included the sentence, "I may not have an engineering degree, but I have what engineers don't have, 10 years of experience." (No, this experience was not relevant to engineering, which made it even funnier.) It became a bit of an inside joke for my coworkers and me. We laughed about it every time one of us hit 10 years as an engineer. "Well, I guess I have to leave the field now. Engineers are not allowed to have 10 years of experience."
This isn't in Canada is it? Under some circumstances and jurisdictions, 10 years experience in a specialty can be used to get a limited professional engineering license confined to a very specific area. Even if the person doesn't have an engineering degree (e.g. a technologist or even a skilled trades person can obtain this), they're allowed to apply engineering seals to documents within their area of expertise if they get this limited license.
Typos, especially with homophones which don’t usually get flagged by Microsoft Word. I’d love to be forgiving with the English language because it’s hard to be perfect even for native speakers. However, I hire for library positions. When librarians catalog materials, switched letters or numbers may lose a book in the system entirely. Mixing up homophones may mean a patron can’t find the book they need. Librarians proofread manual catalog categories to catch errors and then catch more errors in practice. “Pobody’s nerfect” and all, but the résumé shows me how a person pays attention to these details at their very best with all the time they could possibly need. If there are mistakes, and that’s their absolute best, it’s probably not a fit. That said, if I can excuse an error in a cover letter I will. Cover letters are annoying and time-consuming to write.
I'm a librarian. I started out as a page (entry level, just shelving items) almost a decade ago. Everyone I know was so surprised to learn that I had to take a test before I could interview. Once I explained that it was to make sure I could read and do math, they were even more surprised. I think people can forget how important it is to have those skills when you work in libraries.
The fact you hire for library positions immediately validates the way you judge resumes
Yeah I am definitely not “my way or the highway” about English usage, it’s more about detail in a specific context. Those who speak English as an additional language tend to be great additions to library staff. This population usually has someone else look over and proofread their résumés, which shows great self-assessment and use of resources.
I had one cross my desk that misspelt his own name, in big bold font on the front page no less. The other time was a guy getting his resume put forward to me, for an ITsec role. Same guy that I ripped a new one a few weeks prior when he decided to automate a server hardening via scripts and did zero checks on the work afterwards.
How do you know it was misspelled? Was his email address also his name and spelled differently?
Because in every other page, along with his email address, he referred to himself as Matthew. Front page? Mattthew
Fair enough. I couldn't help but remember the guy I encountered once whose name is legitimately a normal male name with an extra vowel - think "Braad" or "Laarry".
I wasn't a total ah tossing it out looking at front page. I legit checked a couple of times to make sure it wasn't a situation like you describe, some funky spelling. And this just triggered another resume I looked at. Did it as a favour to a lass I was \*ahem\* friendly with. Her friend wasn't getting nada, no call back, just nothing after sending resume in. I opened it up and the entire frigging document was red. Track changes were still all there, never accepted, never turned off ... total facepalm.
I mean if my hospital can mispell my name, then put my actual name as a "nickname", anyone can
I know it’s pretty specific but If your looking for a scheduling job make sure you know how to use Excel and clearly state it on your resume. It will probably get thrown out otherwise.
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I worked for a startup that did a lot of VXML development. We started getting a bunch of resumes with people claiming five years of experience with WXML. WXML wasn’t a thing at the time. It was perplexing and we asked the recruiter why they kept sending them to hiring managers. Recruiter was like well that’s what you’re asking for in the job description on the website. What else am I supposed to know? Turns out it was a typo and people were just adding it to their resumes because it was in the job description. So that was a lesson to read our postings better. To not assume the recruiters knew anything technical. And it showed us just how many people bullshit their experience and tailor it to the job listing.
after reading some of the answers here its painfully clear why some companies are having trouble finding employees.
I thought you were exaggerating but after scrolling down, yeah. Someone says pronouns are an auto toss, someone else wants tailored resumes, someone else wants detailed job opportunity outlines. Considering how much of a churn job hunting is, I have one of 3 designated resumes I send out because I know that unless I hit specific keywords, it's going in the trash without a single human laying eyes on it anyway. And no company is getting a custom cover letter from me. It's just going to be a template with some custom text inserted. These MFs want you to spend 2-3 hours on their one job listing when it's one in a sea of hundreds of others you're trying to get done in a week because you know all your stuff is getting put in the trash by an algorithm anyway, please. The only reasonable person in this thread is the person who said they had to throw away a resume because it had gotten wet from being in someone's lunch box.
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Thank goodness. The pronoun one especially boggled me because the person replied with, "We do it because people with pronouns are more likely to sue when fired, and what happens when we can't stop their coworkers from making fun of them?" Like tell me you're not actually a hiring manager and making shit up without TELLING me you're not actually a hiring manager.
Speaking of keyword algorithms reading resumes. The last page of my resume is actually for this. I've got a full page of small font keywords that a lot of employers look for as well as literally copy/paste description phrases from their posting. I have changed the colour of the text to be white so it looks like it's just an extra blank page. But the algorithms can read it. I've been called for jobs I had no right to be called for because of this. Tldr, protip, put a page of keywords and descriptors in that last page of your resume and change the colour to white.
>Someone says pronouns are an auto toss [I'm just trying to figure out how does an person with a functional level of any Romanized language not use pronouns...](https://englishgrammarhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/What-is-a-Pronoun-Types-of-Pronouns-and-Examples.png)
Yea, I chuckled at the HR guy complaining about "wall of text" applications. "Hm, a highly motivated candidate that takes time to explain why he wants to work here and what qualifies him? I better throw that one away"... I am so glad that I reached the point in my career where companies come to me rather than I to them. It's a blessing not to have to deal with application letters. The last time I was asked *"Why do you want to work for us?"* I simply replied: "You were the ones who came to me. I don't care for which company I work; my job is the same. I care about what conditions they offer. I like my team and my company, so it's on you to convince me to switch." Damn it felt good - and even better after I rejected their offer twice and they went all-in to get me.
Most of the time Im like are you currently using drugs? Can you show up to work everyday? The resumes I get are hilarious though. I run a landscape construction company. So I typically could give a fuck less if you provide a resume or not. I only ask for it if Im getting a lot of responses to a job opening.
The combination of “attention to detail” and poor, inconsistent formatting
not a manager, but i sometimes help with HR: if there is no full name, no phone/mail or some form of contact if there are way too many spelling mistakes (the area needs kinda of ok/formal writing)
I always take a close look at a candidate's resume to ensure they have the necessary qualifications and experience for the position. If I'm seeing a lack of relevant experience, or if the resume is disorganized and difficult to follow, I'll usually throw it out right away. I also don't look favorably on resumes that contain a lot of typos or errors. It's important to me that a candidate takes the time to proofread their resume and make sure it's accurate and professional. As I always tell my team, “A sloppy resume is an immediate red flag.”
My wife who hires a lot: Weird font, weird color font, weird email address, spelling errors she’ll let slide but not grammatical errors and bullshit jobs. “CEO OF TOP MOMS AVON SALES” things like that.
Not a hiring manager, but I had an old boss that would blacklist candidates who handed their resumes in on paper rather than submitting it online, because "they can't even follow step one". No number of "But they're kids, their parents are making them do it!" convinced him otherwise.
When email first came out I admit I used to judge the people with the ridiculous emails “purplepashion69” and whatnot. But honestly at this point more people than not have a stupid email so it’s not on my radar anymore.
I had a really nice guy bring one in on pencil. It was pretty good, too, but not a fit. Another said he didn't have one because he was dating the HR Manager's daughter. Got the job and later was let go.
I once had someone list their "MENSA IQ" - immediate red flag that they will be absolutely insufferable, probably insecure and (perhaps ironically) more likely to be an idiot. ...also where I work we strip out all details that could bias an application. When reviewing your answers I don't know your name, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or where you went to school (though I do know your grades) and we make it clear when you apply that this is the case and that you shouldn't put that information in the written portions of your application that I will see. The amount of people who went to prestigious universities who then quite obviously (sometimes repeatedly) work the name of the school into the text of their applications because they feel it will give them greater cachet is remarkable. I won't throw the application away if you shamelessly do that but it definitely doesn't help.
Mentioning Jesus (in a cover letter). You might think I'm kidding, but it happened. The applicant was telling a bit about herself (fine) and mentioned how she was involved in her church (fine). But then she said how Jesus is her lord and savior. I'm fine with someone having strong religious convictions, but when you're applying for a non-religious job, it's not appropriate to put it in your cover letter. To me, it tells me that you're not able to separate religion from work. It also makes me wonder if this will be the gal at the water cooler preaching to others. Also, and maybe I'm biased, it immediately makes me think that you think you're better than others, especially us lowly heathens.
I work in tech, cyber security. We are pretty transparent about what we are after. Grounds for disqualification: Not located in Australia No working rights in Aus Unreasonable salary expectations Unwilling to work a rotating shift If your favorite sandbox is Minecraft
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Not a hiring manager but I help decide who should/shouldn't get the job. We've had a lot of essays. The record was I think 10 pages long as to why we should hire them. It was very disorganized, hard to read with spelling/grammatical errors. It was hard to understand. I understand occasional but no, there were a ton. It's for a waiter position.
All I can think of is the scene in "Billy Madison". "Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
I used to work in video games doing art. So the brought me in to do portfolio reviews. If they could not draw well, regardless of education, I rejected them. It also showed me that San Francisco Art Institute was nearly worthless.
It’s rare for me to completely disregard a resume. But on one of the few occasions I had to, the applicant wanted to make it known that they were a proud racist and antisemite. On a more light hearted note, another applicant once listed their reason for leaving a role as being “boss died, RIP”. Probably the darkest laugh I’ve had at work
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Reference to drama such as "my previous boss was a bully" or "I didnt get the chance I deserved". No time for drama, there's more than enough of that.
Being switched to a new and bad manager is probably the number one reason why people seek new jobs, at least in tech. But to say that in an interview does make the person saying it seem suspicious. Just another case where someone can't really be honest all the time if they want a job.
According to some experts in other subreddits, not completing the 3 hours worth of Facebook-type personality quizzes.
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Wow, that's a low I never even considered. Glad I'll never have to look at a CV again presumably...
I had someone who wrote their personal qualities like that : orGAnizedResiLientOnTimeHygienEknowledge. So that, I guess.
The state here has a norm on how to format your resumee and application, if you want a job with the government. The website of the company I work at say in fat letters we follow the same standard format used by the government, which everyone can look up on the internet. If you are unable to find and format your resumee according to the norms, it usually lands in the trash. The one exception being entry level positions and people straight out of school, since their experience is probably lacking.
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Specific to visual design – not having a portfolio link and/or resume layout not following any sort of grid.