Cathie's Corner Blog

Too Many Job Hunters Need A Lesson In Hiring 101

(Published July 27, 2009)

A few of my HR buddies and I were sharing stories about strange résumés or applications we've received. Everyone gets their share of those, and with the current economy, I'm sure everyone is getting a lot them!

Of the résumés I've personally received, my favorite was the one that had been set up as the front page of a newspaper. If I'd been looking for a Creative Director or even an Advertising Manager I'd have been impressed, but I was looking for an accountant — not somewhere I want to see a lot of creativity! But that doesn't compare to one my friend received that had pentagrams all over it, without explanation. Or the one received by another friend — it had been reduced and placed inside a fortune cookie.

Several people had things to say about misspellings or grammatical errors in résumés they'd received. I had an interesting example of a failure to proofread: The applicant claimed to have an associate's degree on page one, and it miraculously changed to a doctorate by page three. Must have been quite the thesis he wrote there!

And, of course, there are the ever-popular inappropriate return e-mail addresses. Some real-life examples: biteme@…, totallywasteddude@…, sex4Uanytime@….

There were also lots of good stories shared about the things that were attached to applications. One manager had someone attach his birth certificate. Several had received pictures — one of the applicants explained that while she had none of the qualifications needed for the job, she was very good-looking and it would improve morale to have her on staff. (The hiring manager declined.) Another applicant answered the question, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" by noting, "See attached sheet"…and the sheet was darned near full!

At least three people had stories about family members who got a little too deeply involved in their spouse or child's application, including actually filling out the application for them.

While all of the above anecdotes show that some individuals need to be clued in on the do's and don'ts of applying for a job, there are also some people who just don't seem to understand the whole concept of applying for a job. One manager relayed that she gets a lot of résumés of the following type: "I am applying for your CFO position. I have 20 years of financial experience. If you are interested in seeing my résumé, please contact me at [phone number]." How about just sending the résumé, instead of making the employer work for it? Another one reported that applicants answer the question, "Position applying for" with, "Will discuss at interview." She complained, "I have eight open positions. Can you at least give me a clue?"

We all have these stories — share yours below!

Catherine Bannon is an HR consultant in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting practice.

Posted by Editorial at 7/27/2009 8:34 AM

The applications I love are the ones where "anything" is filled in when "Position for which application is being made" is asked. This happens in good and bad times. Apparently one can count filling out an application for "anything" as proof of seeking a job for unemployment benefits purposes.
Posted by: Gin at 7/28/2009 3:20 PM

I get annoyed when someone has another person complete the application. It's always so obvious when the handwriting is perfect until the signature, which is total chicken scratch. If the person can't fill out the application himself, I have huge reservations about hiring, even though the hiring managers don't think it's a big deal. They look at it as the applicant simply having bad handwriting and wanting to make a better impression. My thoughts go elsewhere.
Posted by: Shelley at 7/28/2009 4:34 PM

Where to start with the resumes?
Got one from a Dog Warden for a project manager position and one from a local food store meat department manager for the same job
Got one from a botanist for a calibration tech position
Got one written in text boxes
Regularly get them written in all caps, no dates, no company names, every word capitalized, grammatical and spelling errors everywhere you look
ACK!
Posted by: Terrie Zens at 7/28/2009 4:44 PM

A recent applicant responded to me by e-mailing her resume and cover letter in a group e-mail so that I knew every employer she was contacting. Needless to say I did not contact her.
Posted by: Patty Kelly, VPHR at 7/28/2009 5:26 PM

I have received thousands of resume's over the years. My biggest pet peeve is when they don't change the cover letter and it's addressed to someone else or their objective is for a position we don't even have in my company. Lack of attention to detail definitely causes me to pass over that resume. If they don't pay attention when they should be trying to make a good impression, imagine what they will do once they have the job.

I am intrigued by the resume set up to look like the front page of a newspaper. Now that is creative. I may try that sometime :)
Posted by: Rosie at 7/28/2009 5:29 PM

If you are hiring for positions that do not require reading/writing as an essential function it could be that someone else filled out the application because the applicant can't read - it's more common than you think!
Posted by: Diane at 7/29/2009 8:08 AM

I have a VP position open which requires specific experience, not learn as you go. I have received tons of resumes from people who held VP positions in other fields which have nothing to do with our fields. I also get a far amount of entry level applicants who must be fulfilling unemployment requirements.
Posted by: Grace at 7/29/2009 9:09 AM

I especially like when the resume reads, "great attntion to details"! I pass on those fairly quickly!
Posted by: Autumn( Visit ) at 7/29/2009 9:37 AM

@ Grace:
But they are all fast learners, right?
Posted by: Terrie at 7/29/2009 11:02 AM

I like the one I received with reason for leaving: Misunderstanding of employment status. Does that mean he wasn't sure if he ever had the job or not sure he was fired. lol
Posted by: Gayle( Visit ) at 7/29/2009 11:15 AM

I received a cover letter a long time ago that I will never forget. It was from the ruler of the universe. She filled her letter with all sorts of religious symbols and informed me that she was destined to work for us. Interestingly, she didn't leave any actual contact information.
Posted by: Linda at 7/29/2009 6:09 PM

I have applications on my desk every day, and a high proportion of them are from young people. I had one in particular recently, and the young man followed up with a telephone call (or 10) and was told each time that I would get back to him as soon as I started to review the new pile of apps. A few days passed after his last call, then we got a call from his Mother, who chewed out a staff member because I had not called her son back as quickly as she would have liked, and that I should get my stuff (she didn't say stuff!) together and give him a call. Needless to say his application has gone in the NO pile. Last thing I need is a teenager AND his Mother working for me. I can only imagine what would happen in the event I have to discipline him!
Posted by: Gentriff at 7/30/2009 1:23 PM

How about the applicant who emails his resume with a cover page saying he'll do anything for anyone; his objective is to have steady income so he can go to school...Oh yeah, almost forgot; he was looking for work in a completely different area - 115 miles from us!!
Posted by: Janie at 7/30/2009 3:17 PM

It doesn't matter what position is advertised; the resumes and cover letters are the same. Like Rosie, my pet peeve is cover letters and objectives that are not changed to fit the position being advertised. Depending upon how busy I am, I will sometime request a visit (interview) from a really odd applicant. We once hired someone whose resume described her life in herbal medicine. She applied as a secretary.
Posted by: Janie at 7/30/2009 3:33 PM

When I was working the HR Admin gig at a aluminum castings plant a few months ago, we had a "we're hiring" sign on the front lawn. Big mistake. We hired all our plant workers through an agency, temp-to-hire after 90 days. When we got a walk-in, we would give them the agency application, and tell them to contact the agency.

I had a probably 40-45 yo woman walk in cold one day and wanted to apply. I said we are only hiring plant workers, what is your factory experience? Well, no, she had office experience. Can I apply anyway? Well, yeah, you can apply, but what I wanted to say was, it's hard, dirty work, with long hours and crappy pay and there are no women on the plant floor. Do you REALLY want to apply? Discretion ruled.
Posted by: Patty at 7/30/2009 3:34 PM

How about the resume I received, where the applicant claimed to have perfect attendance for the past 4 years, at a job where he was responsible for keeping the commissary clean? He sent it using a Department of Corrections fax . . .
Posted by: Joyce at 7/30/2009 3:42 PM

Or the cover letter that stated 'I want to no how to get on your paid roll'.
Posted by: Joyce at 7/30/2009 3:45 PM

How about showing and talking about the good resume's ?
Posted by: parachetequeen at 7/30/2009 4:52 PM

Some favorites:
A person who put 4 pages on the copier and reduced the copy to get all four on 1 sheet of paper and then faxed it. I appreciated his attempt to save my paper, but legibility was a problem.
Also, when advertising for an endocrinologist, which specified medical degree and state licensing, received resume from a dog groomer. Also a CFO applicant who was a minimum wage groundskeeper with some accounting classes under his belt.
Posted by: Penny( Visit ) at 8/3/2009 12:23 PM

I once received a resume in response to a receptionist position we had open. The applicant had over 25 jobs (none of which were receptioist related)listed in the past 8 years! Clearly, job hopping was an issue. She also had a number of misspellings on the resume. However, the icing on the cake was that twice in her job history, she listed her job as "dancer" at a strip club in which her job duties included serving drinks and "entertaining" guests. Needless to say, we didn't call her for an interview.
Posted by: HR Lady at 8/4/2009 1:58 PM

The most interesting application that I reviewed was from a young man who answered the question concerning the hightest education grade completed. His answer was "C+". We just had to called him in for an interview and he turned out to be the one of the best employees we hired.
Posted by: Margaret Valdez at 8/4/2009 2:01 PM

@Linda 7/29
Why didn't you hire me?
Posted by: Terrie at 8/12/2009 1:02 PM

I second the motion from the person who suggested a discussion/article about good resumes. That would be helpful.
Posted by: Barb at 8/27/2009 1:06 PM

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Too Many Job Hunters Need A Lesson In Hiring 101