I've seen posts about people having parents inquire about jobs for their kids, and other crazy job application stories, but haven't had any good stories of my own to share until now!
I just got a resume where the wife is applying FOR her husband, and the resume includes a half page family picture. She says "we look forward to hearing for you.... if we can be of further assistance..." and signs her name at the bottom. Couldn't she at least have pretended the email came from her husband?
Then a couple days ago, I got an applicant whose cover letter was basically accusing all employers for the fact he hasn't found a job since graduating. And who wouldn't want an employee with "a strange sense of humor" or "who will never take a sick day unless he is vomiting blood".
I've caught people lying on their resumes during interviews.
The funniest one lately was a guy whose resume was like 4 pageslong and the first page was all adjectival puffery (e.g., Remarkable negotiating skills, extremely competent, astounding ability to communicate). Um, I care what you've done, not about your superlative characterization of generic skills.
Post by 5kcandlesinthewind on Oct 3, 2012 13:24:35 GMT -5
Not a resume, exactly, but: I work for a grad school directing professional development programs for public officials, and a couple of years ago, this actor/bouncer applied for several of our programs. And then he followed-up via email with a)his c/v, and b) a head shot of him, shirtless. Yeah. He wasn't a fit to begin with, but now he's infamous in our department.
A recent law school graduate that I've met (because she will attend the opening of an envelope if there's a chance to network there) had Tulip Festival Queen or court, whichever it was on her LinkedIn page.
I don't know if she thought it was an actual accomplishment, or if she had it on there to try to emphasize to potential employers "I have a local connection! I'm from here!" but it was kind of funny.
She has 20 different entries under "Experience" (also on LinkedIn), spanning 2004-present. (I actually counted.) All but three or so are since 2008, when she started law school. Yikes.
I just finished a round of campus recruiting (for engineers, mind you). My favorite resume had the following listed under "Honors and Awards":
"I enjoy making videos of myself doing a type of dance known as 'jerkin'. My YouTube account as over 180,000 views from these dancing videos."
Congratulations?
OMG LOL--I would have thought he needed a sock and some lotion.
someone didn't quite think through how that summary would look to a random observer hahaha. And only 180,000? I wouldn't think that's worth bragging about these days.
We had a search for a director position last spring. We received a resume/CV from a gentleman who was older. He provided a full paragraph in his cover letter about how we should not discount him because of his age
Also, we received an application from a co-worker in our office who is not well liked. While they met the technical qualifications, the history of poor behaviors/decisions and personality issues over the years they have been there made her a clearly unsuitable candidate. Their CV and cover letter had several blatant errors and stretches of truth. Awk-Ward.
Not a resume, but my boss was recently working with a recruiter to fill a position. Recruiter brings boss a candidate who was "marketing director" at Company A, at which he made $200,000 annually. As it turns out, boss owned and was CEO of Company A when Candidate was employed there. Candidate was actually an intern.
I critique resumes for a living. I have seen some special ones come across my desk recently. Today I had one from a Sous Chef that was perplexed about why he wasn't getting called for interview. I think there was a spelling error in every sentence. My favourite one was when he declared "Cokking is what I love to do!"
Our amusing stories usually come from applicants who have received rejection letters. My favorite was one who said she didn't have a degree but degrees are worthless when you have a lot of experience. I work for a college, by the way. Thanks for telling us our product is worthless.
Post by definitelyO on Oct 3, 2012 14:41:01 GMT -5
these are hilarious!! just makes me shake my head at some people. I haven't had any - but did have the guy present great - getting ready to offer him a job - did a background check and found out that he was arrested and getting ready to go to trial for kidnapping and attempted murder of his girlfriend!
I once had a candidate start an answer to a question with, "I don't know if you know anything about using computers." He was interviewing for an analyst position where you use excel all day and I told him in the first two minutes of the interview that I used to be an analyst.
I'm on a selection committee for a scholarship and several people used their parents as references.
I don't get many crazies, but we had a nut in an interview the other day.
We were interviewing for job A. But the candidate asked if he was qualified for a higher level job in the department. We said no. He then asked when higher level job was hiring. We said now, but the requisition is closed to new applicants. Next hiring would be 6 months. For the rest of the interview (thank god this was the end anyway) he tried to talk us into hiring him for job B now which we told him he wasn't qualified for and we couldn't do even if we wanted to.
Post by darthxtater on Oct 3, 2012 16:13:19 GMT -5
Through college I worked at a fastfood restaurant in a mall. We would have groups of high school kids come in and destroy the place leaving messes everywhere...Then apply for a job, giving us all their personal information!
Also worked in an arcade in a mall where we had to move 400 pound games frequently. A guy applied that had personal hygiene problems, that was in a wheelchair and a sex offender.
One that stands out for me (and I actually emailed to myself) came from someone with an email address of: neptunebitch69@______.com
I LOVE IT when people have ridiculous emails on resumes. It kills me. Almost as great as people applying for jobs who have ringback tones (first of all, what adult has ringback tones) that include babymaking music or hardcore rap. Awesome.
Almost a decade in HR and people are still killing me. I should start a blog, but I'd probably be found out and get fired
One that stands out for me (and I actually emailed to myself) came from someone with an email address of: neptunebitch69@______.com
I taught Career Development at a 2-year college. I held a resume seminar, and I found myself having to say "If your boss could get sued for sexual harassment, or fired, for calling you by your email address, then you need to change it." I'd say "Neptune Bitch 69" fits the bill!
Post by thinklikeajellyfish on Oct 3, 2012 18:43:06 GMT -5
At my previous job we had an applicant who looked like she was high. She wasn't really paying attention during the interview, not making eye contact, eyes blood shot, smelled like weed. You get the idea...
Her phone rang during the interview. She answered it. She chatted for a moment with whoever was calling her. Then she just walked out without a word. ^o)
DH was hiring a graphic designer a few years ago. Some of the more memorable ones he received were a cover letter that included a top ten list of reasons why he should hire the applicant (one of which was that the applicant would work for "a measly $70K"... the job paid $50K); a resume that had rather unique headings (e.g. "getting my learn on" instead of "education"); and a resume and cover letter in pink font and decorated with pink hearts.