To ask for the biggest CV fails you've come across?

I can't now find the post that I wanted to quote, but it was from someone saying they don't understand why people include a hobbies section on CVs.

People of my age (mid 50s) were taught to include a hobbies and interests section when we learned how to do a CV. Some of those people will have been in the same job since leaving school in the mid 80s and haven't caught up that the accepted way of doing this has changed.

Thank you. I'll see about doing that

@Lookingallthetime you might find it worth going through a recruitment agency and get their help for that? I had been in the same role for decades and my CV was pretty oldstyle and I just did not really know what was wrong with it. I went to a recruitment agency and they re-did it according to the current preferred fashion for my industry and it was via them I then got my next role.

Very best of luck!

Sorry guys perhaps I should start a new thread.

OK so I have loved reading this thread but it's alarmed me somewhat. I am a 45 year old looking for work. Can someone help me with what a CV should look like these days pls? I'll remove hobbies! I don't have typos but worried it's too old school. Thanks to anyone that can help me. I've been out a while so it won't necessarily be easy finding work. Sorry to sidetrack the post at all.

This made me laugh harder than anything I’ve ever read on Mumsnet

Years ago when looking over applications to teach on Business Studies courses, every one that had "buisness" in the covering letter went straight in the bin. For context all teaching jobs had application forms not CVs back then. They might still do for all I know.

But just because they maybe shouldn't be there, from a recruiting (but not necessarily a candidate) pov, that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes give applicants an advantage that they would obviously want to capitalise on - even if maybe unfairly.

Moreover, considering how very many men who 'just happened' to have the fact that they attended Eton/Harrow/Winchester or similar on their CV mysteriously end up altogether in high-powered, highly-paid jobs that they seem summarily unable to cope with at all, can you really blame an intelligent and capable person who went to an unremarkable comp in Wrexham for mentioning a hobby or interest that they know might put them in a favourable light or open up a natural opportunity to positively 'sell' themselves?

Love it!!

Not quite the same thing, but I do wonder if these two gentlemen got their jobs/assignments 100% purely because of their personal skills!

Also remembering the ever-hilarious debacle featuring poor Guy Gomer, who had applied to the BBC for a backroom job and found himself being interviewed on live TV as their 'expert' on something he (unsurprisingly) had no idea about at all!!

I'm just wondering now what would have happened if the company to which you were applying were some kind of food business, and you later discovered that they made billions by launching 'their' exclusive extremely-popular curry, based entirely on your recipe that you sent them - like in the Beefy Bake episode of Still Game with Pete the Jakey

Of course it's not.

But good recruitment practice is to eliminate possible sources of bias and discrimination.

It used to be standard to put your age, sex and marital status right at the top of the CV. We've stopped doing that. As several PP have pointed out, in some countries photos are expected - and judged in discriminatory ways. There was a brief flirtation with them on British CVs too, but fortunately people realised how harmful it was.

Hobbies don't usally tell you if someone can do the job, and can be detrimental, so shouldn't be part of a CV. If they actually are relevant to a particular post they can be explained in the skills section.

😂😂😂 omg classic

I work in an industry where everyone dresses casually most of the time. I once advertised for an entry level short term freelance job and got hundreds of CVs.

One of them stood out because her default email avatar showed her in so few clothes she may as well have been in her pants. It was deeply inappropriate, not just a low cut top.

I assumed she had inadvertently sent the email from a personal / private account she didn’t usually use for work. Easily done. I almost told her because the CV itself was OK, and it’s a male dominated industry. I’ve done well because some excellent women in positions of power supported me well at the right times, often with very direct feedback, and i try and return the favour to the next generation when I can.

But I was very busy so never did it, then decided it was too late and would be a bit weird, so I moved on.

Imagine the sigh of relief I heaved four months later when she appeared in a major London newspaper claiming she had got a new freelance gig and been sent straight home for wearing inappropriate clothes. Believe me, this is quite an achievement in my industry… she was claiming it was a normal white blouse and it was gender discrimination because she had big boobs.

i think it was probably the blouse she had on in her avatar. Jeez. Lucky escape. If I had emailed to mention the avatar thing it would likely have been me in the press. But I still can’t believe anyone would think it was OK for anu professional environment.

😂

We did get a memorable CV at one point where the prospective candidate stated “I thieve in a pressured environment.” I presume that was an autocorrect of a misspelling of “thrive”, and hopefully not an honest admission.

Where did you see that @HaventGotAScoob ? I've been using PDF only because of advice saying ATS scanners can't always accurately read Word docs e.g.:
https://www.jobscan.co/blog/resume-pdf-vs-word/

Hope all my applications haven't been auto rejected!

@ThisHumanBean it really made me laugh too! But I got a blank look from her when I pointed it out by saying "So, you like to do your dog, do you? I am sure that's illegal?"

@TruthorDie nope! In her forties.

I read it as a mistake, rather than her not actually understanding that a letter should be signed.

I am not sure it is. Presumably she wasnt getting any interviews at all, so hopefully came away from it with some useful information about how to better apply for jobs and be more successful.

Unless it was done just to take the piss and call her an idiot of course, in which case yes it was nasty.

How nasty is that?

Once got one where the cover letter was a single line that invited me to check the candidate's Instagram and see whether our company might 'fit with my vibe'.

Another memorable one came with the cover letter and cv both in pdf format in 8pt Edwardian script bold. To this day I have no idea what either actually said.

My favourite was from a candidate who sent 7 pages and 4 photographs of himself in different hats. The 7 pages was a slight surprise from a new graduate... but 1 entire page was a complete list of all the VIPs he had served in a restaurant over the summer - the biggest name being the local mayor. (The job he was applying for was for a research position not a restaurant).

When I applied for my first job, way back when a letter would do, before even CV's, I didn't sign the letter. Got an interview for a PO counter job but he'd only asked me in to say "what a way to go about applying for a job"

Not mine but when I was shortlisting for a very specialised health care professional/rehab physio position, we had an applicant who was neither a qualified HCP nor had any relevant experience at all. In fact he was a grave digger.

In an interview for a visitor attraction I asked a candidate what they would do to increase footfall. They kept talking about football.

An old friend of mine was a very funny charming guy, he was a bit marmite and a big personality, but his CV had nothing to reflect this and he was applying to big corporations so knew he wouldn't make it past the first round. So made up ridiculous hobbies and interests and usually one a bit shocking that made you wonder if you misunderstood. Like: gin tasting, taxidermy and dogging. He got called for lots of interviews, people thought I just need to meet this guy. At interviews he straight away owned up to it and apologised for the lie but he really wanted this opportunity and thought it was a good way to get their attention etc, he really just liked drinking in the pub with his mates. It worked, he got offered a few jobs.