What's the oddest thing you've seen listed on a CV?

[FelicityShagsWell]

What's the weirdest thing you've seen on a CV? I received one in application for a job and they had put a hobbies section in which they'd listed "smoking".

Isn't green ink widely considered a worrying sign that someone is completely batshit?

looks at the bottle of green fountain pen ink on my desk

ABC, always thought it was a school joke until I saw it listed with dates and a reference.

Haha that is funny!

ABC?

A cover letter stating she had no relevant experience for the role she applied for,or indeed, any work experience at all, ‘but my husband believes I would be very good at this job and assures me I will be interviewed’.
Under hobbies: ‘single-handedly saving remote Patagonian villagers from otherwise certain peril armed with only a banana and a unicycle’. When asked why, he said he wanted to know if anyone actually bothered to read through to the end of anyone’s CV and complimented our attention to detail. We set him free to continue his quest.

Degree… in circus 🎪 skills (kid not!)

Many years ago a company I worked for had a standard application form and I would vet the forms.
On the personal details section it asked for:
”next of kin” and “relationship”. i.e.
Next of kin - John Smith.
Relationship - Husband.

Someone wrote his father’s name in the next of kin box and for relationship he answered “good”. 🤣

Omg, I know how they feel.

Honestly, so many of these are laugh-out-loud. This is the best thread I've read in ages.

This is a lovely story.

Perhaps they might decide to do that if their name is not consistent with what one might expect from a native English-speaker?

You can get a degree in circus skills. Something to do with the Conservatoire of Dance & Drama, I believe.

Thanks, thought it was quirky and impressive in equal measure.

Correcting someone’s Latin is my Mumsnet Moment of the day. 👏👏👏

More honest than most of the reasons people give. It's never acceptable to admit that the actual reason you're applying for a job is for money (for Nike or otherwise), but in most cases, it is. But no, we used to have to write that we wanted the Maccys job because we were excited about developing our customer service skills and thrived in fast-paced environments.

I didn’t see anyone who had the misfortune to read my application!

I had been an au pair and asked the mourner of the family for a reference. She was sent a pro-forma by the company. She printed it out, had the children (age 11,8 and 5) fill it out and the scanned it in. They spoke some English, but not a lot!

The father, who spoke more English and worked in the corporate world, found out and sent a follow up apology to the company.

I actually got the job despite, “she is is strict about watching on tablets” and perhaps thanks to, “she makes yummy cakes.”

A photo of him sat astride a dead exotic beast (can't remember what type - a big one) holding the gun he has just used to kill it.

I think he misjudged his audience.

I once saw a CV where the entire opening statement was about his love of Dr Pepper!

'I solve your prombles'.

.

@Elsvieta: Germany, Austria, Poland, The Czech Republic republic, Sweden, Finland, most central and Eastern European countries. Very normal even today in 2026, along with a photo…which is great for anyone not white or who wears a niqab. Half of my family and DH are from one of these countries, and Location of birth are also asked for still.

Very useful, if you have prombles.

Explanation needed, please.

Nicola? .… Too soon? 🤣

What an amazing thread. Still chuckling at running very fast like a horse. If that was emailed in I can only assume someone added that line and the person applying didn't catch it.

And if it was handwritten I have even more questions.

Deleted - somehow deleted the post I was quoting, see below