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".

A CV I saw a few years ago had ‘hobbies’ listed as chillaxing and days at the races (annual leave essential every year for Derby and Cheltenham btw)… yes he actually put that on CV!

Mine! One of my first jobs was putting up those white marquees for weddings etc. The official job title was 'tent erector.' Being an innocent 16 y/o I had no idea that this could also refer to something else, so proudly added the job title to my resume. It wasn't pointed out to me until a few years later..

My friend interviewed for a job. She was terrible/very nervous at interviews but an excellent and likeable person. They asked her in a previous veterinary receptionist role when she had gone 'above and beyond in the job.' She froze and couldn't think of anything, and then finally blurted out 'One time I gave the owners a hug after we put their pet to sleep, as they were very upset.' 😂

She got the job.

Shortlisting for an office job, I saw one applicant had included (on a 7 page long CV) a prize they had won for holding their breath the longest. I don't recall the exact length of time they claimed to have held it, but I remember being very underwhelmed.

Well, it annoys me the way that lazing around on holiday is somehow elevated when it's called "travelling." Lazing about on holiday for months on end is really self-indulgent, imo.

And What’s wrong with being self indulgent? What’s wrong with indulging ourselves - aka enjoying ourselves at some point in our lives? It’s a very odd puritanical notion to resent or disapprove of the fact that people spent time doing a thing they wanted to do and could afford to do. Has the corporate world brainwashed you into believing that only time spent making money for somebody else is time well spent?

Anyway.

Not exactly what you're looking for but for 45 years ive been listing "winter sports" in my personal interests on my cv and waiting for someone to ask me about my hobby.
Obviously (to me) its knitting and buying yarn.
Nobody has asked yet :(

Its was a CV of a guy that has taken time off to FT parent for a year, referred to it as 'The Child's name project' just couldn't see a mum doing the same

Sour grapes?

Squirrelblanket

On another for a business studies course, the statement was totally normal about why they wanted to do business studies, apart from the very last sentence which said 'I can run very fast like a horse.'

I just snorted at this, thank you for making my day😅

If someone lists it as a hobby, I would assume it’s something they do as often as they can through their life, rather than a one-off gap year. So perhaps using their weekends to visit different places, see new things. Isn’t that a more interesting way to spend their free time than stuck in front of a box set?

I would take them on straight away 🤣

In the old days of paper CVs, DH once received a CV for a researcher job in his office, with a nude photo attached.

That's the sort of boss a lot of companies need. Having worked as a regional director i retail I've had some awful "university degree graduates" getting management roles because they looked good "on paper". My best staff and managers were those that started at the bottom and worked their way up, many of whom wouldn't get a look in now without a degree. When a manager I was instructed by HR to employ a young man with a hlowing CV although I wanted a different person. That young man went on to steal from the store, and be involved in the break in and robbery of the store. I resolved to always follow my gut instinct from then on. I do like a little humour in a job application though 😉

I don't often get asked, but we needed a replacement party chief, who controls marine seabed surveys. The other guy had holiday booked.

A manager asked us to lookat 3 CVs and we more or less decided right away. We knew too, one excellent and competent and the other a lazy git, who tried to palm his own stuff off on anyone and everyone. He got binned immediately.

The third came across as very arrogant and self aggrandising, so we binned him. We looked him up on LinkedIn and FB and the comments were along the lines of "Up his arse, nasty, knows nothing, everything touches turns to shit..."

Bullet dodged.

When our guy arrived, we mocked him over his CV, not just the length, but the passport pic in the top corner... he looked like a televangelist, blond coif, head back, chin up slightly and looking to the side slightly, gleaming ultra bright choppers in their full glory!

That's lovely. Glad she got the job.

One of the receptionists at my vets gave me a hug after my dog was pts when I really needed a hug.

She's lovely as well.

I can think of two:

Publisher’s PA position: went into great detail about their career as a child actor in a little-known 70s sitcom with Wendy Craig.

Marketing Assistant role: over a page on their collection of ceramic cottages, organised into categories.

One applicant put on his CV that his wife was a nurse. During the interview he made lots of references to her which seemed odd. A colleague said that he was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, She thought that it may be that he wanted to make very clear that he was unavailable.