to think that people have no idea how to apply for jobs?!

[myteenytinyteapot]

Just that really. Hiring for a senior admin person at the moment and have had hundreds of applications but honestly only about four shortlistable ones. I have had:

• CVs which include full-length glamour model style photographs of applicants
• CVs without cover letters when the advert clearly asks for a cover letter
• CVs and cover letters riddled with spelling and grammatical errors
• CVs which are 20 pages long and go into loads of detail about the hobbies and interests of the applicant. Also hardly anyone uses page numbers!
• Cover letters which are obviously just generic copied and pasted mass send out jobs - "I am writing to apply for the position advertised". Couldn't even be arsed to put in the job title!
• People applying who don't have any of the essential requirements listed

AIBU that I'm not surprised people can't get jobs if this is the general standard considered acceptable?!

I am wondering if I have no idea how to apply as I cannot get an interview for jobs I totally match the skillet for 😬😬😬 spent 2 hours yesterday filling in an online application - it's quite some destroying after a while.

Having read examples above I agree quality I receive is shocking, from the inappropriate experience to the plain mad to the strange. A common problem we have is getting a lot of highly qualified foreign applicants - think MBA qualified who cannot spell in English properly. I am sure they are far cleverer than me but they aren't going to get an interview if they can't spell as writing is a huge part of the role.

Best response I heard to an interview question was from my friend who was interviewing for bar staff "what do you do in your spare time Rodney?" "Look at women on the internet" 😂

Stillabitemo

easy

be very specific in your job requirement so some of thecandidates will know what they are going for.

Auto-reply email to thank people for their application and if they don't hear from you within x days they haven't been successful on this occasion.

Only put YOUR name if you want 55 phone calls of candidates who think they are clever checking if you have received their application.

Phone interview first to save a lot of time and get rid of the weakest link.

Have a very strict decision timeline. Nothing worst than waiting for the big boss to make up his mind, you can't say thanks no thanks to unsuccessful candidates, you can't try to get the successful one.
Don't decline candidate 2 and 3 until candidate 1 is firmly committed to start - people change their mind all the time.

Or, use an agency

Welcome to my world.

Most applicants only read the job title and salary.

Do a lot of them look like they are unemployed? As the DWP requires claimants to apply for a certain amount of jobs per week. This policy has increased our amount of unsuitable applicants substantially. We had one applicant recently who applied for every role we had on our website - everything from receptionist to sales manager to IT help desk. She wasn’t qualified for any of them as she hadn’t worked for 18 years.

@IfNot I am 39.

@Balula

We’re working with a local school at the moment to teach job search, CV writing and interview skills. It’s in a voluntary basis though. I think all schools should be partnered with a local employer to do this.

I have some contact with jobseekers- some of the work coaches are great others just want claimants to apply for anything and everything.

One request to recruiters that use application forms - please use tables. I’ve filled in a number of applications with three columns where they ask for the qualification, institution with address and mark, from secondary on. Obviously the institution takes more lines than the other two so it’s very hard to do the alignment. These are not roles that particularly need the ability to set or complete forms. Of course I make it balance. I do the alignment to do a good job but prefer to concentrate on content.

At school (over 30 years ago) we were told to write 'Dear Sir/Madam' or 'To whom it may concern' - I still see that used on GP letters when they don't know the recipient.

At my work we have a customer, a dear old gent, who regularly prefaces his requests for information with 'Dear Lady' and addresses the envelope to 'Mistress Charlotte Green' (name changed). It's rather sweet and makes us all laugh.

Also: sending cover letters which make no actual mention of the organisation or the role

I do wonder why some recruiters don't advertise all the information for a job . for example I never apply for a job that doesn't advertise salary . A few years ago went for a interview , salary advertised as competitive. I was offered said job but salary was too low I said will you negotiate they said no non negotiable. I think just say what the salary is on the job description and don't waste someone's time so after that I always find out the salary before I apply .
I'm also more inclined to apply for a job if the hours /job description and benefits are all listed plus free parking . So tbh you will be getting a lot of crap because no experience /desperate to get in etc .
I've also seen the other side as worked for a very small company who did own recruitment . The amount of people who applied with absolutely no experience baffled me . I think some are either desperate to work or it's the daft job centre policy of applying for jobs quota .

Drives me insane. I get a lot of CVs for jobs with terrible spelling mistakes and the emails that they send! My real name could be two first names and they always call me by my surname as my first name, even though my email sign off is just my first name. Infuriating.

A friend told me about one candidate (a recent graduate) who actually looked good on paper. When she came for interview, she brought her mum with her, - and wanted mum to go round on the pre-interview tour with her.

She did not get the job.

Speaking as someone who is employed in the real world job market as opposed to an imaginary one, a low starting salary with no possibility of something acceptable until having worked there for potentially several months would deter me.

HorridHenrysNits

as some of us don't pay their bills with monopoly money, you are not the only one in the real world.

You are not understanding my point however and twisting my post so it makes no sense.

I’ve never had a problem getting interviews as I tailor my applications and am really good at them. However a lot of companies recruitment processes leave a lot to be desired. Over the past year I’ve been to 2 interviews that I just never heard back from, despite it seeming really positive - not even a rejection!
Most recently I was offered an interview and asked what date and time I would be free on X week. I replied with the date and time most suitable to me and asked if that would work for them. Didn’t hear anything back. In the meantime I was offered another job. Six weeks since I first heard from them, I’ve received TWO emails from them since Monday saying “please confirm when you can come in for an interview. Improve your chances of getting hired by responding promptly”. Fuck off!!

Mr/Mrs/Dr etc – when you know the name of the person to whom you are writing, address them using their surname and title. For men, this should be Mr Smith (unless you know that he has another title, e.g. Dr Smith or Captain Smith ) and for women, this should be Ms Smith unless you know for sure that she has another title or prefers to use Mrs or Miss."

That guide seems to be sexistly out of date considering only Mr Smith gets to potentially be a Captain or Doctor. Female Smith can rise to the dizzying heights of Mrs or Ms. No Professor, Judge or Reverend for her!

"Sir/Madam – you start your letter with “Dear Sir or Madam” when you don’t know to whom your letter should be addressed
I have been known to address letters as Dear Madam/Sir. Who says it has to be Sir then Madam? if it allegedly doesn't matter, then it doesn't matter!

One of the questions on the application form for a job at my workplace is: 'Please check the box to indicate any shifts you CANNOT work' . Without fail at least half of the applicants check all the boxes!

Yes it would me Horrid
I know too many people who have been promised pay rises and bonuses after the inital period...they mysteriously never materialise.
Salaries are just so damn low in the UK and employers seem to want the moon on a stick for minimum wage.
You know what they say-you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

My name and contact details are listed on our company website as a point of contact for candidates, and I don't have any issue taking the time to talk through potential jobs, general queries etc with people at all.

But you'd be astounded by the ones who will CALL at crazy 'o clock (think 2am in the morning) and then be all shocked (and in some cases angry) that I didn't pick up... I was asleep! and now keep my phone switched off from 11pm to 7am

I've had one candidate today tell me that they don't have a teaching qualification (essential for the job) as they couldn't afford it, but still wanted to apply - and could I ask the employer if they'd pay for them to do the teaching course whilst they were working

This is a £36k per year job, not an apprenticeship.

We ALWAYS publish the salaries, or at least a general range, (though getting Clients to tell us the salary is always a fun battle) and we try our very best to ensure we have an accurate job description.

Prior to starting up, I thought agencies had an easy job and charged a fortune. I know better now.

I've been recruiting recently.

"What can you tell us about the company?"
"Well, I've been on your website and it's very colourful".

A few years ago I was job hunting. A recruiter had changed the dates on my cv, so instead of it saying I left job A in April 2011, and started job B in April 2011, it said I started job B in May. I looked like a right twat when I then went over the dates in the interview and they were different!

I think People have become disheartened becaus often companies can’t even be arsed to reply with a no thank you or give you feedback.

Don't get me started on cover letters. Bloody waste of time! The recruiters should respect the applicants' time more. Expecting cover letters to be specifically written for every single job is ridiculous (they can be quickly edited to appear so, though).

When I'm applying for a job I much prefer to see that they want a cover letter and a CV rather than an application form. Applications forms are a pain in the arse.

Job advertised: 24 points of what the job entails; another 32 points for person specification and then a competency framework. All to be answered a prescribed box, unclear where you are supposed to address the job requirements (or at all?) or the person spec, or the competencies...

Omg this. I am currently working on an application exactly like this (local authority). I have printed out the spec/JD and am preparing draft paragraphs. Trying to combine related points into one so I’m not droning on for hours. I feel like I’m preparing to write a novel.

Another bug bear of mine is ‘why do you want to work here?’, for jobs like admin, retail etc. I need you to pay me so I can pay my bills. Just because I’m not passionate about distributing the post and managing the email account, doesn’t mean I won’t do it well.

Also, while I’m here - please can any interviewers tell me WHAT is a good answer to ‘your struggle/weakness’ (except for the lie of ‘I’m too organised’). I can’t think of any without digging myself into a whole.

Oh dear - hole not whole.....

I don’t know if it’s a reasonable answer or not but I sometimes say that I sometimes get so consumed in the detail of a project or task I can forget the bigger picture. So what I do to overcome this is make sure I refer back to the original aims of the project regularly and check in with the other people involved in the wider context to ensure nothing is getting missed.

I think the key is not pausing after the stated weakness and getting on with a clear definition of how you overcome it quickly.