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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

511 replies

myteenytinyteapot · 17/07/2019 09:44

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?!

OP posts:
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6
CalamBalam · 17/07/2019 14:00

A agree that it's rude not to respond to applicants to let them know they've been unsuccessful. It takes very little time to fire a generic email out to people. I always do this!

DirtyDennis · 17/07/2019 14:03

@sneakypinky No I absolutely didn't meet him for a drink! I just ignored that email.

I've seen him at work events since and he's had a try chatting me up but I don't think he even knows he applied for a job with me, he's just trying to shag anyone.

isitwhatitis · 17/07/2019 14:04

I used to go through and get rid of any CVs with spelling errors just as a way of reducing the numbers.

Crinkle77 · 17/07/2019 14:05

Ha ha sneakypinky was just going to ask the same thing. Our application forms are online and there are specific sections for candidates to give examples of how they meet the person spec. We have had some people that have just put yes, yes, yes for each section and no other explanation. I suspect these are the ones that have been forced to apply by the job centre.

WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt · 17/07/2019 14:10

I agree!

When people moan about the cost of recruitment agencies, they should see the amount of hours wasted to go through the rubbish!
Then to meet the few potential candidates and waste even more times with the ones who don't turn up, arrive late - sometimes DAYS late , with kids in tow. Someone even turned up with their mum! (a full grown adult, not a teenager a bit unsure)

The least senior the level, the worst it is, but you still have to drown through rubbish CVs.

BeckyWithTheSplitEnds · 17/07/2019 14:12

OP- Presumably you're joking when you said you rejected the application from someone who used the correct and proper way to address a number of unknown people with a formal letter? Hmm

"All women" or not, "Dear Sirs" is correct.

isitwhatitis · 17/07/2019 14:13

I'm not sure that's so, Piglet, the only people I know who voted to leave are in their 50s/60s/70s so products of the old grammar school system and free university education.

There weren't only grammar schools then, there were technical colleges, secondary modern schools (the forerunner of comprehensive schools) and grammar schools. My uncle, in his 80s, went to technical college to learn a trade because he wasn't in the slightest bit academic. One sibling went to grammar school, the rest went to the secondary modern school. I don't know if the proper name is a technical college but he went at 11 and that's what he calls it.

WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt · 17/07/2019 14:17

I've recently started a recruitment agency and it's opened my eyes a lot.

you didn't try to work as a recruiter FIRST to understand the business?!? Confused

avalanching · 17/07/2019 14:17

@BeckyWithTheSplitEnds it is not "correct", it is very outdated. The legal sector seem to be clinging on to it for dear life but it is not accepted in my sector.

WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt · 17/07/2019 14:20

Use an agent if you are recruiting. Their ridiculous fees are usually recouped by not making wrong hires and saving time.

so when you cost them, the fees are not so ridiculous after all... Wink

CalamBalam · 17/07/2019 14:22

'Dear sirs' is not the 'correct' way to address person or persons unknown. This is not 1955. Do try and move with the times.

I bet you're one of those people who insists on addressing a married woman as Mrs John Smith. 'because it's correct'.

StealthPolarBear · 17/07/2019 14:23

Pm me hun :o

Singlebutmarried · 17/07/2019 14:24

When I was 16 we were made to do a national record of achievement (remember them?) and were told this would be our gateway o to the world of employment.

I took mine to an interview for my first job as a Saturday girl in the local Waitrose , they laughed at it, fair enough as my CV as signed off by my form tutor was horrendous.

I found it whilst in the loft the other day.

I’m pretty good with CVs and have worked with recruiters in the past.

But the ‘yoof ‘ of today do struggle.

Otherpeoplesteens · 17/07/2019 14:25

I also find this thread soul destroying given that I can spend days researching an employer and its market/industry, then fill in a lengthy application form or compile a tailored CV and cover letter evidencing the key competencies in the person spec, only to hear absolutely nothing back. I know what I'm doing is right because I've paid huge sums of money to access specialist careers advisors as part of an MBA programme, but I literally get nothing back, not even a rejection.

When this happens hundreds and hundreds of times on the bounce it becomes very difficult to have sympathy for employers who cannot find the people they need.

Mia1415 · 17/07/2019 14:27

I'm an HR Manager and a completely agree with you.

I find it incredibly frustrating.

Original poster
myteenytinyteapot · 17/07/2019 14:29

"All women" or not, "Dear Sirs" is correct

Er, no it isn't.

OP posts:
isitwhatitis · 17/07/2019 14:31

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.

WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt · 17/07/2019 14:31

because I've paid huge sums of money to access specialist careers advisors as part of an MBA programme

that rings alarm bells I am afraid.
SOME must be very competent, but it shouldn't cost that much to make a decent CV and cov. letter.

Original poster
myteenytinyteapot · 17/07/2019 14:31

We've never got anyone decent via an agency.

And we respond to all applicants successful or not. We offer feedback on unsuccessful applications.

OP posts:
Original poster
myteenytinyteapot · 17/07/2019 14:32

I know what I'm doing is right because I've paid huge sums of money to access specialist careers advisors as part of an MBA programme

Do you mean you've paid that on top of an MBA because if so your university is fleecing you.

OP posts:
WhenOneFacePalmDoesntCutIt · 17/07/2019 14:33

you're not working with the right agency!

If there were not good, they would run out of business pretty quickly. The ones who are doing well have results.

Jaheira · 17/07/2019 14:37

A few years ago I was hiring and sifting CV's.

Anything with a spelling mistake or incorrect grammar got filed in the round filing cabinet on the floor.

I was later hauled into HR and they tried to send me on a race awareness course as apparently a very high percentage of the round filed CV's were non British nationals and non white ethnic.

I refused on the basis that the job was working in IT support where you supported external customers so a large part of the job was writing emails to customers and if they could not get a CV correct, how could we assume they would get the emails correct and therefore reflect badly on us.

I quit before I could be fired but I'd do exactly the same today.

bakedbeanzontoast · 17/07/2019 14:39

Doesn't surprise me at all. A lot of university students have limited grasp of the correct use of written English IME. It's pretty bad.

floribunda18 · 17/07/2019 14:41

I can believe it.

But also when I was applying for part time admin roles you could spend hours on a very good application and not be shortlisted. Or even contacted at all to be rejected. So I can understand how people just get thoroughly fed up and send out generic letters, or don't check things properly.

And how many employers can't even be bothered with a proper job advert. So many don't include a proper job description or state the competencies or experience they are looking for. A lot don't bother to state the salary or working hours required. Or just state that it's 21 hours but not whether it's over three days or five days, or what. Not to mention all the zero hours "come in when we tell you to" jobs. And non-jobs which are actually self-employment or MLM, or require you to spend money on a course, products or a franchise. I'm glad I'm now in a position when all that can fuck off to the far side of fuck AFAIC.

If it were up to me, all job ads would have to be as detailed as public sector ones.

LazyFace · 17/07/2019 14:43

Regarding the photos I would love to know if these are from EU applicants or UK ones.
In my home country recruiters ask for a photo. Sometimes a full body photo. (I used to be a PA and regularly seen this in adverts.... )
It might be iust something not everybody is aware of. I only found out photos weren't needed when I saw my CV edited in a recruiter's hand without the photo.