To ask for the worst CV's you've ever seen?!

[Isitgiroday]

About to pimp my CV prior to a career change after almost a decade in the same industry - looking for tips and hints of what to avoid!

I'm not sure I'd want to work for a company that didn't have the competence or software to edit PDFs wink

You get 200 CVs. For one role. And you have 10 urgent roles on the go. Unless the PDF is exceptionally good, would you bother editing it? Of course not.

Most "annoying" CVs tend to be from fairly junior or less skills roles - with the most applicants.

Read what the advert says. An old boss years ago used to write ‘interested candidates should feel free to call or email me to find out more about the post’ Anyone that didn’t was 100% guaranteed to not get an interview.

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

I'm not sure I'd want to work for a company that didn't have the competence or software to edit PDFs wink

You get 200 CVs. For one role. And you have 10 urgent roles on the go. Unless the PDF is exceptionally good, would you bother editing it? Of course not.

Most "annoying" CVs tend to be from fairly junior or less skills roles - with the most applicants.

It's quite easy to edit a PDF if you have the right software - and you do bother redacting all CVs if it's your policy to redact personal information from CVs before sifting - the person redacting is not the person doing the sift.

It's quite easy to edit a PDF if you have the right software - and you do bother redacting all CVs if it's your policy to redact personal information from CVs before sifting - the person redacting is not the person doing the sift.

but that means the CV actually going through to me, and making the short list. That's my point, the resourcers going through the original pile is likely not going to bother when they already have too many anyway.

I don't need to touch a CV until I decide to send it to a client - I'll have shortlisted and interview the candidate myself first by then.

I had one who's email address was along the lines of "[email protected]' and recently someone who said one of their skills was explaining things to people in "Laymen scturms". Oh and a woman who was proud of her previous post at a National Bums Unit.

It was a programming role and I was asked to solve several programming problems and write a basic programme during the interview. Presumably, the other candidates were asked to do the same things and could all do them too. If all us could demonstrate that we could programme in that language, and we all had enough years experience in relevant roles, then there really probably wasn’t much to choose between us. It was probably overkill for them to interview five of us; two or three would have been adequate. The funniest bit about the whole thing was that as a programmer you have to be uber-focussed, so generally I just put my headphones on, got in zone, and didn’t speak to anyone for the next seven hours, so no-one heard any stories!

This is very exciting for me btw. I post lots (under different names) and generally don’t get a sniff of a follow up comment!

"'m not a recruiter so I don't have any funny stories, but I did once ask to see a friend's CV (from a specific country so I wanted to confirm I had all the relevant info), and discovered he had listed the two nurseries he went to between the ages of 2 and 5 under 'academic background'."

To sign up for a language course I had to fill in the form in the target language. A bit difficult for a complete beginner, but I guessed as much as I could. They looked me up and down and asked me to confirm that my highest education was a primary school certificate. Must be rare these days, but that was the option I had ticked.

@BlackBrowedAlbatross

I once received a CV in which the applicant declared they were fully up to date with all their vaccinations

Could become relevant again pretty soon.

@floofycroissant

Including everything and the kitchen sink. If you have an established career then focus on the key roles that apply to the job advert, an employer isn't going to care about your o-level grades back in '78.

Depends. Some employers are really pedantic. A friend of mine, around 40 at the time, with a post-graduate qualification had to apply to her old examination board for her GCSE certificate to change jobs within the same workplace.

@Allergictoironing

An important factor in tailoring the CV is to reflect the level of the role you are applying for. No use listing all your high powered achievements in a senior management role when you're applying for an administrator position, you will be instantly rejected as "over qualified", will get bored, and "going to leave as soon as something better comes along" (bitter voice of experience).

I have toned down my CV as much as possible without lying and STILL get this type of comment, because everybody only wants to progress to bigger, better, more stressful things and nobody ever wanted to take a couple of steps back after burnout (in the view of many recruiters)

Yes, but you're also not supposed to leave gaps so you can take off any qualifications you did at the same time as working, but not anything you did as a full-time student, can't delete entire jobs, etc.

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

I'm not sure I'd want to work for a company that didn't have the competence or software to edit PDFs wink

You get 200 CVs. For one role. And you have 10 urgent roles on the go. Unless the PDF is exceptionally good, would you bother editing it? Of course not.

Most "annoying" CVs tend to be from fairly junior or less skills roles - with the most applicants.

None of the places I've worked have used software to go through CVs (I tend to work for smaller places). Large companies tend to insist on application forms anyway.

@BigPaperBag

Read what the advert says. An old boss years ago used to write ‘interested candidates should feel free to call or email me to find out more about the post’ Anyone that didn’t was 100% guaranteed to not get an interview.

'should feel free to' is not the same as 'should'.

@PlumFuzz

It was a programming role and I was asked to solve several programming problems and write a basic programme during the interview. Presumably, the other candidates were asked to do the same things and could all do them too. If all us could demonstrate that we could programme in that language, and we all had enough years experience in relevant roles, then there really probably wasn’t much to choose between us. It was probably overkill for them to interview five of us; two or three would have been adequate. The funniest bit about the whole thing was that as a programmer you have to be uber-focussed, so generally I just put my headphones on, got in zone, and didn’t speak to anyone for the next seven hours, so no-one heard any stories!

This is very exciting for me btw. I post lots (under different names) and generally don’t get a sniff of a follow up comment!

I assume that was for me? I don't know anything about programmers, I'd hate to make a judgement on their skills or their personalities. We do get our recruits to complete a practical exercise that is assessed on many levels and again their strength and weaknesses vary enormously depending on their background. To be perfectly honest if I found 5 suitable candidates - we'd be so utterly delighted, we'd probably hire all of them and no one would be looking anywhere near their interests.

None of the places I've worked have used software to go through CVs (I tend to work for smaller places).

Even if you don't have one in-house, you still use them when searching through jobsites, sometimes it's quicker and easier to contact people direct than waiting for applicants.

None of the places I've worked have used software to go through CVs (I tend to work for smaller places). Large companies tend to insist on application forms anyway.

Online application forms help protect the company. When I was recruiting you'd have admin access but also recruiting access. The latter never allowed you to see any personal details about the candidate, not even their name. That is so no one could claim bias when shortlisting applications.

I suspect online CV sifting gives the same protection.

I keep two niche hobbies on my CV in an "other information" section that's about three lines long. I was tempted to take them off but my last two interviews have both started with "oh, I wanted to ask you about doing xyz" so I guess they must be standing out.

Please can I ask - I had a situation where I left a job due to the commute, my closer to home job turned into a crock of badly mismanaged shit and I jumped ship after a year and went back to the one I'd left. I've always struggled with how to put that on my CV. Putting it as:

2000 - 2003 ABC
2003 - 2004 XYZ
2004 - 2014 ABC

always seems clunky. I've toyed with the idea of just missing out the XYZ job and saying that I worked at ABC from 2000 - 2014. The XYZ job has no relevance to what I do now. Can anyone advise?

Don’t apply for a job that you do not have the qualifications for. For example, if you do not have a medical degree do not apply for a job as a doctor!!! Seems blatantly obvious but I see quite a few like this.

Also spelling mistakes are my bug bear. We also (in non COVID times) get lots of letters from school students wanting work experience. They are automatically refused if the letter is full of mistakes. Some of my colleagues think I’m harsh but seriously teachers and parents, check your students and kids letters before they send them in. It does not make a good impression of the students or the school.

(Yes I am aware that some of these students may have dyslexia etc and that is not an issue at all but they can get someone to check the letter before sending it in. I work in a professional sector and it is important)

"Even if you don't have one in-house, you still use them when searching through jobsites, sometimes it's quicker and easier to contact people direct than waiting for applicants."

They didn't do that either. They advertised and went through the applications and asked people if they knew of someone they could encourage to apply.
Until recently, they did go through old applications, but you're no longer allowed to keep them on file, which is a pity I think.

Online application forms help protect the company. When I was recruiting you'd have admin access but also recruiting access. The latter never allowed you to see any personal details about the candidate, not even their name. That is so no one could claim bias when shortlisting applications.

gets funny when a bad agency submit details of a candidate without telling them
and the candidate actually works there 😂

twisting details a bit, but that has happened in real life!

"they can get someone to check the letter before sending it in"

You're discriminating against children whose parents are less educated or less hands-on here.

@Purplecatshopaholic

Seen a few (work in HR). Please no photos - they are the biggest cringe and general joke (seem big in some other counties though, so appear on my desk pretty regularly). Unless asked for - some industries do ask for them. No spelling mistakes, particularly if a skill is your attention to detale.... Not fancy fonts, or coloured text. Personally I don’t like a section on Interests - waste of time. I couldn’t care less what you like doing in your spare time, I just want to know if you can do the job.

Was this for effect or is it actually the funniest example of irony I've seen on MN?

I write CV's for a living. Most are too long, not tailored to the role and include things like the grades the person got at school 30 years ago Just not needed. Photos, interests and wacky design are a no for me.

As the poster was not applying for a job I am not sure they irony is as strong as people make it out to be

@Onlyherefortheconspiracies

I write CV's for a living. Most are too long, not tailored to the role and include things like the grades the person got at school 30 years ago Just not needed. Photos, interests and wacky design are a no for me.

I hate wacky designs too - I hate a big openings that are too casual - a crap attempt to be funny in the covering letter. Someone started each paragraph in the covering letter with a quote from their favourite novel - that shit does not improve your fundamental lack of skills. Someone else wrote a two page covering letter 3/4 of which was about how much they loved their hobby . I wondered why they hadn't turned their hobby into a job, instead of applying to us.

Here's a good way to grab attention - read the advert and in your response answer their requirements - it may sound boring but that is what is what is needed for the job.

@anonymity Yes! 'I need to stand out' You stand out by showing how you fit the role, not by using clip art!