To say that when applying for jobs some people should just make more effort?

I think employers expect far too much from applicants most of the time. You spend 3 minutes looking at a CV when it takes hours to fill in application forms on each online portal. For shit jobs too. No wonder some may accidentally send the wrong CV, they’ve probably got about 15 tailored versions saved.

Very true ^

If you have 100 applicants, you can't spend 45 minutes carefully considering each application.


It's really a quick task to bsirt into initial rejected/look into further piles. 3 minutes is generous.



Last hire we did, we had people who only answered questions with 1-2 words. Rejected. Didn't include CV as requested? Rejected.

Skimmed over answered questions, look promising? Put them in maybe pile. Poor grammar/spelling etc... Rejected.
Skimmed over CV, relevant experience? Maybe. No experience? Rejected.


We sorted through the applications quickly.


Maybe pile gets looked at more closely.

It goes both ways though. Applying for multiple jobs, which is what is required when you’re unemployed is a full time job in itself and is utterly soul destroying when the employer doesn’t even bother to acknowledge that you weren’t successful.

I agree that you have to put at least some effort into applying for a job but let’s be honest here, when you’re spending 35 hours plus a week applying for jobs not all of them are going to be your dream job.

And from the applicant’s perspective, the number of spelling and grammatical mistakes I’ve seen in job adverts is shocking. I mean truly shocking. And actually embarrassing when one of the criteria sought is “attention to detail.” If you want the applicants to put in the effort then so should the employer.

And there is 0 excuse for not sending a rejection. None what so ever, given that most jobs are applied through via online portal and they have the ability to build in a generic email when they reject that application.

When looking for local roles I’ve used Zoop recruitment.

found them helpful to be honest. They look through the CVS, match skills qualifications then they do a phone interview with the candidates before they refer.

saves on the boring cv scrolls of mememe III, or charity plugs. Hard work is done, it’s a bit soulless eventually looking through so many cvs.

But when people are applying for jobs employers are expecting people to spend 45 mins tailoring their CVS for each other the hundreds of jobs they are applying for.

As someone who regularly recruits for all areas of their company, it’s beyond me how you can’t scan the jobs and description of the role and responsibilities and figure out yes or no. That can be done quickly

Rather than expecting someone to write a a summary just for that job. What’s the point of the CV if all you want is a personalised summary or cover letter, specifically for your company and role.

and it sounds like you fill in an application AND want a tailored CV? You are expecting people to put in a lot of time, that you are willing to give them.

Did you acknowledge every applicant?
If not YABU.
I'm not spending a couple of hours on each application for it to get glanced at for 3 minutes and binned. That's incredibly disrespectful.
I made job hunting a full time job when I got made redundant and can count on 2 hands how many nice rejections I got.
FULL TIME searching, hours every day, and most of the employers couldn't even be bothered to send me a generic email back.
I found a job within a week of finishing my old one because my cv is good.
If my cv is good and I can't even get a rejection, how must others feel?
I now don't actively hunt if I want a new job. I switch on LinkedIn and cv library and let them come to me. And they do, because no-one seems to be able to fill positions with the crap wages they used to get away with. Bliss.

It's called a curriculum vitae because it's supposed to give you a brief resumé of a person's career until now. Curriculum: course, road, journey. Vitae: life. The idea of tailoring it for each potential employee is absurd in itself.

We've had similar recently. And we only require a cover letter and CV, not pages of online form filling.

50 applications, we're only interviewing 4. The rest were full of spelling mistakes, asking 10k over the salary offer, some cover letters talking about completely different roles, some CVs with zero relevant experience.

We're advertising for an administrator at 24k. We've had applications from previous bricklayers and beauticians who don't refer to any use of relevant systems, one says they're not good with computers, one waffles on about their interest in medieval weaponry.

Agree with so many points made by PP.

When companies start being transparent, i.e putting actual salaries or bandings instead of 'competitive', working schedule etc, then I think people Will make more effort.

The amount of times I've spent hours tailoring, going through applications and interviews, to learn the salary advised after the 2nd interview, was far too low. A complete waste of time for everyone.

Oh, and wanting every applicant to have a degree, even if it has no bearing on the job advertised at all. What happened to experience.

Why be so specific? It's a charity for social care - you either need support staff or admin. It doesn't matter if a lab tech applies, they've got a good chance of being able to do either without wasting time trying to rephrase 'I can make sure nobody catches some awful disease in the lab from anything I do' into 'has experience of being responsible for own health and safety' (as is clumsily stated in many job specs).

yes op!
And then after sifting through them all, inviting people for interview and they turn up in flip flops and jeans or have their phones clutched to their hands… not on mute!!!

Very very frustrating.

I've recently been recruiting for a job that wasn't entry level (salary 35-40K - would expect the person to have at least several years' experience) and likely that most candidates weren't "trying to get the job centre off their back", but already in work and looking for a move.

So many of the applications were poor. We asked for CV and covering letter - many candidates sent one and not the other. Many candidates had either just finished university or had no experience in the field, when it was clear they needed relevant experience. A lot of CVs were so generic it was hard to work out if they had the relevant experience or not. Covering letters tended to say "very excited about this job" but didn't say why they thought they were a good candidate. One memorably said "I am very interested in working for Network Rail". My company is not Network Rail.

We read every word of every CV, but we have minimal time to "read between the lines". You need to spell stuff out.

I have a weird sideline in helping people with their cvs - indo it for friends and family. But... actually, I increasingly think the cv is an outdated tool. Or one that should go back to basics (job titles, companies and dates only) because it makes "writing a cv" a key skill for getting a job even if that job is "chief washer upper".

Having said that, i do think that whether it's via cv, LinkedIn, cover letter etc, a LOT of people are really bad at understanding that they are not entitled to a job. I once posted asking for freelancers on LinkedIn and was absolutely horrified at the responses.

It's a minefield.

‘Might be hard for you but it's even harder for job applicants who are expected to fill out multiple forms and individual cover letters and CVs for each job application - which often turn out to be an inactive/internal post that they have no chance at anyway. Use a recruitment agency if you cba to sift through bad ones’

this. And at least you’re getting paid to do it…

Wow phone on their hands! What an outrage!

Couldn’t possibly be that they had it in their hand when they arrived and are just extremely nervous given the situation.

Must mean they are unemployable 🙄

I have a CV that I make tweaks to depending on the role. However I agree with the PP above who says that even for admin roles these days you often have to complete a long-winded application form which takes hours and sometimes not even get an acknowledgment. Years ago it was mainly covering letter and CV which to me is much easier and it’s not hard to tailor your application well.
i have also sifted through and omg the dross that comes through. It is incredibly difficult to recruit as there may be 1 in 100 applications worth interviewing (not even taking into account non-tailored CVs, they just have no relevant experience.

We put the salary range and working hours on the ad and still get bonkers applications.

Sometimes having the CV and the application form together is really helpful.
People aren't always consistent in their job history between the two.

Also, we don't ask paragraph/suitability questions etc. So having their CV is a useful tool to check against their other skills. Like if they can put a basic CV together, or write a short and to the point summary at the top.


CVs have revealed way more than the application form. One memorable applicant sent in a 9 page long CV 😁

But do you send a quick email to the reject pile letting them know their application has been unsuccessful?

Sounds like you're bad at sifting.

I sift as they come in. We include a basic instruction for all applications - CV and cover letter. Which knocks out about 1/3. The ones written in crayon - another 1/3.

The remaining 1/3 aren't all tailored, but frankly I'm not arrogant enough to think that these people all want a job specifically with me.

Good recruitment I've seen at the moment includes your CV, plus giving a few short answers in lieu of a cover letter. I've even had questions given to me before an interview - because smart companies have copped on to the fact they want the best person for the job, not the one with the most time to work on the application.

Recruitment cost a lot of money and time and comes with pitfalls for the company. The reason you have an online portal is because asking for CV's comes with the threat of 'You didn't give me the job because I'm X' I had one chap email and ask if I didn't give him the job because he is Muslim. No matey, you didn't get the job as this was customer service based with a lot of face to face time with staff and customers and on his application he'd said he prefers working alone away from people.

You see a lot of awful applications, people who have no relevant experience, CV's that are not tailored in the slightest. When they get the job some then try and bargain non negotiables.

I know job hunting can be a bit arduous, but considering how much of your life a job takes and the lifeline it is in your financial security I don't think spending time on applications is a tall ask. Recruiting is challenging so you need to get it right, a CV in isolation tells you very little (unless actually we'll written which is a rarity) I change jobs every couple years and take quite "strategic" steps in that I'm not applying in bulk to wide ranging roles, I don't understand the mentality of applying to everything with little effort (excepting job centre applicants, they can normally be sifted out with ease) there is a lot of support out there to help people, many of the applications I have seen are pure laziness, especially when graduates, there are no excuses, go to your career shop.

I totally agree. I recruit a fair bit and some applications are so poor, they don't seem to read the job description or person spec as there's zero evidence in the application. Straight on no pile. I don't know if kids get taught about cvs and applying for jobs in school at all; it's an important life skill to know about.

I'm recruiting right now and struggling to get applications due to the combo of our location and salary. SMT know this but would rather wait it out.

I get more applications from other countries, people without any relevant experience at all or from people who don't know where the location is and realise they can't get there on public transport. It's very frustrating.

OTH - I'm also looking to move on. I can't be bothered with these long application processes, log in to this portal, upload a CV here etc. if it's a 1 click apply and my CV wooshes off then great. Otherwise, I'm too tired and drained to log in on a PC. I'm doing it off my phone or not at all.