Smiley face on a job application.

[RunBackwards]

Please, just don't

Probably don't mention twice how good your "banter" is either, it distracts from the fact that actually, your experience could be just what we need.

@Silvershimmering

I’ve always thought, what the hell is wrong with Comic Sans font?? It’s easy to read.

Font snobbery..

Font snobbery starts early in life. 11 year old DS the other day stated that if he had known that his secondary school was going to use comic sans in their power points, he would have chosen a different school. Obvious hyperbole but it made me chuckle. I was a bit as I’ve never mentioned it!

When going for a job in account management and asked about how you manage the accounts in your current jobs don’t say, “Well my accounts take care of themselves really.” 🙈 (overheard whist DH was interviewing for his real via Zoom during lockdown). The guy didn’t get the job funnily enough...

@Silvershimmering

I’ve always thought, what the hell is wrong with Comic Sans font?? It’s easy to read.

Font snobbery..

Artlicle in the Guardian today, google love of small things fonts. As they say, would you use Comic Sans on the order of service for a funeral?

@CulturallyAppropriatedName I'm sorry your son is facing such difficulties in interviews. It really should be skills based as opposed to how well you interview. Are there maybe videos online that would help him to practice his interview skills? Unfortunately if that's what's letting him down in his quest for a job then he may need to work on it.

Fingers crossed he's successful soon!

@KosmoKramer

Also, please do not quote Tupac lyrics to lead into your personal statement. It doesn't help a Nursing application.

Am lolling so hard at this. Amazing!

Interviewers - When you call to tell me that I didn't get the job, but that you gave it to the internal candidate, because he has been doing the job for 12 months, and then when I ask for feedback about my performance at interview, try not to say, 'my hands were tied...'

Awa
That's nice of you, but if it were as simple as just practising a bit he wouldn't have this issue. Struggling with social communication is a core part of his disability. It's a bit like asking a person who has no legs to practice hard to grow them. (Not all autistic people have the same level of difficulties in this area, but my DS does).

He just needs a company to accept that he will barely be able to move or speak for the first month but will be an asset if they bear with him...it's a big ask.

@CulturallyAppropriatedName

Awa That's nice of you, but if it were as simple as just practising a bit he wouldn't have this issue. Struggling with social communication is a core part of his disability. It's a bit like asking a person who has no legs to practice hard to grow them. (Not all autistic people have the same level of difficulties in this area, but my DS does).

He just needs a company to accept that he will barely be able to move or speak for the first month but will be an asset if they bear with him...it's a big ask.

Absolutely. Things like making eye contact is physically painful for my ds. Asking him to do certain things is like asking a deaf person to listen harder.

As they say, would you use Comic Sans on the order of service for a funeral?

If it was one of those funerals where the departed had expressed a wish for everyone to dress in bright colours and have a good time, I might.

@CherryPavlova

Hah. Please don’t pick your nose in the interview. Please don’t tell me about your dog on the application. Please don’t submit a CV unless requested alongside the application form and if you do, make it less than eight pages for a twenty six year old. Please make eye contact.

Actually not being able to make eye contact, and also make eye contact and maintain it, is often a trait of autism which fact, I think surely interviewers are aware? If not, the interviewer should go for retraining . . .

Yes, it must be hard for autistic candidates who are probably going to be brilliant at IT jobs like coding

I know they are all individuals

please don't insist on knowing if you've got the job during the interview, and if so demand use of 'your' company van right away (so you can help someone move house that afternoon/hire yourself out with van). nutter.

please don't hang about in the car park trying to intimidate the next candidate. same nutter

please don't tie up the phone line asking staff who don't know anything about it if a decision has been made about giving you the job because you need the van today. same nutter again.

please don't bring your mum.

please don't ask the interviewer personal questions or comment on their appearance, or ask them if they can take you on a date even if they don't get the job. different, creepy nutter.

please don't speak to the female company director/owner who's about to interview you like she's the receptionist, then step forward to shake the hand of a (baffled looking, but male) 20 year old apprentice who has no idea why you're even in the building. twat.

From the other side: if you've interviewed someone in person, at least call them back even if they didn't get the job.

Please don't loudly blow your nose on your sleeve and examine the evidence....

Or tell me that your last boss was a 'proper bitch' and that's why you were fired.

(So glad my current job doesn't include recruitment!)

I don't interview people for jobs so want to ask for an opinion with people that do.

If at an interview the candidate said something along the lines of 'I make the best cups of tea and coffee' would that make you want to find out ..ie...give them the job or roll your eyes at the comment?

The job wasn't to be a tea lady

purplekitty an eyeroll, if you claimed you could make the best cup of tea while standing on your hands whistling the national anthem I'd ask for a demonstration.

Interviewers, please don’t waste time interviewing potential candidates when you have already decided prior to the interview who is getting the job and have to be seen to pretend that it’s an open competition. It causes so much distress and anxiety for decent candidates who have taken time and trouble to fill out application forms and stressed about their interview. It is a waste of everyone’s time. So many job interviews are just box ticking. This is quite a nasty sneering thread

If at an interview the candidate said something along the lines of 'I make the best cups of tea and coffee' would that make you want to find out ..ie...give them the job or roll your eyes at the comment?

I used to interview - I wouldn't care whether a candidate was any good at making tea and coffee. If it was said during the introductory putting-the-candidate-at-ease chat I wouldn't think anything of it. If it was an answer to 'Tell me about a time you've delivered excellent results' I'd be worried!

@TheSeedsOfADream

I'll give you my favourite quote from a colleague in a different (university) interviewing a lecturer who had just left us...."i'm afraid I'm unlikely to offer anyone a job if he sits with his hands down his trousers fondling himself throughout the interview".

Ah! I worked with a whole college full of him! Sports based by any chance?

Or turn up drunk, blame your shoes as to why you’re walking funny and can’t open the door. Then proceed to moan about the bus journey to the ‘potential’ place of work, then sit and tell everyone your life story and your woes. Ball your eye out and then pop your bag down next to you with a thud and clunk that contains the bottle of vodka you’ve seemed to have drunk from before the interview.

Always be polite to the receptionist: we usually ask our receptionist whether any candidate was obnoxious.

I’ve always thought, what the hell is wrong with Comic Sans font?? It’s easy to read.

Font snobbery..

Not really. It's not that easy to read. Many organisations ask for it not to be used but somewhere along the lines it got touted as a great typeface for clarity, preferred by peope with dyslexia. There is no evidence for that! It's al just something that grew somehow. It 'is said to fix things like the misreading of a, o and g - which actually aren't issues for kids learning to read, with or without dyslexia! It's just an assumption that got taken for granted!

It was designed for cartoon speech bubbles... that Windows cartooon dog that was the built in Help interface! Vincent Connare, it's designer said "My original idea was it was going to be used for kids. It wasn't made for everybody to like it," so how does that translate into work documents etc?

It has so many exceptions to the usual typeface construction, so many deliberate bad design elements, it is jarring when used in a block of text. It REALLY doesn't denote your individuality, that you are a fun person!

Having been a typeface designer and digitiser back in the 90s I know that it is that space between lines and words, the length of line, that are more relevant to overall legibility than typeface.

Make sure your interests are appropriate to the type of role applied for and the image you want to project.

I'm sure there are some jobs where having "clubbing and drinking with me mates" would peak someone's interest in you. And there's others where a declaration of your love of "knitting, cats and gardening" is perfect.

"Please make eye contact."

Please get some disability awareness training.