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Why do job applicants waste everyone's time by...
heretolearn_2
Posts: 3,565 Forumite
(tongue in cheek but honest rant from someone on the other side of recruitment and currently beating my head against the wall)
1) not bothering to proofread their CVs and applications? The odd typo might creep in, but we are talking serious grammar and spelling issues. Why wouldn't you use Word spell and grammar check, for goodness sake! If you can't spell or have poor grammar, it doesn't stop you doing most jobs, but you have to be aware of the fact and be extra careful and use tools (oooh like a dictionary, there's a novel thought) to help you.
2) Not applying for the job that is on offer with no explanation. I.e. I have in front of me a CV from an architect for a role we are advertising. We have nothing whatsoever to do with architecture. No explanation as to why an architect is applying for a totally different job...maybe wants to change career...maybe the skills are transferrable...maybe he is on drugs and got confused...who knows.
3) Not following the application instructions. If we tell you to do A (call, email, write, whatever) and you ignore that and do B, it makes you look too thick to follow simple written instructions. I don't want you if you can't follow instructions.
4) tell me 'surfing the internet' is one of their skills. No, really, at work that doesn't count as a skill, it is a way to waste your working time, idiot. 'Using the internet for research when required' is a skill. What you do in your free time is a hobby, not a skill.
Sorry, I know it's hard to find work right now, but I promise you 90% of the applications I get have totally shot themselves in the foot from the the first few seconds of looking at their applications. If you put in the effort to be in the other 10%, I wish you every success in your job hunt!
1) not bothering to proofread their CVs and applications? The odd typo might creep in, but we are talking serious grammar and spelling issues. Why wouldn't you use Word spell and grammar check, for goodness sake! If you can't spell or have poor grammar, it doesn't stop you doing most jobs, but you have to be aware of the fact and be extra careful and use tools (oooh like a dictionary, there's a novel thought) to help you.
2) Not applying for the job that is on offer with no explanation. I.e. I have in front of me a CV from an architect for a role we are advertising. We have nothing whatsoever to do with architecture. No explanation as to why an architect is applying for a totally different job...maybe wants to change career...maybe the skills are transferrable...maybe he is on drugs and got confused...who knows.
3) Not following the application instructions. If we tell you to do A (call, email, write, whatever) and you ignore that and do B, it makes you look too thick to follow simple written instructions. I don't want you if you can't follow instructions.
4) tell me 'surfing the internet' is one of their skills. No, really, at work that doesn't count as a skill, it is a way to waste your working time, idiot. 'Using the internet for research when required' is a skill. What you do in your free time is a hobby, not a skill.
Sorry, I know it's hard to find work right now, but I promise you 90% of the applications I get have totally shot themselves in the foot from the the first few seconds of looking at their applications. If you put in the effort to be in the other 10%, I wish you every success in your job hunt!
Cash not ash from January 2nd 2011: £2565.:j
OU student: A103 , A215 , A316 all done. Currently A230 all leading to an English Literature degree.
Any advice given is as an individual, not as a representative of my firm.
OU student: A103 , A215 , A316 all done. Currently A230 all leading to an English Literature degree.
Any advice given is as an individual, not as a representative of my firm.
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Comments
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ANSWER: Because as a recruiter you are earning your money filtering the wheat from the chaff....
(Tongue in cheek response...)
And why do 'recruiters' waste job seekers time by:
1) Advertising for vacancies they don't fluidly have to harvest personal data and CV's
2) Call/Email clients asking them if they are interested in roll for 'x' skill, when clearly their CV shows no evidence of this had they bothered reading it
3) Require completely stupid and impossible experience like 'five years experience with Office 2010' (from a recent IT vacancy)
4) Try to pretend they are professional operations and then use a live/hotmail/gmail email address
It *is* a tough time out their looking for work - not helped by a small army of b/s spamming recruiters with no real jobs on offer.0 -
1) Advertising for vacancies they don't fluidly have to harvest personal data and CV's
:T As a job-hunter, this is my pet peeve at the moment. It should be illegal for agencies to advertise vacancies that don't exist.0 -
I would like to add 5) Not turn up for your interview.
This is especially annoying when after you rang us to ask if we could give you an alternative time as you were working full-time, we agreed to see you after work at 6pm, leading to two rather annoyed people staying at work until 6.20pm rather than going home at 5!!!!0 -
I'm always surprised at how many applications come in after the closing date - when every time I advertise it says the closing date on the form...
It's even better when the applicant puts in that they're great at time keeping.0 -
I would like to add 5) Not turn up for your interview.
This is especially annoying when after you rang us to ask if we could give you an alternative time as you were working full-time, we agreed to see you after work at 6pm, leading to two rather annoyed people staying at work until 6.20pm rather than going home at 5!!!!
I was chatting to my hairdresser a while ago about the trouble she was having recruiting a new trainee - apparently only about half of the people to whom she offered an interview actually turned up for it, and most of the ones who did didn't seem terribly interested in the position. Most were currently on jobseekers allowance - she suspected that the applicants were just going through the motions of applying for jobs in order to satisfy the job centre staff at their regular interviews, so they can continue receiving the payouts.I'm always surprised at how many applications come in after the closing date - when every time I advertise it says the closing date on the form...
It's even better when the applicant puts in that they're great at time keeping.
When proof-reading one of my own applications once I was embarrassed to find I'd written "I have excellent attention to detial". Happily I spotted it before I sent the application off, not afterwards, or I'm sure someone would've had a greta laugh at my expense!0 -
ANSWER: Because as a recruiter you are earning your money filtering the wheat from the chaff....
(Tongue in cheek response...)
And why do 'recruiters' waste job seekers time by:
1) Advertising for vacancies they don't fluidly have to harvest personal data and CV's
2) Call/Email clients asking them if they are interested in roll for 'x' skill, when clearly their CV shows no evidence of this had they bothered reading it
3) Require completely stupid and impossible experience like 'five years experience with Office 2010' (from a recent IT vacancy)
4) Try to pretend they are professional operations and then use a live/hotmail/gmail email address
It *is* a tough time out their looking for work - not helped by a small army of b/s spamming recruiters with no real jobs on offer.
Completely agree with this! My pet peeve is also those who you spend hours perfecting your CV/application form for and they don't even bother spending 2 minutes to send you a "Sorry, not this time" e-mail!0 -
brokeinwales wrote: »:T As a job-hunter, this is my pet peeve at the moment. It should be illegal for agencies to advertise vacancies that don't exist.
How very very very true. I can normally spot the signs now, but It's so blxxdy annoying.
If you phone them up they give you very vague responses.... it's gone, put on hold, waiting to hear... but you know!0 -
Advertising the job at £X-£Y, the during the interview saying it's for £5k less than £X.0
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Other things that annoy me when I recruit:
- people who get someone else to fill in the form for them and when they turn up they are nothing like they sound on paper!0 -
terra_ferma wrote: »How very very very true. I can normally spot the signs now, but It's so blxxdy annoying.
If you phone them up they give you very vague responses.... it's gone, put on hold, waiting to hear... but you know!
Oh I actually had to take my CV down from one of the supposed recruitment websites, because it was more trouble than it was worth - just resulted in me being swamped by calls and emails from agencies who were very eager for me to come in and register with them, fill in forms, complete tests etc - but never, ever, ever got me any work.
Not that I think agencies are bad things - I just wish they were regulated a bit better so you knew when you were applying for an actual job, and when you were just applying to an agency.0
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