33 Hiring Managers On The Most Inconsequential Reason They’ve Disregarded An Applicant
Found on AskReddit.
1. beef_meximelt
Stupid email addresses. Seriously people…if you are looking for a job, just make a new professional gmail account with your name. It’s not like it costs you anything and you will be taken far more seriously…I’m just gonna toss your resume in the garbage if your email is CaLiSwaGGer69@hotmail or xXLuvBunniXx@aol .
2. bokidge
not me, but my HR professor told me about one of his bosses who, when receiving a stack resumes for a position for the first time immediately took half of the pile and threw them into the trash, he told my professor that he only hires people who are lucky.
3. ronearc
Didn’t have any questions for me.
Always ask your own questions. The interviewer should feel like you are interviewing them also.
4. HonestFlames
Using foul language whilst talking to me when they were a customer. They didn’t curse at me, they just used the word ‘fuck’ as a conversational tic.
Smoking in the area just outside my shop, in the yard that is part of the area I pay for.
Not being able to hold an intelligent conversation with me.
Claiming you have passed an industry-standard qualification and yet you don’t know how to answer some basic questions on the subject. He actually had passed the qualification, but the qualification is worth jack-shit when you want to actually get a job. People pay a lot of money for useless training.
5. Unmeteredcaller
Misspelled “Attention to detail,” as “Attention to detial.”
6. pinkflaming0
Application with an emoticon. Available anytime! :)
Sorry. This isn’t the Internet.
7. trollblut
My dad used to dismiss any application that smelled like smoke when you pulled out of the envelope.
8. BlarghBlarg
Wasn’t my job exactly, but in the previous company I worked for I helped the HR guy go through applications because he was getting swamped.
One guy decided to put his photo on his CV. Fair enough, it’s not exactly frowned upon. The only problem was that it was a picture of him with both hands wrapped around his girlfriend, taken from one of those Japanese Purikura photo booths.
Yeah . . . nah. Sorry, mate.
9. Brostronaut
Last year someone arrived to the interview wearing a weird hat. Instantly I knew it was not going to work out.
10. ChiCaydee
Not capitalising their name. Putting relatives down as personal references.
If they get to interview, not making eye contact with me at all is a deal breaker.
11. Brostronaut
Looked like a magician.
12. Notacatmeow
I bring a white guy with me when I interview. It is hilarious. People will ignore me and even answer questions I ask to the white guy. The interviewee does not even have to be white. It is like they think no way is the brown guy the boss. We even give our titles and mine is higher. We even tell them who they will work for which is me. It is so weird.
13. phdpeabody
It might seem inconsequential, but wrong company name on the cover letter. I get it, you’re recycling cover letters as you send out dozens of applications. But if you can’t get the detail of our company name right when you’re asking us for a job, what details will you get wrong once you’re working for us?
14. thefran
not making eye contact with me at all is a deal breaker.
… Fuck.
I am horribly afraid of making eye contact with people.
I should get therapy.
15. kcman011
This is a pet peeve of mine. In my line of work, there are times where writing etiquette needs to be followed, particularly in company e-mail. It really grinds my gears when people use emoticons, or use text spelling (you/u, going to/gonna, message/msg, etc.) in what is supposed to be a professional setting. Ugh.
16. the_no_name_man
One of my friends had to conduct telephone rounds for a position. It was technical and the person’s answering style was like he reads it from a text book. That person couldn’t get answers to any of situation based questions too. So finally my friend asked him to explain subnetting after opening Wikipedia. His answer was the first 2 lines from Wikipedia. Then my friend asked him to explain a little bit in detail. Then comes the next 2 lines from Wikipedia.
17. Scarlett_ptista
Maybe Because I Didn’t Like How They Capitalized Every Word ?
18. shiley123
Someone put the reason for leaving their most recent job as “not a nuff hours.” We did not hire them.
19. r7ndom
Inconsequential: The filename of the resume.
When you upload your resume to most systems, they do not rename the document – if it was called “Mama Peppers first draft.docx” that is exactly what the hiring manager will see first – because they must click on it to open it. Another common one is “resume.doc”,which means when I download 30 resumes all at once, guess what I’ve got? A directory full of “resume 1.doc” “resume 2.doc” etc. – every one of those applicants lose a bit in my book when I am forced to rename their resume so I can easily find them later.
Also, always upload in .doc/.docx or PDF. Preferably PDF since it is the only one (almost) guaranteed to come out properly on the other side – doc/docx can lose formatting, especially if you used odd fonts or other such things.
20. tishpickle
A photo on their resume that showed them at a party, it was close cropped and in B&W looked bad, in colour it looked worse… they went in the bin.
Others I’ve discounted;
- Obnoxious resumes – such as inconsistent fonts/sizes, colours and layout etc – if you cannot format your resume then you’re not going to go well at an office job with that as one of your daily tasks.
- Wrong business name on the application – spelling it wrong or just recycling cover letters without proofing.
- Using text speak or slang when writing – goddamn it people, use English.
I’m not a total asshole, but reading through 200 resumes for one position means I’m going to be ruthless. Badly articulated resumes are one of the main reason good people don’t get jobs. Make your resume succinct, use proper grammar and get it proofread by someone outside your field.
21. 95HONDACIVIC
While working at a gym I had a guy put down “Bench press” under the strengths section. I don’t think he understood.
22. stockbroker
Comic sans.
22. Fire1ad
Bulging whitehead that needed to be popped. It was so hard not to stare.
23. Ye51d
a hotmail user, i started to note a pattern, sadly all of the bad applicants used hotmail
24. bestincal
I did first round hiring when I worked at Best Buy and while Best Buy isn’t a “professional” environment, at least show up to your interview in dress pants and a button up shirt. Shorts, jeans, T-shirts, polos are a bad start. Also not proofing your resume.
On the flip side I gave a guy an extra chance because he had a funny voice mail. Then when I talked to him he didn’t say “I wanna work there cause I like movies and stuff”.
25. m0nicat_
I was working at a coffee shop and a really weird guy handed us an application. We glanced at it and saw that in his work experience he had listed that he worked for OUR COFFEE SHOP in 2010. Most of us had been there since 2010 and he definitely never worked there. Needless to say, he did not get hired.
26. TinCupChallace
Said his drivers license was suspended …I watched him drive away after the interview.
27. TheDaggle
Pro tip: be courteous and professional with EVERYONE in or around the building.
My girlfriend used to be an “office specialist” who greeted and seated every applicant before their interview. Part of her duties were to evaluate applicants’ appearance and behavior and report to the manager/interviewer.
The interviews were almost a formality. Your fate was pretty much decided by the notes she jotted on your paperwork while you waited to be called in.
28. Gi1b3rT
I once received a paper application filled out in crayon.
29. yowtitty
We would keep applications on file for 1 year, and last holiday I went through hundreds of applications. I looked for reasons to skip each application : written in pencil, scribbling, having someone else write it for you, listing me as who referred you, being fired, unexplained gaps in employment, leaving a job for another which they were not employed at 6 months later, leaving fields blank.
Weed out the obvious bad applications (99% of them) interview the applicants that could figure out how to fill out an application.
30. imnotacrazyperson
The most petty reason is probably people who feel it necessary to decorate their resume with boarders, photos, clipart etc.
I hate getting a resume with some elaborate boarder or words contained in “Pow” style bubbles.
I don’t care how unique and whimsical you think you are, your resume looks like it was designed by a teenager.
31. token_ginger
I knew a manager who would look at CVs, and if there was a pretty decent chunk of time between jobs listed would assume the applicant had been in jail, and would throw the CV in the trash.
32. DrWhoreable
Dropped off a crumpled up resume.
33. Nadieestaaqui
Special, attention getting resumes. I have received resumes:
- Folded into a swan
- Printed on a sheet of aluminum
- Printed on a wooden puzzle
- Spoken into a tape recorder
- In the form of a Youtube video
- Printed on a beer bottle label (filled with beer)
+1 for creativity, -10 for being a special snowflake. I keep them all, because they’re great conversation pieces, but rarely call them for an interview.
Also, if the position requires a Bachelor’s degree, your only accomplishment in high school was graduating.