re: What is the worst job application blunder that you've ever seen?

Reason for needing this job: applicant wrote "I need a job to support my habits"

accidentally typed equality instead of quality once. Noticed it half way through a round of 6 interviews

quote:

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Had a guy come in and fill out an application years ago in New Orleans. Stated he went to high school at "Old" Perry Walker HS. My manager said if doesn't know the name of his own high school then we aren't even talking to him. He threw his app in the trash.

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One that I see often is they use an old email from college as part of their contact information.

Had one which was 247toker69@

Who knows? Everything is online now

My first interview out of college. I knew a guy at the company so he tells me to send my resume to him.

I used one of the Word templates that has info all filled out. I changed the top portion (name, address, phone, etc.) then saved it as 'My Resume.'

Later on, I went back and must have started from scratch or a different template and completed my resume. Well, I end up sending the 'My Resume' to my buddy. Get an interview right away.

HR girl starts asking me odd questions - how did you learn Italian, what was it like working in Barcelona, tell me about writing these procedures, etc. Had to admit that I sent my buddy the wrong resume, they ended it as professionally as they could and I never heard back.

Somewhat related...

I was interviewing a guy on the phone a couple of years back and this kid sounded inexperienced but like he had loads of potential.

After the interview was over, one of the guys on my team that was also participating in the interview uses reply all on the email that we had used to set up the interview. He probably wrote like a page worth of all the reasons why this kid was going to be super great, but he didn't remove the candidate from the email. Once he realized his mistake, he replied to all again (again without removing the candidate) three times in a row explaining how embarrassed he was. I lol'd for like a half an hour.

Oh, man...where to begin?!

Here are three that stick out:

#1 - In a panel interview (3 people), I asked a candidate how they handle a situation where they don't get feedback from their supervisor as quickly as they might like, and the candidate said:

"You mean, besides kill them?"

We ended it there.

#2 - Another panel (4 people), someone asked, "We operate very fast around here, so the environment can be pretty fast-paced and active - are you okay with that?"

The candidate said:

"I know exactly what you mean - sounds like my honeymoon!"

We laughed, but she did not get the job.

#3 - Yet another panel (4 again). A candidate had a gap on her resume and someone asked why the gap was there. She then proceeded to start crying and go into detail about the illness that her husband had and how he died. I felt horrible for her, and it was a very awkward 10-15 minutes. We wound-up stopping the interview early.

There are quite a few stories, though, from over the years...

Had a guy come in for an interview once and used the word “frick” more than he did “I”.

Our company posted an opening for a CSR on Indeed and asked interested applicants to send their resume along with 3 references to a blind gmail account. I found a return email from an appliacant that read exactly as follows:

“TeLL mE mOrE aBoUt Di$ jOb”

kEi$hA