One of the main aspects of being an employer is, shockingly, employing people! And as everyone knows, the first step of that process is sifting through an endless pile of resumes in order to determine who is best suited for the job. Though different industries have varying degrees of competitiveness, most managers are familiar with the type of resume that immediately goes in the ‘hard no’ pile.
Recently on the popular sub of AskReddit, hiring managers weighed in on some of the craziest resumes they’ve seen. Here are some of the most ridiculous, hysterical things that candidates have decided, for one reason or another, to include in their resumes.
One person had a very creative way for describing a dull and tedious job:
“Underwater ceramics and glass cleaner for a multi-million dollar company meant dishwasher at Chili’s.”
This applicant asked a particularly unexpected question:
“It was a college driving job where you technically report to the campus police. There’s a section in the application that says you can write down any questions you have so we can make sure to address them in the interview. One applicant’s question: ‘Does Officer [name] still work there? She arrested me for pot last semester but she fine.’ If you can believe it, we didn’t bother with the interview.”
He decided to mention a special ability of his, and it was very bizarre:
“One applicant included, ‘Ability to summon and command several kinds of mystical creatures.'”
He replaced the traditional headshot with something a bit more unconventional:
“Someone brought in a template where it had a place for a headshot, and he put a picture of Superman in that area.”
One person’s reference ended up causing them some pretty bad embarrassment:
“Someone listed their mother as a reference, and she never picked up or returned our calls…”
His resume made it obvious that he spent a lot of time dwelling in the past:
“I had a guy apply for a clerkship at our law firm and his resume spent an inordinate amount of space focusing on his accomplishments with his high school marching band… which wouldn’t be bad if he had just graduated, but he was at least ten years out of high school.”
She had clearly never been any advice on formatting or readability:
“There was once a woman whose entire CV was in bright yellow. I could not read a word against the white paper, and it made me wonder how many jobs she missed out on by doing that.”
One applicant had no choice but to be very minimalist in their approach:
“I got a resume the other day that had a name, phone number, and ‘I have not worked’ written on it. At least they were honest…”
His obsession was apparent, and seemed like it might impact his ability to be a good employee:
“I once received a resume where the person’s objective was to save enough money to publish their own manga. All of his experience was centered around manga and watching anime and no actual work experience. He also attached a photo of himself cosplaying as some anime character…the position was for a truck dispatcher.”
He was brutally honest…but there were too many red flags on his application:
“One guy had the opening paragraph above his employment history say, ‘Due to my divorce I am once again seeking employment. My wife has gained sole custody of our children due to my substance abuse and domestic violence charges. I have turned to the Lord to seek answers but require money to regain visitation rights of my children and hire a lawyer.’ I mean…points for honesty, but maybe too honest for a resume.”
