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Ugh - Work Related Resume Drama

OMG, this is so ridiculous!

I received a meeting request for an interview, along with the resume.  It was the first time I (or anyone in our office) saw the resume. 

First, I thought it was pretty presumptive on HQ's part that we would want to interview the person, but whatever.  If the resume is good then I will happily interview them.

Then I read the resume.  The person did not have the experience we usually request.  But, since we are somewhat specialized we will forgo the experience portion in lieu of some other criteria.

As I was reading the resume, I noticed not one, not two, but THREE spelling mistakes.  These were words that would have been caught by spell check if the author would have looked.  They also had the red squiggly lines under the words!  To me that is a serious red flag and makes me question the resume in its entirety.

Our office is understaffed. My thought process is if the person is not qualified and I am not wowed by the resume, I can't take the hour to interview them.  The person would not be coming to my department, so I don't have a dog in the fight, so to speak. 

I replied back to everyone on the invite, and copied HR.  I said that I was concerned with the resume and I pointed out the spelling errors.  We work in an atmosphere of low tolerance for silly mistakes (our government client is very difficult).  If the person can not spell things correctly on her resume, I did not have faith she could make it in our environment.  I said that I was declining the interview as she would not be working in my department but that if x and y (whose department she would be working in) wanted to interview her, please do so.

Well, turns out she was a friend of the HR person.  Oops!  Now, everyone is in an uproar.  Still not sure why but none the less they are.  My boss (the PM for the contract) came by and said next time I should just decline the invite without the commentary.  Seriously, don't you think we need to tell HR why the resumes they are sending are not appropriate?????

Am I off base here?  Would you interview someone who had three spelling mistakes on their resume?  This is a person with 10 years of experience and about half way through her master's program.  The position she would be interviewing for is a senior analyst making well over $100k.

Re: Ugh - Work Related Resume Drama

  • I have accidentally sent out resumes with errors, and once I realized, I never expected to be interviewed. I would be embarrassed to attend an interview after that, or to recommend a candidate with those errors. Your frustration is 100% warranted!

    Honestly, the HR person should have looked at the resume and helped get it up to speed for your company- before submitting it. This was an HR fault.  

  • OMG, I totally think you got screwed over by HR.  People should not get a job based on who they know if they aren't capable of doing the job.  Even 1 spelling mistake on a resume is not acceptable.  You had every right to point out the mistakes, and I would do so even if I knew the person was a friend of HR.
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  • No.  You're not being ridiculous.  We don't interview candidates even with perfect experience unless their resumes and cover letters are exceptional as well.
    White Knot
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  • If I am referring someone, I scour their resume to ensure it is perfect before submitting, because I do not want to have it reflect poorly on me!
  • wow. just wow.

    we recently had a copy editor applying for a position here and they were willing to overlook a spelling mistake on the resume but then there was also had a mistake on the thank you note. epic fail. 

    i'm sorry you have to waste your time on this! 

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  • imageMrsHabious:
    If I am referring someone, I scour their resume to ensure it is perfect before submitting, because I do not want to have it reflect poorly on me!

    Exactly!!!

  • I find the implication amusing that they would consider hiring this person, regardless of the quality of their resume or experience, based solely on the fact that s/he is friends with someone in HR. Sounds a little questionable to me...
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  • imageVARedhead:
    I find the implication amusing that they would consider hiring this person, regardless of the quality of their resume or experience, based solely on the fact that s/he is friends with someone in HR. Sounds a little questionable to me...

    This!  And regardless of how difficult your government client is, I still wouldn't want to interview someone with that many errors on their resume.  I'd probably overlook one spelling error, since we all make mistakes occassionally, but three is just careless. 

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  • I don't think you are off base at all. When I worked at a consulting company and had to interview a lot of new prospective consultants, the company had a rule that if any interviewer did not think we should hire the person for some reason, then they would not get an offer. So, our feedback was very valued. 

    Rather than HR getting mad at you, they should use this as an opportunity to give the friend some feedback on her resume. I can totally understand why you wouldn't want to waste an hour of your time talking to the person.

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  • I have interviewed someone as a favor before (not my choice, but it was clear once the interview started and the candidate started name dropping why they got through the door despite their resume).  I did the interview.  I scored the person poorly and said don't hire and that was that.

    The friend should have proofed the resume before circulating it.

    As a friend, I would want to tell someone about errors like this that can be fixed.  But most attorneys will tell your HR person to keep their mouth shut because you don't want to create any record that could lead to a lawsuit.

    I once interviewed a woman who was a terrific candidate until I got to her writing sample.  She had made a major error (identifying confidential client by name).  I wanted to let the woman know, but we couldn't for fear of potential lawsuits.  Not sure how many places she sent it out too.

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  • My DH used to look over resumes for hiring.  He'd toss out hundreds but it's how the process works.  You only interview the people who have what you are looking for.

  • I used to work in HR hiring, and this resume would have been thrown out immediately.  A spotless, perfect resume and cover letter were a must -- the thinking was that if the candidate was careless enough to make ANY mistake in these documents (which they should have spent HOURS preparing), we didn't need them, regardless of experience.
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  • imagevml14:
    I used to work in HR hiring, and this resume would have been thrown out immediately.  A spotless, perfect resume and cover letter were a must -- the thinking was that if the candidate was careless enough to make ANY mistake in these documents (which they should have spent HOURS preparing), we didn't need them, regardless of experience.

    This exactly! 

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