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Hiring Managers Explain Which Mistakes Make Them Want To Throw Away Someone's Resume

Two men at computers taking notes
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

A resume is so much more than just a simple list of your work experience.

Indeed, your resume is the first step in getting your foot in the door to your dream job, highlighting not only your past experience but your skill set, as well as things about you that will make recruiters want to get to know you more.

On the flip side, sometimes there are things on your resume that will automatically send you to the reject pile.

Of course, this is bound to include common, careless mistakes such as spelling and grammar errors or missing vital information, such as a phone number or email.

However, no two hiring managers will have the same set of red flags they look for on a resume. This can make finding a format that will please everyone something of a fool's errand.


Redditor stereovictrola was curious to hear the things hiring managers find on resumes which will immediately land them in the garbage pile, leading them to ask:
"Hiring managers of Reddit: What makes you immediately throw out a résumé?"

Not In It For The Long Run

"I once received an application from a man in his 60s."

"Solid CV, lots of experience."

"In his cover letter he wrote 'I'm applying because the Job Centre asked me to'."

"Please note that I intend to retire in 6 months time'."

"We had a good laugh, then sent him a very polite rejection letter and wished him a great retirement."-BeerPoweredNonsense

Season 1 Lol GIF by NBCGiphy

Make Sure They Actually Get The Right Document...

"One time I had someone upload how to upload their resume from Dropbox instead of their resume."- rabidwhale

Always Proof Read!

"I'll usually still interview unless there is no relevant experience, but I've seen some atrocious resumes."

"I've seen people use crutch words like 'uh' in writing for a job description."

"I've also seen a sentence 4 lines long with zero punctuation."

"The same resume will have 'attention to detail' as a skill set."

"I've interviewed for one of those resumes, and the applicant said 'I dunno" to about 80% of my questions, and it turned out he didn't even know what job he applied for'."

"It's not that I'm overly picky, but if someone can't spend the 20 minutes or less that it takes to proof read their resume, are they going to put a lot of effort into their job?"

"Maybe, but it's hard to know."- ChristyM4ck

"'Very meticulous and attentive to detials'."- papparmane

Read Book Club GIFGiphy

Make Sure It's Legible

"The only time I have ever had to throw out a resume was because someone possibly had it in a bag with their lunch and the paper was soaking wet and dissolving as I tried to unfold it."

"It was just unacceptable to process."

"The application was left in a drop box so I don’t know if it was a prank or an actual applicant."- 416unknown

Unprofessional Email Address

"Back in 98 I asked a new group of hires at GIECO to write their email addresses on a list that was passed around."

"Remember email was kinda new back then.. "

"One young female employee's email address included 'mybaldc**tchie'."- catjugglinpimp

"An email address like DankMeister420@."- Kibitznik

the messengers aol GIFGiphy

Never Send Someone In Your Place

"It’s been a long time but I used to do hiring for a cinema."

"Staff were often young, for many it was a first job, making popcorn and selling tickets type of gig."

"I would not pursue anything where parents came in with a CV for their teenager or if parents were contacting me on behalf of their teen."

"Big red flag."

"Either their kid didn’t want he job in the first place or they’re incapable of taking initiative and it doesn’t bode well for how they’d be as an employee."- FigJamAndCitrus

"Having your parents submit your resume while you stand silently beside them."- krim2182

It's Pure, Dumb Luck!

"I remember a meme or maybe a tv skit from a while back."

"The hiring manager had a huge pile of resumes on his desk."

"Someone asked how he was going to sift through them all."

"He took 2/3rds of the pile, threw them in the trash, and remarked 'I don't hire unlucky people'."

"Lol."- SpecialSpite7115

Im Out Breaking News GIF by Homes.comGiphy

All About The Formatting

"This doesn’t matter 100% of the time but bad formatting."

"If it’s hard to read I probably won’t read it."- Far-Gain-3081

Depends On The Job

"If it's a professional position, significant spelling errors will make me pass on a resume."

"If it's a warehouse job or something, I'm less concerned."- staffsargent

Don't Treat It Like A Text Message!

"Former hiring manager here."

"I tossed MULTIPLE resumes that used text message abbreviations throughout the resume and cover letter and one that included emojis."

"While you can do pretty much anything from your phone, it doesn’t mean you should."- spectacularuhoh

text texting GIF by Fifth HarmonyGiphy

Choose Your References Wisely

"Not me, but a friend who checks resumes/CVs had a belter."

"Candidate had a conviction and his reference was his friend 'Baz'."- LexiRae24

Make Sure You Have The Relevant Skills

"I know it’s pretty specific but If your looking for a scheduling job make sure you know how to use Excel and clearly state it on your resume."

"It will probably get thrown out otherwise."- LoyalPlanets

As stated before, no two hiring departments will have exactly the same prerequisites and red flags, so no matter how hard you work, your resume is never going to please everyone.

That being said, multiple misspellings and a cheeky e-mail address are a surefire guarantee of not pleasing anyone.

Things People Secretly Love But Would Never Admit To In Public

Reddit user sweet_chick283 asked: 'What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?;

Collection of VHS tapes
Bruno Guerrero/Unsplash

What makes us all unique is our passions and the things we love, whether it's singing in the shower, reading books, or listening to specific music artists.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged for our various tastes and interests thanks to social media, and it makes us consciously selective about sharing the things we love on the internet.

Curious to hear about people's personal desires under anonymity, Redditor sweet_chick283 asked:

"What do you secretly love that you would never admit to in public?"

These aren't really chores for the following Redditors.

Good Clean Fun

"Mopping, im a janitor and generally hate my work... but damn mopping is so good."

– MrDDog06

"When you have a great rhythm going it is something special. I get the same feeling while I vacuum, but won’t let my wife know I enjoy it."

– Bogus_34

Act Of Unwrinkling

"Ironing clothes. A dozen of them. Can’t explain how it relaxes me. I told one person and they looked at me like I’m crazy."

– eerie_white_glow

"My mum misses the days when dad would be out on a Friday night, my brother out with friends and me upstairs quietly playing PS1. She would pour herself a Bacardi & Coke and do the ironing while watching her TV shows."

"I'm sure she doesn't really miss it now that we've moved out and they've retired but it was her wind-down after a busy working week so I can see how people can find it relaxing."

– xdq

Our solo actions can spark joy.

Big Brother Is Watching

"pretending to be on the Truman show and whenever im in my house i act all inconspicuous so they dont know that i know that they’re watching me."

– Bec_121

"C’mon man, you’re not supposed to let him know. You signed a contract when signing up for live views. I’m reporting you."

– doeswaspsmakehoney

The Multi-Tasker

"Playing video games naked at home while eating cheese."

– thickening_agent

Releasing The Kraken

"I love the feeling when you've eaten good fibre and let out a solid long train log in the toilet. That feeling is heavenly."

– therapoootic

"Even better when it’s a clean wipe and not a poo crayon."

– TheWarmestHugz

Ultimate Comfort

"My (male 41) weekend routine is coming home from work, make hot chocolate, start a fire, dress in a ugly pink nightgown made for old ladies and watch forensic files."

– crazyloomis

Some people are obsessed with collecting things.

So Kawai

"Sanrio stationery stores. All those different multicolor pens, a thousand kinds of erasers, spiral bound notebooks galore... my kids sadly have absolutely no appreciation for this wonderland..."

– HavingNotAttained

It's A Staple

"Office supplies have a weird, special place in my heart ever since I was a kid. They don't even have to be 'cute' necessarily."

"Japan's legendary stationery stores is unironically a reason I want to go."

– _CozyLavender_

Not Caring Anymore

"The older I get the shorter that list gets. Not because I love less things, but because I don't care about hiding it."

– Bi-Beast

"YES!! I'm 53 now. I'm working my first job in public since 2006. Today is Halloween and we're allowed to dress up so I am sitting here waiting to go to work dressed as a VERY bad Wednesday Addams. My bf said I'd 'look stupid' because no one else will probably dress up and I'm like, 'WHO CARES!' My makeup looks horrible and not like I practiced, but I DO NOT CARE! I'm having fun with it anyhow and I don't care if my coworkers dress up or not. I'm bein' ME! :)"

– deanie1970

Honorable mentions start here.

The Savior

"Picking up worms from the street and sidewalks when it rains and moving them into the dirt so they don’t burn in the sun, every time it rains I do this."

– sky_kitten89

Hero Of The Moment

"Yoooo I scoot SO many snails and worms. I work as a tech/mechanic at an automotive shop, I had a peoject car towed to my house the other day and it was covered in snails. I saw them when the tow guy/coworker was unloading and I was like, 'oh! It comes with free snails!' and began moving them. He laughed then realized and said, '... Oh, you're serious. Uh... Okay.'"

"I don't care who knows it. These little things barely can look out for themselves, why shouldn't we if we can take a moment to help? I don't care what happens next, it probably doesn't matter overall but I can help this moment."

– chris14020

Why should some of the hidden desires mentioned above have to be secret?

Redditors opening up about some of these would make them a hit at parties–no shaming.

As a matter of fact, I'll totally be down for a Forensic Files viewing party where we all make hot chocolate, light the fireplace, and cozy up together in our respective pink ugly nightgowns for old ladies.

historical reenactors
Sigmund on Unsplash

We've probably all heard some variation of the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Real life isn't just strange, it can also be downright ridiculous.

History is riddled with moments of absurdity.

So ridiculous that people have a hard time believing real life is, well, really real.

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