When looking for a new job, the pressure to make a good first impression is often intense. In an effort to get noticed, some candidates may be trying a little too hard, and as a result are making critical, and often humorous, blunders on their resumes.
Here are some of the most cringe-worthy real-life examples of gaffes found on resumes, according to a new CareerBuilder survey:
- Applicant’s last name was auto-corrected from “Flin” to “Flintstone.” (His first name was Freddie.)
- Applicant stated they had great attention to detail, but “attention” was misspelled.
- Applicant claimed he worked at a federal prison. A background check determined he was actually incarcerated at the prison during that time.
- Applicant stated he had been a prince in another life.
- Applicant listed a skill as “taking long walks.”
- Applicant used direct quotes from Star Wars in their resume.
- Applicant claimed he would work harder if paid more.
- Applicant wrote the following at the end of their resume: “I didn’t really fill this out, someone did it for me.”
- Applicant used a resume template with cats in the corners.
- Applicant listed smoking under hobbies.
Under Pressure
The pressure to get noticed and resulting stress is understandable, given how little attention each job applicant’s resume actually gets. Among human resource managers — who are typically the gatekeepers who decide which applicants get in front of actual hiring managers — 43 percent said they spend less than a minute looking at a resume. Nearly 1 in 4 spend less than 30 seconds.
That’s not long. It is, however, plenty of time to catch job candidates in a lie: According to the survey, more than 3 in 4 HR managers (77 percent) report having discovered a lie on a resume.
The national online survey was conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder by Harris Poll between May 11 and June 7, 2016 and included more than 2,100 full-time, U.S. hiring and human resources managers in the private sector across industries and company sizes.
