Factsheet # 7 how to avoid candidate catastrophes

How To Get That Job: Career Development Fact Sheet 7
How to avoid candidate catastrophes

How To Get That Job
Career Development
Fact Sheet 7

How to avoid
candidate catastrophes

Written by Malcolm Hornby Chartered FCIPD FCMI MIfL career coach and author of How To Get That Job - The complete Guide to Getting Hired
Published by Pearson ISBN-13: 978-0273772125 © Pearson Education © Malcolm Hornby www.hornby.org Page 1


How to avoid ‘Candidate Catastrophes’ when making Job Applications and Attending Interviews

I sometimes feel that I’m being a little patronising when I stress things like the importance of attention to detail when it
comes to presenting yourself well as a candidate. Throughout my career in HR I’ve seen people who have committed
‘candidate catastrophes’ by making the silliest mistakes in their job applications, CV’s and interviews. For example; well
qualified applicants who make stupid typographical errors, and go straight onto the ‘regret’ pile. Or people who copy and
paste the content of a previous letter of application, and forget to change the addressee’s name! Or people who turn up for
interviews dressed inappropriately. Or people who patronise the interviewer. Or people who apply online and forget to attach
their CV – whoops!

I did an internet search to see if things had changed for the better. Regrettably I have to say, that if anything things have got
worse and applications have become sloppier. This is probably because electronic communication is so fast that many people
fail to check things as thoroughly as they should.

Let’s have a look at some examples of ‘candidate catastrophes’. At first the impression the examples are quite amusing. But
they are all stories of disaster, because every one of them represents a lost opportunity. A job application or interview
that was unsuccessful, because of an avoidable mistake. And that means the candidate didn’t get that job!

 The candidate who gave his e-mail address as LAZY_BOY@domain.com. Lesson: If you use a fun email address or a
family email address like thewaltonsfamily@waltonsmountain.com keep it for personal emails and register a new email
address for your job applications.

 Then Brian - who sent his CV out with his name, spelled BrAIn, and wondered why he’d had no responses to his
applications in 2 months. Lesson: Check, check and re-check. And don’t turn off your spell checker.

 Then there was the job applicant whose cover letter said he was sending it to the HR Director, as a “courtesy” before
“making any attempt to sidestep” their authority and going directly to the “real decision maker.” (Who is the HR
Director!). Lesson: No place for being smart in job applications.

 An electronic application, which contained a hyperlink to the applicant's own website, with photographs off the applicant
in a state of undress! Lesson: Interesting viewing maybe, but not a way to create a good first impression.



 An applicant said their resume was posted to a particular website from which the recruiter should download it. The
recruiter didn’t bother! Lesson: Your job is to make things easy for the recruiter, not make work for them.

 A candidate who sent off his CV without realising his EX girlfriend had annotated the hobbies and interests section and
personal details to include the following interests: Beer Drinking, Belching and **rting, Generally laying around and
barking orders from the sofa...” Lesson: Check, check and re-check your CV before it leaves your possession and if
anyone else has access to your computer be extra careful!

Many of the above examples came from around the world and so to get a picture of the UK recruitment I asked members of
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Europe’s largest Institute for Human Resource professionals for
examples. I have been assured that every one of these is a true story of a candidate catastrophe:

APPLICATIONS
1. I turned a candidate down at application stage recently: his father phoned the company to complain about me and sent
an email to the MD suggesting that MD and I go to a family BBQ so we could see what a great guy his son was!
2. We had an application by e-mail where HELLO was spelled out in the shape of jelly beans (we are quite a serious public
sector international organisation)
3. The candidate who claimed to have a City & Gills didn't get an interview.
4. The application form with a clipped wedding photograph where a passport photo was supposed to be with arrows and a
comment ‘that's me!’
5. A speculative application from a man looking for an admin position. He didn't put a stamp on the envelope so we had to
pay £1.12 to receive it and the cover letter had numerous spelling and typing errors.
6. An application for a job as a shop assistant in a major high street store that included details of their (still unspent)
conviction for shop lifting.
7. The man who had put one of his previous jobs as 'Fork Lift Truck Driver'. In the section entitled 'Reason for Leaving' he
had put "I lied about having a fork lift truck driving licence"!
8. On an application form (pre-Equality Act, of course!), I once received the following response: Marital Status: Average
9. I worked for the Police Force previously there were lots and lots of diversity/EO monitoring questions. One applicant
put "Yes" for "Intersex" for the gender section. We contacted them to double-check. The result of the contact "yeah I'm
into sex, who isn't?" - Needless to say they didn’t make it through to the next stage!
10.Our games company was recruiting sound designers. One applicant sent in a note torn from a notebook, written in
pencil saying ' please find enclosed my CD - I hope we can make beautiful music together - lots of love (yes he put
that) X’. The CD was blank and he sent no contact details!



11.An email to apply for a role with us for 'digilal marketing' (I assume he meant digital....). He attached his CV via a web
link. The link however was to a 'CV builder website homepage', and not his CV!
12.In response to a question on the application form, "What areas would you like support to improve in?" One candidate
responded, "While there is always room for improve, i do not feel that I has any area in which i require imorpvmeent."
(Their spelling, not my poor typing!)
13.A CV for a QC Technician. Under key skills they wrote: Attenshion to detail.
14.A CV with the applicant's photograph at the top showing her in chains and hanging off a pole in 6" stilettos and a micro
skirt – nice.
15.Having worked for a well-known utility company about a decade ago that took on several apprentices every year, I am
fairly used to fielding calls and letters from the disgruntled parents of 'poor Timmy' who only 'wants a job'. But fast
forward to my current job, we received a speculative application from a chap looking for work. He got turned down,
politely, because we weren't looking for anyone at the time. His mum decided to write in. Not to me but to the MD. So
far so normal. He was 46.
16.Another candidate didn't turn up for interview. When we eventually got hold of him he said he had a bit of a cold, and
anyway, he couldn't remember exactly when the interview was (he had my contact details, and the college had
confirmed the time to him the day before) so he thought he'd wait for us to get in touch so that he could ask to
reschedule... funnily enough we declined to do so!
17.An applicant’s answer in the ‘Health’ section of an application form: My concise answer? I'm not too bad. My less
concise answer? Since I am a man, and all men are mortal, it must therefore follow that I am mortal. So, it’s not like
I'm impervious to the ravages of disease and time. Or that no weapon or force can destroy me." No interview!
18.A young man’s response to ‘SEX?’ on the application form - a sheepish ‘twice’.
19.A CV in response to an advert with no covering letter. The address had been crossed through along with contact
telephone numbers and new telephone numbers written in below. I would have thought it was easier to change the
address and phone numbers and re-print!
20.A candidate who sent in an application form with an address but no telephone number or email address. It was a pretty
good application so I wrote to him asking him to provide further contact details. There was no response so we rejected
him. A month or so later he called to ask if he would be invited to interview and we explained what had happened, and
declined his request to be reconsidered. He then wrote a formal complaint to me saying it was totally unfair that I had
rejected his application as the reason he didn't get my earlier letter was his landlord's fault as he'd moved house and
the letter hadn't been forwarded until several weeks later. The idea that he had any responsibility to provide us with
proper contact details and keep them updated just didn't seem to occur to the applicant!



INTERVIEWS
1. A candidate who arrived late, and told me (without being asked) that his worst quality was his laziness.
2. A woman who thought it was perfectly reasonable to answer her mobile in the middle of an interview.
3. The woman who thought I was the (male) manager's secretary and was extremely rude and patronising to me. When
she finally realised that I was the manager and the interviewer she acknowledged that it was unlikely she would get the
job - she was right!
4. In a recent interview for a Project Manager the candidate was asked which aspect of Project Management he didn't like
and replied "change"! Quite worrying...
5. A candidate was most put out that she had been interviewed by a young lady who was Spanish, and asked to be re-
interviewed by someone who was English as she felt this was why she had not got the job.
6. I was interviewing for an office trainee. The 16 year old candidate arrived with his mother. Without asking, she came
into the interview and proceeded to answer every question on his behalf. I decided to ask the question: 'Have you
experience of making decisions for yourself?' His mother replied, 'Yes, he is very independent'. Neither he (nor his
mother) got the job.
7. I was trying to arrange an interview with a candidate and we were finding it difficult to synchronize diaries. He said he
would try and free up a particular day. He called me back and said 'Oh sod it, I will take the day off sick, I'll be leaving
soon anyway'. Needless to say, I cancelled the interview. And who said honesty was the best policy....?
8. The candidate who turned up for a Database Developer role drunk, at 9:30 in the morning, Dutch courage is never the
best way to deal with pre-interview nerves.
9. The candidate for a Customer Contact Centre role who, when asked why she wanted the role, replied ‘what role is this
again, I have applied for so many.’
10.The candidate who drank so much water through nerves that he needed the toilet halfway through the interview.
11.When asked 'How would you handle being asked to work on a project that you didn't personally like' the answer was 'I'd
refuse to do any work'. Honest, but he didn't get the job!
13.One candidate turned up for interview with an infant in tow - a little girl of three or four. He explained he'd had to bring
her, as no one else at home to look after her, and was it OK with me. I said it was OK if the little girl was able to stand
quietly during the interview in the corner of the room, where we could at least see her. The interview proceeded for
about ten minutes, but the poor child must have been terrified, because a big puddle of steaming wee appeared on the
floor underneath her. Total mayhem then ensued - grievously wailing child; father jabbering incoherent apologies at me
etc etc
15.I had a candidate stop me during a telephone interview in order to have a conversation with his flat mate.....he didn't
get the job.
16.The candidate for a 100% phone based telesales role who admitted to not enjoying selling on the phone, or even talking
to people on the phone.


17.The miracle worker! I worked in a residential centre for young disabled adults, some of whom were wheelchair users.
We asked a candidate for a care worker role what actions they would take if they discovered that a resident’s
wheelchair brakes were not working.......her answer was that she would ask the wheelchair user to get out and walk to
their room then call for help!
18.For an interview appointment in Cheltenham, a phone call for directions from the candidate. Later...another phone call,
"I'm sorry, I'm actually in Chippenham, not Cheltenham". D'oh!
19.A colleague interviewed someone who turned up covered in blood... When asked if he was OK, he said ‘Oh yes I'm fine,
I just got into a fight on the way here.’!
20.Towards the end of an interview, the Manager who was interviewing with me asked the candidate about their interests
and hobbies (her CV said she liked to watch Vietnamese Films and was interested in Weapons). She responded with "Oh
I am extremely interested in and have over old 50 Vietnamese Films; I think that they are true to life in the way they
show the violence, torture and rape inflicted on women and children."
21.A candidate for an Electricians job made it clear from the start he had a problem with women, and I was main
interviewer! When I asked him a question, he replied to the man I was interviewing with.
22.I interviewed someone for a job as a Library Porter who was on his way home from the Glastonbury festival, complete
with mud, no shoes and what looked like vomit on his shirt.
23.Applicant for senior manager post when asked how he would deal with difficult staff member said that he would dismiss
them on the spot! Ouch!
24.A candidate who was 10 years my junior flirted his way through the interview... laughing, smiling, leaning over the
table and stopping to tell me where he felt sore and finished off by showing me his tongue piercing. He didn’t get the
job.

A colleague said that these were as amusing as Jasper Carrot’s collection of Humorous Insurance Claims and I guess they are,
but I’ll repeat the point that I made earlier. Every one of these stories is an example of avoidable ‘candidate catastrophes’
and every one represents a lost opportunity for someone to get a job. In spite of the recession and high unemployment there
is a shortage of skills and employers are keen to employ talented people; but they aren’t desperate.

Do make every effort that you can to avoid candidate catastrophes. To quote one of the HR managers: ‘If a candidate can’t
be bothered to make the effort, when they should be trying to make a good impression, then what will they be
like when we’ve employed them? So thank you; but no thank you’.



A few words from the author

My Books

 These tips are from my books for career planners and job hunters. I wrote the first book in
1993, since then thousands of people have used the tips to plan their lives and get new jobs
My latest book is: How To Get That Job – The Complete Guide to Getting Hired

Book Description (from Amazon)

Publication Date: 15 Nov 2012 | ISBN-10: 0273772120 | ISBN-13: 978-0273772125 | Edition: 4

The ultimate all-in-one guide to job hunting success.

Getting an edge in the hunt for work is vital and this book offers the edge that millions are missing.
This no-nonsense, highly practical and outcome focussed guide to the whole process of job hunting
takes you right from the planning stages through writing your CV, flying through aptitude tests, being
interviewed on the phone and online, to what to do and say when you finally get the offer you’ve been
hoping for. With essential guidance on maximising modern job-hunting tools such as social media and
networking websites, as well as special help for those who are new to work, the recently redundant,
the long-term unemployed, ex-offenders and graduates, it’s one of the most up to date and all-encompassing job
hunting books on the market today.

 There’s more good advice in my other slideshows and at my website, visit www.hornby.org

Want to use my material?

I’m flattered and am happy for you to use my slides and factsheets at work, at your job club, at school, college or
university or in your job hunt, etc provided it’s ‘not for profit’. If you want to use my material in a commercial
situation please get in touch as I’m happy to write for websites journals, newspapers etc.


Factsheet # 7 how to avoid candidate catastrophes

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