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nealrm
12-06-2012, 09:09 AM
I spoke with the local university about an internship selling banner advertising. I received back several resumes and inquiries. One resume was so bad as to be noteworthy. Other than the typical "Thank you for responding but ...." type response, should I let him/her know that the resume needs to be fixed. It was really, really bad.

dereksbicycles
12-06-2012, 09:56 AM
It's not really your job to "grade" resumes. I would suppose that if you want to be friendly and look out for that person's future to contact the person personally. If not, just let it go.

Wozcreative
12-06-2012, 11:43 AM
I once screwed up when sending an email and accidentally put a competitor's name in it. I received a snarky email back pointing out my mistake. I don't mind recieving it though, i may or may have not caught it myself. If you think it is THAT bad.. yea just tell the person.

KristineS
12-06-2012, 12:07 PM
If you think it's really bad and it might be impacting the sender's chances of getting a job, then it would be a nice thing to do to respond with some gentle criticism that might help the person improve. It's certainly not incumbent on you to do that, and if you do, I would make sure whatever you said was very gentle and constructive, but it would be a nice thing to do. If I were in that person's shoes, I'd rather someone told me my resume was terrible instead of just leaving my wondering why I never got interviews or job offers.

Pack-Secure
12-06-2012, 04:21 PM
I agree with Kristine, gentle and helpful criticism. He or she submitted these for your viewing, so I feel that you are doing he or she a service if you mention the flaws.

nealrm
12-06-2012, 05:29 PM
I was thinking along the lines of this......



[Applicant name here],
Thank you for applying for the banner salesperson position. At this time we have selected to pursue other applicants and will not be offering you the position. This decision was based on the resume that you submitted. As an employer that has reviewed resumes over the past 10 years, I am offering you some friendly advise. Take your resume to the career center at the University and have someone review it. There were several grammatical and formatting errors that were extremely detrimental to your chances of receiving a job offer.

I wish you luck on you job search,
[Signature here]

billbenson
12-07-2012, 12:17 AM
I was thinking along the lines of this......



[Applicant name here],
Thank you for applying for the banner salesperson position. At this time we have selected to pursue other applicants and will not be offering you the position. This decision was based on the resume that you submitted. As an employer that has reviewed resumes over the past 10 years, I am offering you some friendly advise. Take your resume to the career center at the University and have someone review it. There were several grammatical and formatting errors that were extremely detrimental to your chances of receiving a job offer.

I wish you luck on you job search,
[Signature here]

Neals response seems great to me. You could even beef it up with an allowance of resubmitting a decent resume.The respondant may be a good prospect employee who can't write a resume from what you have told us.

Harold Mansfield
12-07-2012, 09:44 AM
I'm kind of torn on that one. I'm by no means perfect, but there are some things that I just think people should know. Every adult should have at least some basic communication skills. More times than not I lack the patience and just have a "screw them, they should know better" attitude.

But on the other hand, when I see that someone is genuinely trying and just needs a little help or push in the right direction, I do like to lend a hand.

Not it is not your job to grade resume's. But in this instance since it is interns, it is a learning excercise and enviroment so I would probably offer some advice about preparing and sending resume's.

huggytree
12-07-2012, 09:42 PM
its not your job

id throw it in the garbage and move on

billbenson
12-07-2012, 10:24 PM
its not your job

id throw it in the garbage and move on

So 5 minutes of your time to help someone out is a waste of your time. That's the same logic as if someone is burning to death in a car and you can stop and safely rescue them or just drive along saying screw them they got themselves in that accident, why should I help them.

huggytree
12-08-2012, 08:20 AM
So 5 minutes of your time to help someone out is a waste of your time. That's the same logic as if someone is burning to death in a car and you can stop and safely rescue them or just drive along saying screw them they got themselves in that accident, why should I help them.

its not helping some one in trouble

its helping an idiot see he's an idiot.....do you think pointing out the fact that its bad will help him??? if its soooo bad then its obvious its someone with a problem

im in 10-20 different peoples houses a week....its shocking to see how many people are barely functioning in our society....id put it at 5-10%.....these people are like Forest Gump(without his luck)

go ahead and spend 5 minutes of your time if you need a new hobby

the person on the other end of the line may or may not react the way you'd expect

nealrm
12-08-2012, 11:20 AM
Since he was a student, with no real job experience, I decided to take the 30 seconds and send the email. It will either be received as a learning experience by him or not. Either way, I tried to help someone that needed it.

Harold Mansfield
12-11-2012, 11:16 AM
im in 10-20 different peoples houses a week....its shocking to see how many people are barely functioning in our society....id put it at 5-10%.....these people are like Forest Gump(without his luck)



I used to think I was some kind of snob when I thought like this, but damn it's true. There are a lot of grown ass people out there that have NO SKILLS and I don't get it. Can't read well. Can't spell worth a damn. Don't know how to handle any kind of business like an adult. It's amazing that these people are able to make any money and survive at all. Some of them, I can't figure out how they made is past the application process to even get a job.

I just don't understand how you make it into adulthood and have the life skills of a 10 year old. How did they even graduate high school?

Freelancier
12-11-2012, 01:58 PM
For me, I'd tell the person in a way similar to that explained by Neal. I look at it as a karma thing, what goes around comes around. You just never know if that person will be looking for someone like you in the future to give you work.

Business magnate
01-24-2013, 06:49 PM
If it was me, I would not respond at all, because he/she doesn't deserve the answer. Any person can write a good resume in couple of hours. And that person was too lazy to look it up for himself... That's how I look at it.

ozetel
03-12-2013, 01:29 AM
A quick short response pointing out a few issues they could try working on wouldn't hurt anyone.

The sender could be extremely grateful or blow it off. At least you have given a few minutes of your time to help someone who may not realise they have done any wrong.

IADS
03-12-2013, 02:16 AM
I believe that you are suppose to teach interns, so I would send back a gently worded email asking if they would like their resume' critiqued as part of your internship program.