15+ Hiring managers who received bizarre resumes: 'The paper was soaking wet and dissolving'

Nothing will make you feel better about your job prospects than reading the tales of hiring managers who were stunned by the resumes they'd been handed. 

Some stories on the internet feel like they're being whispered across a campfire on a dark and cloudless night. The full moon is bright overhead, the trees shake from the wind, and you can picture a hiring manager leaning over toward the other hiring managers and whispering, "… And then, I took the resume out of the paper bag, and it was wet and dissolving!" Everyone around the fire gasps and clutches their s'mores a little tighter. Then someone else says, "Wait, wait, I've got something ever wilder — this guy wrote on his resume that he planned to retire in 6 months!" This would be followed by laughter, and more stories, of course.  

Folks, let's all please spell the name of the company we're applying to correctly. If you want to share that you have "atentin to detales," consider paying attention to the details first! And if your resume is really hard to read, like having super tiny font sizes or an unreadable font, your resume will get deleted with a single click. 

The hiring managers here understand that all too well. And if you're looking for a job right now, it's a fantastic look at exactly what not to do! 

One thing that doesn't get talked about a lot is that you shouldn't over-embellish what you did at work. No, you weren't the CEO of Motherhood because you had 3 kids. I'm sure your kids think the world of you, but you're just begging for your resume to be trashed in that case. And if you were a waiter, you didn't increase the customer base or transform the establishment just by showing up each day. When you tell half-truths or are otherwise stretching the truth, it's risky! 

At least there's comfort in knowing that a real human is taking the time to look at your resume… although they say that a lot of hiring managers only look at each resume for 5 seconds before deciding upon a yes or no answer. So keep that in mind, too after you read the stories of these fateful applicants who didn't make the cut. Don't be a hiring manager's campfire story — be their best applicant instead. 

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