Soundbites

10-June-2009

Steve Bremner Consultant, The Top Agency
I received a CV, covering letter and a ‘Congratulations’ card in the post. The ‘Congratulations’ card was from a candidate congratulating us on being lucky enough to receive his CV and his obvious employability with one of our clients.

David Leyshon Managing director, CBSbutler
Engineering graduate interviewees usually take their final year projects to the interviewing companies. One graduate had a product that was so large he hired a van, then took the interviewers out into the car park to show them what he had made and demonstrated how it worked. He got the job!

Martin Heywood Regional manager, Independent Appointments
I had a candidate who was up for a sales training role. Before the interview he rang the client’s offices on a few occasions preceding the interview acting as a mystery shopper. At the interview he presented the client with his report, which also highlighted the areas he felt were needed in terms of training for the advisers he had spoken to. The client was extremely impressed, and yes, he got the job!

Steve Rhodes Managing consultant, Independent Appointments
I once had an applicant who offered to work for the first month without pay, just to prove himself.

Jonny Hiles Director, The Hub
A few candidates try and embellish their CVs to make them stand out by including strange interests such as ‘dropping things from height’ or unnecessary details such as ‘my favourite colour is …’. A little while back we had a candidate who showed the manager his nipple ring in an interview, when asked to give an example of something daring that he’d done. He didn’t get the job.

Toby Thwaites Director, Purple
We’ve had freelancers turning up with Easter eggs or big boxes of sweets for their consultants. While this is standard behaviour for suppliers to their clients, it’s unusual for candidates to behave in this way. Even more unusually, we heard that a candidate actually went to the trouble and expense of placing their own ad on to Design Week’s website.

Alan Rommel Managing director, Parity Resourcing
In an exercise in misguided marketing, a candidate for a role at an ‘environmental’ firm left the client with a bonsai tree as they thought they liked trees. We shouldn’t forget there are many that contribute positively to stand out but at least such examples provide some light relief - in retrospect, anyway!