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It really pisses me off when a candidate - or recruiter trying to win business from me - completely ignores the criteria set out in the job ad. If I say I want a cover letter and they don't send one; I'm not reading your resume sunshine.
And if, after 3 emails of conversation and a clear email signature with my name in it, a recruiter continues to spell my name incorrectly; I'm not looking at your candidates either sunshine.
Really... is it that hard to double check and triple check your own work?
Just venting.... am one very frustrated and pissed off HR chick this week; with externals and internal senior managers.....
I am sooooo looking forward to Mark's Licensee Conference Call tomorrow.... if anyone comes near my desk in that 90 minutes, I may just roar....
Cheers,
Cyndy (with a 'y')
So true...
I've just started dealing with a new recruiter recently, and after stressing several times in the get-to-know-you meeting how important high-quality written communication was, the first resume he sends is a shambles. Nigh-incomprehensible, and riddled with syntactic errors. Not a good start.
I see it all the time, though, with applicants in general. I really do assume that a resume is your best and most polished work, and when it arrives looking like it was an 8-year-old's homework, I shudder to think what you'd be like writing lengthy, highly-technical e-mails to our important customers. Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.
Not following instructions... there's a bugbear. Nothing screams "I'm going to be a hard-to-manage prima donna" than to decide that what I've requested is irrelevant, and you're such a special and unique snowflake that you're going to call me at 1720 because "I thought you'd want to get the preliminaries out of the way as soon as possible so we could move on to an in-person interview". Sorry sunshine, I've been here since 0730, I want to go home to see my kids before they go to bed, and I'll just grab your name so I can put you on our "hire this person at your peril" list forever and ever...
Mega Dittos!
One of the things I look and listen for is the ability to communicate. This includes the ability to listen and follow directions. If you cannot follow simple directions, what makes you think I want you on my team?
In interviews, sometimes it's not just the answers I'm looking for, it's the applicant's ability to listen to the answer and respond. If the "answer" is wrong (if there is a wrong answer) he or she may overcome that by answering the question in a way that indicates understanding and the ability to engage in dialogue.