Great face to face but horrible resume

[Happylady]

We interviewed someone the other day. She was great, very outgoing, ABO certified, and made a wonderful impression.

Then the manager looked at her resume. Don't people proofread their resume? It was horrible. There was bad grammer and incomplete sentences. She often capitalized words in the middle of her sentences. She missed spelled easy words. She wrote eye ware and there(for their) several times.

Even with a calculator she couldn't do percentages.

Do other people have this problem? Should we tell her that she might do better if she fixed her resume?

[CME4SPECS]

I think most people look at resumes before the interview process! Bad resumes never make interviews, maybe you ought to look at the person instead of the resume!

I fir won ain't no grate righter, butt, I kin fit them thar glassus wit da best of em! An I cun cell ice ta an eskamo!

[Happylady]

I think most people look at resumes before the interview process! Bad resumes never make interviews, maybe you ought to look at the person instead of the resume!

I wasn't there. I get the impression that she brought the resume with her at the interview. I am surprised the manager didn't look at it closer while she was there, but I guess she went right into the interview first.

[CME4SPECS]

Maybe you ought to question your mangers abilities. Do you want this gal to sell/fit glasses or write a book?

[DocInChina]

Since you are hiring an optician who will work with the general public and apparently has the training, people skills and charm required I would be less concerned about her resume. After all, you are not hiring a book editor.

The one thing that bothers me about the resume was the attention to detail. I don't care if it does not look pretty nor that it is extremely well written and interesting. Its the fact that small details such as punctuation, capitalization, etc were ignored. We are in a detail oriented business so if her own resume is not very important to her how about the details of your business. If it were me, I would hire her but pay attention to how she handles the day to day details. She just may be detailed with her work but not with non-work related issues.

[cocoisland58]

With a resume like that I would be concerned. People skills and charm are very important but this many mistakes in grammar and spelling would make me question her intelligence. After all spell check is readily available. And not to be able to use a calculator is a bad omen. I have always said that calculators were created for the math challenged among us (of which i am one). We all have our weak areas but learning to compensate is the difference between acheivement and failure. Sorry, I wouldn't hire her.

[chip anderson]

Face was good how was the figure?

[hcjilson]

The question is posed....Do you hire the person or the resume. My hope would be that you hire the person because the skills that show lacking on this particular resume are easily learnable, and certainly correctable. If however the person was interviewing for a job as a proofreader, I think you would probably hire the resume!:bbg: So it really comes down to what job the interview was for...(Pardon the preposition) :)

What do YOU look for in a resume??

[Leo Hadley Jr]

She often capitalized words in the middle of her sentences. She missed spelled easy words. She wrote eye ware and there(for their) several times.

Did you say, Missed Spelled?
:bbg:

[Nettie]

In my opinion, the resume is just as important as the interview. I would be worried that she would screw up orders to our lab with misspelling and entering powers wrong. Also, if she is writing down prices and options for a patient and they see the awful written grammar, they may not want to trust us with their business.
That's just my $.02.

[fvc2020]

I have just been through this process in my office. I did review resumes first though. My problem wasn't the resumes, it was how the people showed up. Wrinkled clothes, no makeup, low rider pants(I"m not kidding). Smelling like smoke.(multiple smokers)

My other issue is that even when the resumes look good, when some of these people come, they can't communicate. I ask questions like "what is your definition of teamwork?". I get blank stares and umms.

Just frustrating, seeing that they have to work with the rest of the team, the doctors and the patients.

I just don't get it.

christina

[EyeFitWell]

In my humble opinion, someone who can't write a resume isn't worth the trouble. A person who has passed high school can write with proper spelling and grammar, plus Word fixes the stuff for you! If her resume looks that bad, I would assume that it looks bad b/c she didn't care enough to fix it. She's certainly capable of it, but choose not to.

[Jubilee]

My concern is the fact she couldn't do percentages, even with a calculator!

Depending upon the system, how likely is it that she'll misquote someone.

Does she seem like she would "learn quickly?"
Was this resume a hurried preparation for an interview (though that doesn't bode too well either)
Maybe bring her in for a second interview with some additional testing and see how she interacts with a "potential customer" and goes through the process of writing the order up, discussing fees, calculating total pricing, etc..

You would be giving her the benefit of the doubt, since she had made a good impression face to face, but would be making sure she is capable of performing the essential duties of the job with out making a ton of mistakes.

Cassandra

[For-Life]

The question is will those things affect job performance. We may assume that they will not, but think again. First, the person had spelling mistakes for the simplist items. Does that mean that the person may write names, addresses and such down incorrectly, potentially hindering future contact?

Also, here is one major point. Obviously the person did not proof read it or double check anything. That can translate into major mistakes. Not double checking the RX can lead to ordering the wrong RX, not double checking the measurements can leader to wrong measures, not double checking information can lead to wrong orders, and so forth.

The problems on the resume did not show the person's inability to use grammar or spell proper. The mistakes showed the unwillingness to double check an extremely important document.

[EyeFitWell]

The mistakes showed the unwillingness to double check an extremely important document.

Bingo!

[gemstone]

:bbg:

Did you say, Missed Spelled?
:bbg:

:bbg: :bbg:

[Bill West]

Makes me wonder about the quality of that. I see lots of folk on here that can't spell. I would'nt hire anyone that slack. The numbers thing is another thing. Can't handle the money for me.

[HarryChiling]

Sounds like a diamond in the rough. I have meet college graduates that have resumes that stink and have misspellings in them. If she is a good optician with a shody resume you might have an oppotunity that others won't. Like for instance everyone else that looks at the resume first is going to file hers in the round file, but you had the opportunity to meet her first and you liked what you saw. I would be cautious as suggested and make sure she doesn't exhibit the same carelessness in her work, but I would consider her.

PS - It's not like decent candidates are abundant in our field.

My problem wasn't the resumes, it was how the people showed up. Wrinkled clothes, no makeup, low rider pants(I"m not kidding). Smelling like smoke.(multiple smokers)

[For-Life]

Sounds like a diamond in the rough. I have meet college graduates that have resumes that stink and have misspellings in them. If she is a good optician with a shody resume you might have an oppotunity that others won't. Like for instance everyone else that looks at the resume first is going to file hers in the round file, but you had the opportunity to meet her first and you liked what you saw. I would be cautious as suggested and make sure she doesn't exhibit the same carelessness in her work, but I would consider her.

PS - It's not like decent candidates are abundant in our field.

Like I said though, if the person did not take them time to proof read such an important document then what is it going to take to encourage them to check the work they do in the office? How many RX's will be copied down wrong and not double checked? How many fitting heights will be set too low or too high? How many payments will be missed because the ledger was not checked?

[Jubilee]

My son struggles with reading and spelling. It was recommended that I have him be evaluated by a developmental neurologist to see if a "learning disorder" or something more was amiss.

When I talked to him about how my son can't spell to save his life (though he excels at most other subjects now) the Dr's reply was... "Neither can I! That is why I use my recorder and have staff to chart and write the correspondance for me!" (and this guy is considered one of Indy's foremost specialists in this area..affiliated with Riley's and IU med center)

According to him half the American population can spell worth a darn. Granted she should have used a word processing program, and had someone double check her work. That is why I recommended having her come in to do some additional qualifying to see if she might be that diamond or if she is fools gold.

Cassandra

[FVCCHRIS]

Today's workforce(in my opinion) is not the workforce I had to compete with when I hit the workplace in the mid-seventies. We constantly see horrible resumes with poor grammar, spelling, etc. Why should someone these days worry about spelling when they have spell-check? Just because they push a button to correct all their spelling mistakes doesn't mean they "learned" the correct spelling. They know how to have a machine correct their mistakes, not how to spot and fix them themselves. Also, today's liberal generation seems to think that when being evaluated for a position the "employer" will certainly take into account each applicant's appearance as their freedom to express themselves outwardly right? You know there's definitely something wrong when people show up late for interviews wearing casual clothes and sporting loud tatoos and body piercings. I think that is why I know as long as I can physically stand up and do my job I will never be short of good opportunities in the future. With that said, you know that old saying about never judging a book by it's cover? Well people aren't books.;) Chris..

[gemstone]

Today's workforce(in my opinion) is not the workforce I had to compete with when I hit the workplace in the mid-seventies. We constantly see horrible resumes with poor grammar, spelling, etc. Why should someone these days worry about spelling when they have spell-check? Just because they push a button to correct all their spelling mistakes doesn't mean they "learned" the correct spelling. They know how to have a machine correct their mistakes, not how to spot and fix them themselves. Also, today's liberal generation seems to think that when being evaluated for a position the "employer" will certainly take into account each applicant's appearance as their freedom to express themselves outwardly right? You know there's definitely something wrong when people show up late for interviews wearing casual clothes and sporting loud tatoos and body piercings. I think that is why I know as long as I can physically stand up and do my job I will never be short of good opportunities in the future. With that said, you know that old saying about never judging a book by it's cover? Well people aren't books.;) Chris..

Sounds like THIS applicant couldn't even use the spell checker.

[HarryChiling]

Like I said though, if the person did not take them time to proof read such an important document then what is it going to take to encourage them to check the work they do in the office? How many RX's will be copied down wrong and not double checked? How many fitting heights will be set too low or too high? How many payments will be missed because the ledger was not checked?

A good manager will help make sure they stay in line. The majority of the people here seem to think she would be a bad hire, this is an opportunity. Lets say she interviewed with everyone on this thread. Almost all of you would pass on her, and I would take the opportunity to get a employee for less. Resumes are not as easy for everyone as they may be for you and me. I have had some of the most qualified people walk in the door and have no resume at all, keep in mind that Happylady is in Texas and in Texas opticians are not licensed professionals, so if the employee pool is anything like my state grab it while it's hot.

[Happylady]

Did you say, Missed Spelled?
:bbg:

I sure did! :o I never said I was perfect, in fact I am a lousy speller. I use a spell check often. But I would never put out a resume that that. If it had had one or two errors I think the manager could overlook it, but not as many as there were.

Two of the numbers she gave as references were discontinued. That didn't seem right, either.

[HarryChiling]

Two of the numbers she gave as references were discontinued.

Nevermind forget about her. :(