The best ever candidate application blunders

Earlier this year Top-Consultant.com, the niche job board for management and business consultants, ran a competition to uncover some of the worst application and interview blunders ever to have been seen by recruiters in the management consultancy sector. Some absolute gems were revealed and in the run up to the holiday season we thought we would share the best of them with you.

Joint 1st Prize Winners:

ìAn MBA candidate was out to lunch for a final interview with the Managing Partner. The candidate spilled soup on his tie. No big deal, right? Mistakes happen? In this case, the candidate proceeded to lick the soup off his tie. Interview over.î

ìCandidate sent CV without realising his EX girl friend!!! had annotated the hobbies and interests section and personal details to include the following interests. Beer Drinking, Belching and Farting, Generally laying around and barking orders from the sofa, picking nose and eating it and picking up random women in bars...î

Runners-Up:

ìI was interviewing a graduate applicant for Management Consultancy along with one of my colleagues from Business Consulting. I introduced myself as Head of Recruitment and then my colleague introduced himself as a Senior Consultant. The graduate then turned to my colleague and said Well thank goodness youíre here - these HR types donít know anything about business. Needless to say I didnít recommend him to the next stage!î

ìWe asked a candidate to describe his ideal role. He replied High salary, easy work and around the corner from home. Refreshingly honest, but he did not get the role.î

ìA candidate who met with me dressed perfectly well then turned up for the interview with our management consultancy client wearing a Purple suit, brown shirt with a yellow tie - the meeting was very short.î

ìSpelled his own name wrong.î

Our thanks go to everyone who submitted an entry and congratulations to the following firms for providing the winning entries: Unisys, BEA Systems, Capgemini, Novell, Quorum International, Moliere Ltd, Prime Partnership, LWS Communications Ltd, Match Recruitment UK Ltd, cahro Ltd and Q4 Recruitment Consultancy Ltd.