I’ve seen every shape, color and creative package of resume and job application possible. But I’ve never seen one that actually scared me.
But then recently, emergency crews at Eastern Illinois University evacuated a building after a campus postal carrier discovered a suspicious looking package addressed to the college admissions office.
“There was no return address. It was poorly written and poorly addressed to the university. There were misspellings,” school spokeswoman Vicki Woodard said Saturday. “There was some tape over it. Just the overall appearance was rather strange.”
The unusual size, no return address, misspellings in the address and the tape holding torn sections together were enough to bring in the local bomb squad. Explosives investigators X-rayed the package and blocked off nearby streets – only to discover the envelope contained only an application for admission to the school.
How would you evaluate that application?
Would you think that young student would be a great addition to your university? Would you want that person working for you – representing your company? I am constantly amazed when I see people walking into business establishments in torn cutoffs, with a baseball cap on, and then asking, “You don’t have any jobs, do you?” Or college graduates roaming the aisles at career fairs in flip flops and coffee-stained t-shirts, handing out resumes in anticipation of that first $80,000 a year job. These are the same people you’ll hear complaining about the bad economy and the fact that no one is hiring.
Funny how a clean shirt and pair of slacks, an enthusiastic smile and direct eye contact can change the economy instantly. And how a clean, carefully prepared application will get you into most any university of your choosing.
“I am
constantly amazed when I see people walking into business establishments
in torn cutoffs, with a baseball cap on, and then asking, ‘You don’t
have any jobs, do you?'”
A lot of those “applicants” are playing the “unemployment / welfare” game. Many states have a requirement that you must “look for work” if you are receiving unemployment or welfare benefits. The “game” is to make yourself as unappealing to the employer as possible, ask for “any” kind of work and then report that you “tried” to find a job. When I was managing a retail store, there would be women playing the game who would come in wearing maternity tops. They knew we couldn’t ask outright if they were pregnant, but they also knew no one would hire them, because by the time they were trained they would have to take maternity leave if they actually were pregnant.