At BWBacon we work with our clients to ensure we know every last detail of the role, the culture and what is needed out of the perfect candidate.
Likewise, with our candidates, we make sure they clearly understand the position, the company for which they may work and tips on shining during the interview process.
However, with all things in life, there are always events and circumstances that go unforeseen and the subsequent blunders that result because of them. Here are some of our more memorable recruiting disasters.
1. The Candidate who Started to Cry – During the Interview
A candidate was applying for a position which would require substantial levels of daily stress. On paper he was ideal for it, but at the time of the interview he was also experiencing enormous levels of personal stress.
We have all had the straw that broke the camel’s back and for this particular candidate, it was this interview and a lot of expectations went down the tubes when he began to cry. The interview stopped while the client ran to get him some tissue to console him.
Moral of the story? Don’t take on more than you can handle and try not to cry during interviews.
2. The Candidate that Showed Up to the Interview Looking Like Cyndi Lauper
Matching technical candidates with clients is something we at BWBacon take very seriously. We do not want to waste our client’s or our candidate’s time.
Awhile back, we thought we had perfectly matched an out-of-state candidate with a client facing position at a professional organization. Her skills matched the responsibilities of the position, and both client and candidate were excited about one another.
Then, the candidate showed up to the interview wearing something that we think could be categorized under “1980s Madonna Regalia” or perhaps “Cyndi Lauper / Madonna Train Wreck”. The interview went well, but both candidate and client agreed that there might be some, a-hum, cultural differences.
3. The Interview No-Show Excuses
The dog ate my homework, or I had to stop to give an elderly man CPR on the way to class have nothing on the excuses some present us as to why they did not show up to an interview. Some of our favorites?
“I dropped my cell phone off the chair lift on a powder day, and it was the only way I had access to my calendar.”
“I had so much fun in Aspen, I forgot about my Monday interview.”
“My next door neighbor had a huge party, and I couldn't get a good night rest.”
4. Resume Blunders
Ultimate resume blunder in opening paragraphs:
“This programmer can only be described as an action-packed winner with enough programming skills to stop the orbit of the moon. Candidate is right on the money as the saucy, sassy, wisecracking Java Developer who shoots all the bad guys, and gets all the chicks. Taught with a phenomenal Computer Science education from the University of Colorado Boulder, Candidate has spent his last 8 eight years fighting the forces of SQL query ineptitude, while repeatedly rescuing bus-fulls of Nuns and Boy Scouts across the globe.”
“Seldom does a moment of his life go by when he isn’t laying waste to half city blocks or messily garroting scores of testers who can’t tell an ‘Object’ from a ‘Class’. Frankly, it’s a wonder that his body count has gotten by legal authorities (with no convictions, unbelievably!), because we’ve had to stop counting corpses at eleven hundred. Taut and gripping ‘til the end, Candidate pursues evil race conditions across the globe in some of the bloodiest yet truly gratifying coding sessions ever performed.”
“With all the superlatives it may sound over the top, and would be if performed by the likes of Linus Torvalds or Donald Knuth, but Mr. Candidate codes with the soul of a poet. Tragic yet beautiful, restrained and deeply human, he brings a rare sense of emotion and purpose to code that would otherwise be lost in the ranks of stale backend development. Watch closely as he types for a rare glimpse into genius.”
Oh, and photos on a resume? Total blunder.
At BWBacon our aim on every client and every candidate is to get it 100% right, and 99% of the time we do. If you are a technical candidate looking for a new technical position in the Denver area please see our list of current job opportunities; or if you are a company looking for the perfect candidate please contact us. We can help!
