Nobody is perfect

Someone submitted a resume and cover letter to me for consideration for an internship. The cover letter had spelling and grammar mistakes and the resume was unclear on the person's skills and experience. Under normal circumstances a business would see something like this and just toss it, without a second thought, and never contact the person. My boss decided to call them to let them know we wouldn't be considering them for the position, and to suggest that they might want to read over and make some alterations to their resume and cover letter.

After my boss let them know that we wouldn't be calling them in for an interview, and in the middle of her giving them some tips on improving their resume and cover letter for their future submissions, the person hung up.

This was a student in college who apparently could not handle criticism and didn't want to learn how to improve their very unprofessional resume and cover letter.

Not many people would have even took the time to call someone who didn't spell the word “internship” correctly in their cover letter, but my boss took time out of her day, for a person who can't handle instruction.

I feel like we (myself included) are so caught up in our self bubble that we don't allow anyone's opinion inside, even if they are opinions that could help us be a better person. We've got to learn to accept criticism and instruction, taking what we can use and discarding what we cannot, but at least hear people out...especially when you are looking for employment.

7 comments

  1. Wow, that's crazy. I think handling trying circumstances gracefully could open doors and that person just burnt a bridge. This is a good reminder for me to try to remember to handle criticism gracefully.

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  2. a good reminder not to let pride take over.

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  3. wow! i really think they should have been grateful that they would even follow up with them to let them know anything, and to give them tips on their resume!

    I would love it if someone called me instead of me sitting in suspense.

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  4. That's really nice of your boss to take the time to do that, too bad it was not appreciated. I suppose the student will learn fast though, it doesn't sound like her/his phone will be ringing very often.

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  5. That was really rude. I am sure that they are still looking for employment.

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  6. Great post! And I couldn't agree more, we do get caught in or own bobble. Criticizing can be hard and scary when really a lot of times it is for our own benefit.

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  7. On top of the fact that this person can't spell or use proper diction, they're rude too!!! They need to give up search for a regular job and just move to Hollywood!

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