What Have You Seen on a Job Resume That Made Your Jaw Drop?

What have you seen on a job resume that made your jaw drop?

During 2000 to 2002 I was the human resources manager of a small software company in the Bay Area of California. My duties were typical of an H.R. Manager, which included compliance with all employment laws, developing job descriptions, handling employee complaints, sexual harassment problems, handling payroll and payroll disputes, and so on. In addition, as usual, I was responsible for finding and submitting candidates to management for open positions. One day I received a beautifully packaged resume. I say packaged because it was wrapped in unusually pretty paper. Inside was the most eye appealing resume I had during my decades of hiring ever seen. It was a large 8 1/2″ by 11″ thin notebook and the outside was beautifully hand scripted. I no longer remember the exact words, but t were something like this. “Inside You Will Find the Most Qualified Individual You Have Ever Evaluated.” There were literally dozens, if not a hundred other resumes on my desk for the position of sales manager besides this one. But, and of course, I read this one right away, not first, but within the first ten. Inside was a neatly typed two page resume on sheep skin like paper about a 45 year old woman who had recently divorced and had been a home maker all her life. She entitled all her household and home duties as. Management. and about her duties managing a home, grocery shopping, fixing meals, getting husband and kids off to work and school, and so on. And she delineated each and every category by tying it into my ad for a sales manager. Naturally, the first thought was that she didn’t qualify for sales manager, and, in fact, I didn’t think she qualified to work any position in our firm. That night after I left late from work I couldn’t keep from thinking about her. The next day I called her and had her come in for an exploratory interview. I told her she didn’t qualify for the sales manager position, but that we had other openings and maybe she might fit one of those. When I first saw her, she was the spitting image of what I thought a 45 year old mother of three home maker should look like. Not very tall. Somewhat plump. Not actually pretty, but not homely either. She wore a regular dress without frills. But what amazed me most about her was that she looked so clean. Know what I mean? That clean shiny look some people have. An Ajax glow! It was uncanny. And then she began talking; her voice was actually melodious. I mean that. It was soft, but at the same time seemed so pleasant that I sort of melted from her vocal charm. Not to belabor this because I’m catching myself reminiscing, we had a customer service clerk position open that called for someone with experience to handle all the questions about our products and, especially, complaints. I had two bosses, the Controller and Vice President of Operations. I convinced them that the homemaker lady would be ideal for the position. Both objected. “She doesn’t have any work experience.” But, both liked me and gave in. She got into the job quickly, learned all about our products, and gave 120% to the job. After a few months, complaint resolution was up 20% (meaning more complaints were resolved), we received letters from satisfied customers praising our customer services representative. After three months, she was promoted to group leader, and four months after that to customer services manager. I don’t know what happened after that because I left to seek other opportunities. In summary, one of the most wonderful employees I had the chance to hire resulted from a very unusual and well written resume.