The most embarrassing mistakes job seekers make

Data has revealed that over a third (35%) of jobseekers make embarrassing mistakes when applying for a new role, including forgetting who they are interviewing with and sending the wrong CV, with men worse than women.

That’s according to a survey conducted by job application tracking platform, RoleCatcher.

In the study of UK job seekers, individuals cited their most common recruitment failures, with 13% managing to make it through the interview without remembering what was in their cover letter. A further 10% completed an interview completely unaware of who the interview was with, and 9% admitted to submitting the wrong version of a CV.

The data also revealed that 7% of job seekers applied for the same job twice.

Men worse than women

When reporting on embarrassing failures across genders, the data shows a very telling split, with men more likely to make mistakes than women. Overall, 40% of men said they had made an embarrassing error when applying for jobs, while just 29% of women admitted this had happened to them.

RoleCatcher’s data also revealed that those looking for a new role in the last six months, when ONS statistics show vacancies were at a record high, were more likely to make a mistake. This suggests that the sheer number of jobs being advertised today is making it harder for applicants to keep on top of their job hunt.

James Fogg, CEO and Founder of RoleCatcher comments:

“I know from my own personal experience that the job-hunting process isn’t easy. An out-of-the-blue phone call can leave you frantically searching through your emails to remind yourself of the company the individual is from, what the job description is and which CV you sent them. And with an abundance of jobs to now choose from, applicants are certainly facing a real juggling process”

“The fact that so many job seekers are making embarrassing mistakes suggests that the hiring process is fundamentally broken for candidates. We’ve seen businesses using sophisticated tools to manage the recruitment process – from automated responses to robots managing interview scheduling – but most applicants are using post-it notes and notepads to organise their own job search. As how employers hire evolves, how job seekers manage their applications need to as well – and clearly men are in more need of support than their female peers!”