Awful Applications and Ridiculous Resumes

There are nearly 15 million people unemployed in the U.S., and, judging by the paperwork, quite a few of them are going to remain jobless for a while. That's the impression conveyed by a new report from Careerbuilder.com. The job-search company surveyed more than 2,500 HR managers to get a sense of how much time they spend reading resumes and applications, and to figure out what job candidates need to do to stand out from the crowd. Turns out, some candidates go too far when trying to make an impression. With references to God, Vikings and monkeys, maybe these employment-seekers need guidance on the whole "too much information" thing." While it's important to carve out some sort of individual identity, job seekers need to make sure their resumes catch hiring managers' eyes for the right reasons," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. Here are some revealing statistics from the survey, along with the Best of the Worst from application forms and resumes.