- 01
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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I accidentally sent my grocery list instead of my cover letter. Got a phone screen.
"Spent 3 hours tailoring a cover letter for a Marketing Manager role. Thoughtful, personalized, referenced their mission statement and everything.
Hit send. Felt great.
Two minutes later I'm reading my sent folder and I'm staring at:
" – eggs, oat milk (not the cheap one), chicken thighs, resume paper??"
- 02
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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She sent a panicked follow-up with the actual letter. Apologized. Explained she was juggling multiple applications, which is true of essentially every job seeker alive and also not something anyone should have to explain because the job market created this situation. The recruiter called the next morning and opened with: "So… did you get the oat milk?"
She didn't get the job. But she got something arguably better, a story, a laugh, and proof that being accidentally human in a process that demands relentless professionalism can sometimes land better than three hours of careful crafting ever could. The internet, as it tends to do when someone shares something genuinely relatable, showed up. Banking transaction screenshots sent instead of resumes. Smoked salmon photos sent instead of ID, the recruiter asked for the recipe. Application disasters of every variety, all confirming the same thing: everyone is out here doing their absolute best and occasionally sending the wrong document entirely.
The bar for standing out, she said, is on the floor. You just have to be accidentally human. Which, it turns out, most of us already are. The oat milk question was worth it.
- 03
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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"I sent my Notes app grocery list. The entire thing. Including the question mark after "resume paper" because apparently even my grocery list was having an existential crisis.
I sent a frantic follow-up with the actual letter, apologized, explained I was juggling multiple applications.
They called me the next morning. The recruiter opened with:
"So… did you get the oat milk?"
Didn't get the job. But it lowkey was the best interview of my life.
The bar for standing out is on the floor, guys. You just have to be accidentally human."
- 04
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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I got someone’s online banking transaction screenshot instead of their resume once.
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I got a super long document about the evaluation of a house (I think, it was v long, v complicated)
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Bro multitasking a job application AND Invincible discourse is peak job search behavior 💀 honestly the real question is was the panel discussion worth it. Also the fact that there was no backpedal option is genuinely cruel, like they KNOW we make mistakes and still no undo button. Respect for the attempt though lmao
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at least the invincible convo was probably more entertaining than whatever marketing speak they were expecting lol
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At least your mistake was thematic - they got a preview of your attention to detail with those panel notes.
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The fact that you got a phone screen means they probably never opened it, which is kind of the silver lining here since now you know you can skip that three hour tailoring session next time.
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I’m a recruiter and I have received all kinds of things. Insurance papers, lease agreements, but the craziest thing was a very much NSFW photo. I immediately closed it but it surprised me so much that I had to tell my neighbor about it and before it was all said and done the whole HR department had a good laugh about it. I could not convince myself to call him thinking it was done on purpose, so one of my coworkers called him to tell him what he submitted, and he was completely embarrassed and thanked her profusely for telling him. It makes me wonder how many applications he submitted thinking it was his resume!
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I have attached cover letter for wrong position/company and a version of my resume that was not the final version I meant to send. Stuff happens.
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I sent my cv to our mortgage broker instead of a copy of our bank statement. Absolute idiot.
The broker did not offer me a job but we did get the mortgage.
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that's actually kind of impressive you still got the screen, maybe they appreciated the commitment to oat milk quality control.
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Amazing. Thanknyou for the much needed laugh
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I know people always have something against HR, but we’re not all the same. Anyway, 7 years ago I met a woman who came to hand in her CV in person. She was around 35 years old. Very kind and always smiling. She explained to me that she was trying to return to work after becoming a mother, but she just couldn’t find a job. We talked for a while. In the end, I told her that was all for now and that I would let her know. She replied: “Okay, everyone says that. They all tell me I’m kind and smiling, but then they never call me back. I understand, I don’t take it personally.” That’s the reason why I called her back. Today, I’d like to introduce you to Justine. She has been working with us for almost 7 years now. In the meantime, she had another beautiful baby girl, and she has become one of our most trusted colleagues.
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I once sent a partially edited, grossly incomplete resume. I still got the job
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Did a similar thing and sent a certificate from a training class instead of my resume. Nothing but crickets from the company.
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the fact that they still called you for a phone screen is honestly the best outcome here, they probably got a laugh out of it and figured anyone organized enough to have a detailed grocery list is probably organized enough to do the job.
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You broke out of the standard pipeline and got a human. That's basically the best trick to getting a great job - make the recruiter call you to clarify something. In this case butter . But then you're in the pipeline as an internal rather than an external
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I had a technical writing professor say he once got an interview and job with a cover letter that had typos.
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Knew someone going for a job at F1 team. Housemates got his CV and spiced it up.
They loved it i think they got the job.
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the fact they called you back proves cover letters are just a box to tick. Sounds like they saw your resume was solid and didn't care what the attachment said.
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They probably thought the grocery list was a creative way to show attention to detail and your actual priorities, which honestly might've worked better than a generic cover letter would have.
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Ive gotten grocery lists, vacation planning, medical test results, cover letters for other companies....people are human.
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My daughter’s bff worked her resume up and sent it out right after she graduated from college. She didn’t catch that there was a stock photo of a bearded black guy in the template. She’s a non-bearded white girl. She went “viral” on TikTok and will never live it down.
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