By Anyonexx0 - 14/04/2015 18:15 - United States - Washington

Today, my sister and I heard back from a job we both applied to. I had used the knowledge from my MBA degree to write a six-page essay for the application, while she just copied and pasted hers from a random website. Guess who got the job. FML
I agree, your life sucks 37 789
You deserved it 3 777

Same thing different taste

Top comments

You're better off not working in a place like that if they don't appreciate real effort and hard work anyway. Hope you find a job, OP.

Comments

your sister? I'd they don't see the effort on your part the job couldn't have been that good

Here's the ******* problem with that. An interviewer isn't gonna take time to read a multi-page essay. especially not one done in the traditional essay format of 10-12 point font. They're in there to find someone who express themselves in a timely fashion with as little information as possible. They're looking for someone who keeps things short and concise while being clear. So it's no damn wonder OP didn't get the job. He spent all of his effort on making a long complicated essay and his sister just pasted a few lines.

#32 is completely right, I learned the same thing he said in my high school personal finance class haha. Your application and resume should be no longer than 2 pages otherwise it will not be read.

But the sister didn't express herself at all, she stole someone else's expression. You can't say that's fair

It's not fair but I'm 100% sure the recruiter didn't read past the first page of the brothers essay. So she literally got the job because she was more concise with her application.

Honestly until you've been in the workforce for several years your resume should be only 1 page, and even then you can cut the shit out, I worked at Walmart, it's still on my resume, but I just lost the dates worked, when I get more relevant experience to my field you bet that shit is getting dropped entirely, it's not relevant to the real world

no clue why this message got downvoted. Any job is not worth if recruiter doesn't bother to read candidates answers. as i recruit for my company so i know how most good companies work. its definite that candidates who plagiarise r black listed for over a year.

Can't really judge the appropriateness of an application without having the advertisement to compare it against. What if this was a job which requested at least a 1 page response to each selection criteria and there was 4+ of them? I haven't been able to apply for a job without needing almost 3 complete pages to address selection criteria in about 5 years because that is simply what the company specified on the advertisement. If they are asking for people to apply in a specific manner and then disregarding it, then that's a company you do not want to work for as that demonstrates incapability to follow their own policies and procedures. If they can't get recruitment correct how do you think the rest of the company runs? Edit: This is just selection criteria responses, not including resume which would be at worst 2 pages long.

Working hard is smart, and working smart is hard if you're an idiot.

too true, sadly. to the naysayers: give it a few years and some experience. hard work very rarely pays off.

everton99 16

I can't believe people are thumbs downing number 49. I see plenty of coworkers, who I do nothing but clean up after, get the opportunity for promotion while I'm left getting bitched at for not cleaning up their mess perfectly. It really is true in this day and age hard work doesn't pay off. You're going to get shit on the harder you work, so why bother?

snarkytruth 37

That's what is so frustrating with the country integrity and hard workers are hard to find. Quality is just lip service. Nobody cares about doing a good job anymore.

You're better off not working in a place like that if they don't appreciate real effort and hard work anyway. Hope you find a job, OP.

Who's to say the original author of the copied paper didn't work harder on it than OP. The employer would be able to tell it's plagiarized just by reading it

#23. Doesnt matter if the guy she stole her words from worked harder, it ain't hers.

gintwinsmoore 20

there are sites made exclusively for plagiarizing if they doubted her work...cheaters never win no matter how easy it looks.

I agree OP's sister shouldn't have gotten the job, because plagiarism is never acceptable, but OP screwed up here too. The employers want a quick summary of why OP is the best person for the job; no employer is going to take the time to read an essay.

#87 It's actually "au contraire" but good attempt :)

Maybe they were required to write an essay for the application? I doubt someone would write 6 pages for no reason

snarkytruth 37

That's right just because she got the job doesn't mean she'll be able to keep it. They may be looking for a replacement for that position very soon. A bad work ethic quickly shows its self.

Donuts202 13

Wow, that's unfair OP. Keep trying, I'm sure someone will appreciate your hard work!

Maybe it wasn't meant to be, I hope you find the perfect job soon OP!

They obviously didn't look over her papers very well if they completely disregarded obvious plagiarism. Oh, well, that just means you're open for a better job opportunity. :3

I feel your pain, OP! I got my associate's degree in high school, and am working on my bachelor's in vision science, and am taking off a year to make money; my 17 year old sister who's still in high school and I both applied to Toys R Us, and she was hired, and I wasn't.

To be fair, women are usually stereotyped to be more welcoming to children.

It may also be that she possesses more customer service 'likability' than you. I obviously don't know you, therefore I can't say but an employer will generally go with who they think fits the job role best. Not always qualifications. That attitude tends to be reserved for more professional jobs. Hope you find something soon though OP ?

It's about retention. They will not retain you because you're on a path greater than what they can offer. It takes time and money to train someone and then 6 months later have them leave. When I look at resumes, as the primary recruiter for my store, I look at qualifications, job ambitions, wage cost, turn anticipation, length of previous employment, and completeness of application to name a few. If I have 2 almost identical applications/resumes, in regards to relevant experience, while one may have a more extensive education background, it comes down to one interview question, why do you want to work for (enter company name here)? Unless it's a temp position, if one applicant tells me I'm looking for a job for a few months and another says I want to grow here and move up etc they always win because I will likely retain them for a longer employment duration keeping training cost lower and my retention percent higher. So the lesson here is don't offer your anticipated length of employment to companies, it may cost you positions.

@28: Yeah, I've been told that. The aggravating part is that I need a job to help reduce my tuition costs, but I'm overqualified for every entry level job that I've seen and applied for. @29: I wondered if that was the case also. Of all of their employees, I think there are about 5 guys, and 4 of them are managers or supervisors. @45: Though I can't say for sure, I think I'm fairly likable, I tend to be friendly, and have never had a problem making friends, and have yet to encounter anyone that I don't get along with. @109: I understand that, but that wasn't the problem here, because it was a seasonal position that we had applied for. Thanks, though! I'm currently employed as a substitute teacher, a job I got a few months ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Ironically enough, I got called in for an interview at Toys R Us yesterday, not long after I posted my comment (my sister said they were understaffed, and encouraged me to apply again; additionally they are also opening a Toys R Us in the mall nearby, so were looking at applicants for there as well. I decided to apply to fill in the gaps of my substituting schedule.) Apparently they had really liked me last time, but didn't want me for an entry level job. They had been considering me as a supervisor, but went with somebody corporate sent over. Anyway, they said that, if I got the job, it wouldn't be for a general team member at that store, but as Department Supervisor for they Toys R Us in the mall. I got the job, so it ended up working better than I thought!

She has a job until someone looks back at her file and notices the plagiarism.

Maybe it wasn't meant to be and your dream job will be just around the corner! Fingers crossed. : )