Applying for a Job? What Not to Do

It's always a temptation to really go that extra mile in order to impress a potential employer, especially when that elusive 'perfect job' comes along. We all do it – even if its just buying a new suit for the interview or brushing up on your management speak. Making sure your CV is on top form is one of the most obvious things to do. You want to show off as much as possible, let them know all of your strengths and tick all the right boxes.

Sometimes ambition can push people too far though. According to some recent research carried out by the Risk Advisory Group found that around 20 per cent of all CVs submitted contain significant lies, such as vastly improved academic records, or falsified employment histories. Nearly half of CVs are believed to contain at least one inaccuracy.

But if you think you've ever gone a bit far in preparing your job application, spare a though for recent Yale graduate Aleksey Vayner who has become the laughing stock of the investment banking world after applying for a job at UBS Investment Bank.

Not content with simply sending in the conventional CV and covering letter, Mr Vayner decided to do something special to grab the attention of the human resources department. He sent his CV – which totalled 11 pages – and with it, his own autobiographical video, entitled 'Impossible is Nothing', displaying what he apparently believes to be his best assets.

The six minute tape begins with Mr Vayner being described as "a model of personal success and development to all those around you", after which he begins waxing lyrical about his ideas on success and achievement. To accompany his voice-over, we get to see the man himself lifting massive weights in the gym, playing tennis, skiing and dancing. Naturally he claims to have excelled in all of these fields, and the video ends with his crowning achievement – smashing a stack of bricks in half with only his bare hand.

The people at UBS apparently did not take the video quite as seriously as Mr Vayner himself did, because within days it had been posted on the popular video-sharing site YouTube, after doing the rounds in email boxes all through Wall Street.

So lets hope he's as successful in real life as he claims to be, because he's unlikely ever to work in investment banking after becoming a laughing stock. His CV is now being passed round recruitment consultants' offices as an example of exactly what not to do when applying for a job.

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