jbaltz's Journal: Clown filter

So recently my little IT/software firm has been hiring. I put out an ad on the great cesspool that is craigslist that read in part:

What is most important, however, is that you come with:

• A strong sense of responsibilty and reliability
• The ability to read and follow directions

followed by a line that read...

Please submit your résumé in HTML or plain text formats only -- attachments will not be read (or opened).

Now, when posting to an online forum, one must be prepared for the onslaught of the thousands of wholly inappropriate responses, so one needs a good filter.

It turns out that this filter manages to get rid of about 25% of the complete clowns who send MS Word documents (as attachments) anyway.

I've used this filter at other jobs and at other times, and it really is amazingly effective--it helps you winnow down your responses to people who can, indeed, read directions, and aren't just spamming their résumé out to everyone.