WORDS TO MAKE YOU CRINGE

Some of the CVs and application letters have made for interesting and amusing reading. They include one girl who is "eagle" to work with us, and another who lists one of her skills as simply "cosmopolitan".
I have asked all applicants to take a short general knowledge test. There are 27 questions in total and just three from 40 have scored more than 20. The main area for concern is, worryingly. language. I have taken six sentences from recent BW stories and have asked them to identify the meaning of certain words including slick (a company is using slick new tricks), moot (withholding votes is a moot point) and raft (a raft of recalls has seen one company scramble to save its image). Of the six language questions no one so far has got more than four right - and I have even made it a multiple choice test with three possible answers provided.
The test in itself is not going to determine whether a candidate will get the job. What it is intended to show me is how much they know, and how much they don't. The areas they don't know are areas we can help them with if they are offered a job. Already it's clear that investing in some form of language tuition will benefit the whole team - when they are appointed.