The need for caution when making unnecessary remarks about job candidates was reinforced this week as a Tonbridge based company was forced to apologise to graduate Anna Jacobs after an e-mail responding to her job application for the role of office administrator accidentally had a number of unpleasant comments about her attached.

Anna told BBC South East:

“I thought how dare somebody say that about my CV and myself. I was just absolutely furious.”

The offensive comments, which the company originally said were ‘taken out of context’ included referring to her as a “home educated oddball”, “could be a biscuit short of a packet or a left-wing loon tree hugger” and suggestions that she was “worth an interview if only for a laugh”.

Following widespread reporting of the case, and an internal investigation by the company, Ross Black, Director of Tecomak Environmental Services emailed Ms. Black to apologise, saying he understood it “must have been upsetting”.

Mr Black said:

“Clearly the comments were informal and not to the high professional standard you would expect from a company like ours.  I understand that it must have been upsetting to read the comments and I apologise on behalf of the company and the employees concerned.”

He added: “We genuinely felt your application and CV was interesting and you were shortlisted from a long list of over 40 candidates.  We would be more than happy to interview you as one of the strongest candidates that have applied and, if you were to accept an interview, you can be assured that your application will be treated fairly and appropriately.”

Anna told the press she has a lot to offer potential employers and blasted the firm for suggesting they would only interview her “for a laugh”.  She told the BBC she would not be accepting the interview offer from Mr. Black as she had other interviews to focus on.