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Spelling and grammar errors on CVs

Red About Town

I spent most of a last week at work interviewing a large number of candidates for new roles my company were advertising. The roles are junior positions and most of the applicants were in their early 20's. The candidates had to send in a CV and answer an online questionnaire prior the interview.

The one thing that stood out to me was how many very basic spelling and grammar mistakes were made by the vast majority of applicants on their CVs and applications. Examples being candidates using i instead of I, spelling words like 'college' wrong and not using full stops.

The majority of the candidates also had a third level education/qualification.

Why has basic English spelling and grammar become so poor among today's youth? Is there as much focus on it in school as there used to be? Do young people think it even matters any more?

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snausages

Gyalist wrote: »

How would a spellchecker know that "collage", for example, is incorrect?

Depends on context. If you say "I got my degree at X Collage" then you should get those squiggly green lines pointing out the error.

finbarrk

No excuse for not having full stops, etc. for people that are supposed to have their Leaving Certificate. In to the bin with those job applications.

Scioch

Deleted User wrote: »

Spellcheck only shows up words that do not exist. It will not point out that collage is not the correct spelling for college as collage is a word itself.

But lower case i's, missed full stops etc ? The odd word not picked up like collage (which I'd probably miss when proof reading) isnt really proof of anything. But the others surely cannot be missed even without proof reading it.

randylonghorn

Scioch wrote: »

I don't believe for a second that college graduates writing CV's on word processors which will have an auto spell check would make such mistakes.

I call bullshít.

I believe it, having waded through 150 CVs this week ... for an admin position as well, which would require the successful applicant to communicate in writing with the public.

Most were pretty much flawless, but a significant proportion had at least one noticeable error.

One applicant even managed to spell her name incorrectly! :rolleyes:

Spellcheckers are useful tools but not infallible; they can't read your mind and in general will not find words which are miss used butt spelled rite!

Try it and see.

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

should spelling and grammar matter though? in my book, as long as the person is qualified for the job and has experience their grammar doesnt matter

It depends a lot on the job, I think.

I really don't care whether my mechanic or electrician can spell, but if someone is sending out letters from my office I care very much.

OneArt

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

should spelling and grammar matter though? in my book, as long as the person is qualified for the job and has experience their grammar doesnt matter

Unless you were applying to be a copywriter, proofreader, editor, translator etc.

I think it matters a wee bit then.

[Deleted User]

Scioch wrote: »

But lower case i's, missed full stops etc ? The odd word not picked up like collage (which I'd probably miss when proof reading) isnt really proof of anything. But the others surely cannot be missed even without proof reading it.

It should pick up a lower case "I" but not necessarily missed full stops.

I've seen some absolutely dreadful CVs that have clearly never been proof read.

The funniest was from a girl who had experience "working in the coroner's office". Her hobbies included "waking"

I hope she meant walking.....

randylonghorn

Deleted User wrote: »

Her hobbies included "waking" I hope she meant walking.....

Perhaps she was emphasising that she tended to be punctual in the morning? :pac:

Senna

I'm waiting for the OP to come back and tell us the job positions do not require any written skills and could be performed by a trained monkey.

Odysseus

Scioch wrote: »

I don't believe for a second that college graduates writing CV's on word processors which will have an auto spell check would make such mistakes.

I call bullshít.

From my own experince of going through CV's; I would believe it.

dmc17

Deleted User wrote: »

office". Her hobbies included "waking" I hope she meant walking.....

Maybe she was an avid wakeboarder

The King of Moo

Scioch wrote: »

I dont think I have ever used a word processor that didnt have it enabled by default though. In fact they auto correct misspellings dont they ? Lower case i's will be automatically fixed etc.

They would have to ignore it all and I'd get a small percentage doing that as there is always a couple of numpties. But the vast majority of applicants ? Find that hard to believe.

I use Word 2010 and when the default language is set to Hiberno-English (and I think it might set this to default if you say you live in Ireland when you buy it) it corrects barely anything, presumably because it assumes any deviation from common grammar usage and spelling is some kind of quaint Irishism.

There's also the factor of ignoring the little red and green lines. I've been guilty of misspelling proper names in my writing because many of their correct spellings are considered to be spelling mistakes by Word, which only seems to recognise the most common Anglo-Saxon names. Therefore, I'll occasionally misspell a name but assume the red line is Word's fault, not mine, and leave the misspelling intact.

I also tend not to pay too much heed to the little green lines, as I'm invariably told that perfectly sound grammatical constructions are wrong.

I can't speak for someone with poorer grammar and spelling than me, but I can imagine someone simply not bothering to check their spelling and grammar, despite what spellcheck flags for them, as they don't particularly care about their spelling and grammar, or don't pay any heed to the warnings.
They then neglect to take care with a CV, as they're not used to doing so.

I'd still like to think that the majority of people have acceptable standards of English, though I suspect it's not a large majority.

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

should spelling and grammar matter though? in my book, as long as the person is qualified for the job and has experience their grammar doesnt matter

It depends on the job, but many jobs require some level of written and/or verbal communication. If I had a choice between two candidates, one of whom had a good level of English and one of whom didn't, I'd go for the one I could trust to communicate well without hesitation.
And while good grammar and spelling aren't necessarily signs of greater intelligence than someone with lower standards, I don't know many people with good grammar and spelling who aren't intelligent.

Calibos

I resemble you casting dispersions on the colledge educated youth. In fact I take great acception to the remarks. I aks you keep them to you'reself in future!!

9959

Custardpi wrote: »

He's singing in English, not Latin. Ending a sentence with a preposition is perfectly acceptable English these days. As are split infinitives.

I assure you, I was taking the Michael, but well done you!

Ficheall

Can you inform the applicant that their application is being rejected on the grounds of the applicant having atrocious English? Or would they sue you for unfair rejection or somesuch?

BrokenArrows

I live in the UK and I'm amazed at how people can't compose a simple email.

I've honestly had to call people up after receiving an email and get them to explain themselves because I couldn't decypher what they were trying to get across.

I'm not that picky about spelling but when a sentence is absolute jibberish you have to question how the person got to where they are.

Meangadh

You only need to go on facebook to see the state of spelling and grammar by the general public. I don't know, perhaps it's the people I'm friends with, but for the most part we all have pretty good spelling and grammar. But groups that I'm a member of (or should that read "groups of which I am a member

) or other various things that show up on my page- sometimes I actually cannot understand how in God's name people think that some of the stuff they write is acceptable.

I'm not even referring to text speak here, mostly just horrifically bad spelling and brutal over-use of apostrophes or an incapability to use your/you're and their/there/they're properly. It's not that bloody hard- and having it incorrect on a CV is completely unacceptable in my book, regardless of what position you're applying for.

steddyeddy

My grammar isn't the best really but I do care about it enough to try and improve it. My grammer has improved slightly and I'll continue to work on it. Imho though grammar bullies are the enemy of grammar. Nothing turned me off imrpoving my grammar more than some sh1t make snide remarks about it.

Greenmachine

Who the hell writes "curriculum vitae" on top of a C.V.

For a start if you were to write it would be written "Curriculum Vitae" surely
and the abbreviation would contain a stop after each letter.

I will hide now. I am bound to have made an error here somewhere. A room full of pots and kettles perhaps.

The King of Moo wrote: »

I've seen many such mistakes on CV's/CVs (the spelling of "curriculum vitae" seems to be a particularly sticky wicket) and in college essays. They're very common.

I'd imagine some people don't know they have a spellcheck function available to them, are aware of it but don't think they've made any mistakes, or simply don't think about whether they've made any mistakes or not, because they're used to seeing words spelled/spelt in a variety of mostly incorrect ways.

pickarooney

Gyalist wrote: »

How would a spellchecker know that "collage", for example, is incorrect?

It's something they often get stuck on.

The King of Moo

Greenmachine wrote: »

Who the hell writes "curriculum vitae" on top of a C.V.

For a start if you were to write it would be written "Curriculum Vitae" surely
and the abbreviation would contain a stop after each letter.

I will hide now. I am bound to have made an error here somewhere. A room full of pots and kettles perhaps.

Lots of people whose CV's/CVs I've looked at write it, perhaps to make their CV (full stops not necessary) look better.

I didn't capitalise "curriculum vitae" as it wasn't necessary to do so, as I was using it as a general noun, and not a title, though naturally it would be correct to capitalise it in an actual CV.

RE: pots and kettles - I don't think I've made any spelling or grammar mistakes in my posts in this thread. I've certainly striven not to do so. If I have made any mistakes, they're minor ones I won't lose sleep over.

I would, however, ensure I made no such mistakes in the writing of a CV.

bnt

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

should spelling and grammar matter though? in my book, as long as the person is qualified for the job and has experience their grammar doesnt matter

In my experience, most job descriptions include something along the lines of "attention to detail". If the job involves communication of any sort, spelling and grammar are important details. If someone sends me something with those sorts of errors, I can't take it seriously, and therefore can't take the writer seriously.

The other day I sent an email to someone in my company, on official business, and in his reply he spelled my name incorrectly. He had absolutely no excuse - it was correct in the "From" field and at the end of my message. It showed a total lack of respect for me, and ensured that I knew that I was dealing with someone who will be just as sloppy in anything else he does. If you're going to get one thing right, make it the other person's name.

PS: my CV does indeed have "Curriculum Vitæ" at the top. Note the special character in "Vitæ". Most recruiters won't even notice that detail, but anything that could give you an edge is worth trying. :cool:

steddyeddy

Grammar does matter. It shows that the person typing out the cv cares about the job. Evening if I am mailing another lecturer I am very careful about how my grammar.

Ficheall

steddyeddy wrote: »

Evening if I am mailing another lecturer I am very careful about how my grammar.

Hmm.. do you not care about us, steddyeddy?

steddyeddy

Ficheall wrote: »

Hmm.. do you not care about us, steddyeddy?

I do of course. I have made massive efforts to imrpove my grammar on boards! It's an excellent place to practice in fairness!

wilkie2006

Red About Town wrote: »

I spent most of a last week at work interviewing a large number of candidates for new roles my company were advertising. The roles are junior positions and most of the applicants were in their early 20's. The candidates had to send in a CV and answer an online questionnaire prior the interview.

The one thing that stood out to me was how many very basic spelling and grammar mistakes were made by the vast majority of applicants on their CVs and applications. Examples being candidates using i instead of I, spelling words like 'college' wrong and not using full stops.

The majority of the candidates also had a third level education/qualification.

Why has basic English spelling and grammar become so poor among today's youth? Is there as much focus on it in school as there used to be? Do young people think it even matters any more?

Here's another one:

"20s", not 20's.

Hope your boss isn't reading all this...

Qualitymark

I'm an editor by trade. Throw me a few quid and I'll gladly tidy up the spelling and grammar of your CV.

wilkie2006

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Once upon a time children had spelling and grammar beaten into them, sometimes literally. Nowadays, I don't feel it's given as much emphasis in the UK and Ireland.

I'm not sure you mean that. I don't think you could have grammar beaten into you literally (unless you could shove a hyphen up someone's ar$e?)

steddyeddy

Qualitymark wrote: »

I'm an editor by trade. Throw me a few quid and I'll gladly tidy up the spelling and grammar of your CV.

Ill think of you when Im writing my thesis!

2rkehij30qtza5

I wouldn't hire someone who couldn't spell or punctuate properly. Unless the job didn't involve any kind of written communication whatsoever.

Fr_Dougal

wilkie2006 wrote: »

I don't think you could have grammar beaten into you literally (unless you could shove a hyphen up someone's ar$e?)

You could have it shoved up your colon.