« The Mark Foley Affair...and the Repulsive Response by the Republicans | Main | Happy 20th Birthday MWW Group: Celebrating By Giving Back »

Some Career Advice...Watch the Typos
October 18, 2006

I thought I would take a breather from blogging on political topics to offer a little career advice: typos and misspelled words in resumes and cover letters will kill your chance to be hired.

I know this sounds obvious, but almost every week, from prospective job candidates, I receive: a resume, cover letter, thank you note or writing assignment - with typos...or worse, misspelled words...or even worse, misspelled names.

Assuming that these writing samples are among the most important a job candidate will write, what does it say about a prospect when they don't spell my name or the name of this company correctly? It says to me that they are not the right person for the job.

Over the past 20 years, there have been dozens of candidates who would have been interviewed and who may have been hired, except that they committed the biggest sin of all...they didn't take the time to carefully proof their documents, they didn't take the time to get the correct spelling of this company or an executive who works for us. What this really says is that they didn't care enough to make sure that they did it right.

I am also amazed by the number of candidates who don't return phone calls at agreed upon times, who don't send thank you notes or who miss deadlines for writing assignments...these are also job killers.

I know that it may sound like nit-picking to eliminate job candidates because of deadlines and typos...but little things do matter in business and if this is how someone conducts themselves during the critically important interview process, it is a very strong indication of how they will act if they become an employee.

Getting a job is hard enough...so, do yourself a favor...be smart, care enough to show your best... and watch those typos.

Posted by Michael Kempner at October 18, 2006 11:19 AM