Why sloppiness is killing your job search

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(MoneyWatch) I do edit the letters that come to me. Mostly I shorten them. I try not to change word choice or do something that would take away from the writer's original voice. I will, generally, clean up small grammar errors, as heaven knows we can't afford to have editors following us around all the time. (But, boy that would be a great job market for those unemployed English majors.)

I received this email this morning:

in my life ive only had one job. that job was th at i was manager of a small business owned by my parents. does that count as experience. lets say i apply for a job as an hr assistantwould a job working as a manager/cashier for my parents be considered relevant experience.

I left this email as is because it shows a critical error that I see happening more and more often -- adopting super casual writing styles for all types of writing. This is something which must stop if you ever hope to get a job in the real world. Grown ups find the lack of capital letters combined with the sloppiness completely grating. And let's face it, grown ups do the hiring.

I want every person to solemnly swear on a stack of grammar text books that they will never send another email without capital letters. Use Firefox and you get a built-in spell checker that will automatically tell you when you've made glaring errors. I'm not asking for perfection -- small mistakes are normal. But general sloppiness is not appropriate.

I can hear the protests now -- this person isn't asking YOU for a job, so why does it matter? Because it's precisely this type of behavior that comes back and bites you. When you send a carefully crafted email to a recruiter and, joy of joys, actually get a response, if you're in the habit of being sloppy you may respond as above.

There are some people out there who can get a job despite bad grammar and the lack of a shift key, but you are not one of them. Those people are the geniuses who have such unique skill sets that it is a job seekers' market for them.

This is not you. You are normal. You need all the help you can get. And when you reach out to someone in the business world -- be it an advice columnist, a recruiter or an expert whose brain you'd like to pick -- you need to use standard writing techniques.

And, in answer to the question -- yes, working for the family business counts. Treat it like you would any job. You don't need to mention that your boss was your mother/father/aunt. If it comes up, be honest. But, being related doesn't mean you weren't working.

Have a workplace dilemma? Type up your question, run it through a spell checker, make sure there are sufficient capital letters and send it to [e-mail].

[mtb77]

Thank you for an enjoyable and useful article.

At the risk of being considered a pedant, I feel compelled to point out a grammatical error that nevertheless crept in to the piece. (My apologies if someone else has already mentioned it.)

"Those people are the geniuses who have such unique skill sets that it is a job seekers' market for them."

Despite the error being common, unique remains a finite term -- either something is unique, or it is not. In order for the genuises to have "such unique skill sets" "unique" would have to admit of degrees; their skill sets would have to be more unique than other people's unique skill sets.

Again, thank you for your helpful article.

[KipDurney]

And let's not forget the uber-lazy smart phone email signature: "Please excuse any grammatical or spelling mistakes as I am on my iphone." Seriously?

Kip Durney
Boston, MA
http://www.kipdurney.com
http://www.tubalub.com

[Ihateswineflu]

I do the hiring for my company, and I promise you that if there is a typo or grammar error in a cover letter or resume, it gets put aside. Presumably, you are putting your very best foot forward when you send a resume, and if you can't be bothered to either proof it or have someone else proof it for you, then that tells me something about your work. If you are ever going to create an error-free document, that would be the time to do it. And you'd better be dressed properly when you come for an interview, too. I don't think I'm excessively strict, either. That's how you get a job.

[verrz]

Well, in fairnes to this unfortunate job applicant, how much grammar is being taught in elementary and high school these days? Little if any. This kind of grueling, rote learning is considered anathema by the "creativity" croud. Trouble is, you have to have a sound data base before you can express creative thoughts coherently. P.S. It was inhumane of the writer not to get back to this person with a few pointers. Just leave'em in the job market shark tank, eh?

[verrz]

Opps. Spell check! That's c-r-o-w-d.

[SuzanneLucas]

You don't need extensive grammar lessons to know to capitalize the first letter of every sentence and use question marks when asking a question. This isn't due to lack of educational opportunities, but rather laziness.

[Jhihmoac]

Thay'l luk forr anee excyoos thay kan thees daiz...

[lapastell]

Great post! I completely agree that people are not thinking about grammar in everyday life, especially during their job search. I believe that technology such as text and email have allowed people to become sloppy in their writing. It is important that during a job search people pay attention to the details in their writing, such as capitalizing letters and putting punctuation when necessary.

[HolyCackle]

I totally agree! There are common grammar mistakes--and then there are just blatant errors, sloppiness, and laziness. How hard is it to punctuate a sentence?

Since I make my living now as a copywriter and editor, part of me says, "Thank goodness for all these errors--this is called job security." But then that other part of me says, "This letter/email/etc. really seems more like the writer wasn't trying at all."

A little effort. A little. Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence. A period or a question mark at the end. It doesn't get any more basic than that.

And if that really is the best a person can write, they probably shouldn't have graduated from high school.

[MegaProcrastination]

Proper communication skills need to be taught in school and reinforced in the home. Instead of turning our kids loose with cell phones they need to learn how to properly use a keyboard. I never went to college and there are times I can't remember how to correctly spell a word but I sure know how to use a spell-check and look up something if it looks off.

I raised two children who never learned to "text". I have another one midway through his teen years. They all type accurately at over ninety words a minute because it's something I insisted they start learning at a relatively young age.

Several years ago I received an e-mail from a person who wanted some information about a business. He didn't capitalize anything and his punctuation was off. My punctuation is far from perfect but for goodness sakes, it's at least passable most of the time. I replied to him and told him first off he was going to have to get familiar with the shift key on his keyboard. He replied that I didn't know what I was talking about. Yeah, sure.

[KimStiens]

As much as the letter-writer demonstrated here is frustrating, it's also silly to 1) extrapolate their mistakes to the entire rest of their generation and 2) pretend that a rigid, what-I-used replacement system is inherently better. What if one of your kids gets a job as a personal assistant to an exec whose preference is to text all the time? This is not uncommon, and 90 wpm doesn't help you on an iPhone. You're just replacing (entirely) one skill set in your children for another you think is better. I can type quickly, I write emails like a grown-up and I can send casual text messages. Children are not so stupid that they can't learn when "lol" is appropriate and when it's not.

[SUZAMBA]

This is the results of our society? Children, as well as adults fail to write, much less speak proper English. It seems to be a "THING" of the past, or so I'm told by many? All you have to do is look around and listen, it's horrible. I'm told, "Were old school?"

[draco vulgaris]

The problem begins in the home! A few years ago I heard a grown man
(white male American) say "Her and Bruce went to a movie." It was at least twenty years too late to correct his speech.

Sometimes a good teacher and an intelligent student can correct such
errors. Don't count on it. The child learns the language(s) spoken
in the home!

[AnjuliAmbani]

Not to be picky, but I found your response quite difficult to read and comprehend. It's result, not results, as society is singular not plural, and I'm not sure whether that first statement was a question, or a statement with a ? on the end.

'Thing of the past' is a phrase, so you confuse the reader by capitalizing just the word THING.

Again, you used a question mark which I'm not sure is really a question and only furhter confused me.

We're has an apostrophe. The word were has a totally different meaning. Again, you totally confused me with what you were trying to say.

[allaboutwork]

Thank you for saying this. It needs to be heard.
Fiona McQuarrie
http://www.allaboutwork.org