Not too long ago, I re-read Thomas Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow.” It had a typo in it. People make mistakes, even professional publishers.
It is perfectly reasonable not to want to hire someone who plainly doesn’t have command of the language. But I would view a zero-tolerance policy on typographical errors for potential hires makes about as much sense as any other zero-tolerance policy: it is a poor substitute for exercising one’s considered judgment. Unless I’m looking to hire an editor, I think I’d be making a huge mistake to automatically weigh an error in typing and proofing, even on a resume, as being a dealbreaker without even stopping to consider whether the person could bring other important skills to the table.
Terrible spelling and grammar is a good indicator of poor communication skills, but impeccable spelling is not evidence of good judgment, leadership, or effectiveness. Anyways, in my little corner of the world, no important written documents go out without at least two other people having reviewed them, so minor errors are almost always caught anyways.
At my last job, a copy of a particularly bad resume somehow got out and made the rounds of the office. It had a good couple of howlers, but the one that stood out was where he described himself as a rapper. Aside from having nothing to do with the job he was applying for (it was a QA position, natch) he spelled “rapper” with only one “p.”
If a resume has one or two typos, I don’t automatically throw it out – but it is a major strike against the applicant. The content of the resume and/or their interview (if it gets that far) have to be stellar to make up for the first bad impression caused by the typo. If it’s a so-so resume that I may have called for an interview, but also has a typo, I won’t waste my time.
Typos aren’t a deal breaker for me if they are an otherwise qualified candidate but I might ask them if they proofread the resume before submitting while interviewing them looking for signs of them actuality caring about the job or not.
I think my opinion of the applicant would depend on the type of typo. If you’ve typed “from” but meant “form” - well, that I can live with.
But any misspellings that weren’t picked up by spell-check? Unacceptable. If you can’t bother to do a simple spell-check, I’d imagine there’s a lot of job related details you’d not bother with either.
Grammatical errors - I’d be a bit of a sticker with, too. Know the difference between “their” and “there”. It’s not so difficult.
Because we are now supposed to re-design, re-write, and re-purpose resumes for every job application, I caught (after the fact) one on mine where due to cutting, pasting, and moving things around, there was no longer subject-verb agreement.
How many typos are there and how bad are they? Also, does the person seem otherwise qualified for a job (if not necessarily the one you’re offering)? Depending on those answers, I might give them a heads up to a typo.
I’ve co-authored and edited books with major academic presses, and I’ve found typos in those books.
I think people can protest too much about these things. Yes, if there are profligate errors I will think twice, and I do notice errors, but I would be very surprised if I would disqualify a candidate solely because they had an error or two on a resume.
What’s funny is when the grammar/spelling nazis invent typos out of thin air. I remember a colleague insisting that the candidate misspelled “Knopf” and it should have instead read “Knoph.” I’m completing a doctoral degree as we speak, and I have updated the same CV since I started grad school six years ago. Guess what? I found a typo on the first page earlier this year. It was of course never caught by spellcheck or the numerous colleagues who reviewed it over the years, and I successful obtained jobs and grants with it.
Nobody’s perfect, and I would question the logic of tossing a resume for several errors alone. One who takes such a stance had better have a perfect resume/CV themselves. Now if the cover letter is also shoddy, and the corroborating evidence (college grades, test scores, etc.) supports the idea that the candidate is a sloppy writer, then that will hurt.
I’m on the a few minor typos/spelling errors or grammatical mistakes are ok side (I’ve also been there with 'proofread it four times, ran it through the spell checker, had a few other people look at it, send it out and discover something stupid). Resumes that are written by people who are apparently illiterate are right out. Somewhere there is a line, and that lines going to depend on the job, the quality of the applicant in other ways and the quality of the other applicants in the pool.
I am surprised that not one person thinks it would be kind to let Mr. Typo know what he is sending out to potential employers. Ironically his job title is misspelled along with some other technical descriptions. I get the impression that he was in a rush as the letters in the words are more mixed up than misspelled. Perhaps he will take a fresh look at what he is sending when he gets very few responses.
I don’t know but I still think I would want some stranger to tell me if I had something wrong on my resume. I’d rather feel embarrassed for a moment and fix it than find I was embarrassing myself all over town.
Foxy40, I’ll come in on your side. I’ve had to screen over 100 resumes for 1 sales job. With that many coming in and only a few having typos, yes, the typos counted against them. There was one time, though, when I called someone. The resume was from a young woman who was obviously just out of college. She’d misspelled one of the headings in her resume. She wasn’t qualified for the job, anyway, but my heart went out to her. I called the number on the resume and wound up speaking to her mother. I said I wouldn’t tell her what company I was with, but I did want to let her know about the error so she could correct it. Her mother was grateful; I don’t know if the young lady was or not. I just know that, if it had been me, I would have wanted someone to tell me.
Back in the day when I worked in HR, we interviewed a woman who said on her resume that she was “good with the public,” except that she left out that oh-so-crucial L. She was otherwise pretty competent, so we arranged a second interview for her. However, we suggested that she correct that typo before we sent the resume along to the hiring manager. She was embarrassed, but grateful that someone had pointed out the error.
So, I guess in response to the OP, I’d say that there are occasion where you might want to point out errors on a resume, but they’re probably few and far between.
Minor spelling/grammar errors on the old rezoom aren’t earth-shattering offenses at this particular software company, but if we don’t like your style where whitespace, indentation, or bracing are concerned… we will find you.
I’d hold it against them, since they should have spelled it “OpenOffice.” Seriously, why do you think software applicants are more concerned with office tools than anyone else? A tech writer knows a lot more about Word than I do, I’d hope. Software people might be more sensitive to versions, but just about anyone for whom this would make a difference should be at least aware of it.
I don’t mind one or two typos, but not a lot, and anyone writing a resume should have a few fresh eyes read it.
That’s one dear to my heart since I went to Public Policy School. Once the Dean of Students left it out when sending out a mass letter to everyone.