So…you’re saying yes, everyone should do it? All of your words made sense but strung together…not so much.
:eek: :rolleyes:
I’m guessing frequent use of “LOL” in a resume is a bad sign…
Frequent?! I should think one would be enough for the circular file!
In the company for which I work, the initial writer of any document is expected to thoroughly proofread his or her own work before sending it to anyone else. Everyone in our department is a professional writer.
Every document then goes through two layers of review by other writers/editors within the department, before returning to the original author for a fourth proof. It then passes through Quality Control, which checks for typos among other errors. It is then submitted for outside review by six other departments, before returning to the head of my department for finalization. So, all told, every document we produce is reviewed by more than ten people, including people with PhDs and 20 years copyediting experience.
And every once in a blue moon, we will still finalize a document with a minor typo in it. If an error can once in a while slip past not only me, but nine other reviewers, than I can hardly hold the job applicant to a different standard. Unless you, yourself, have literally never made a single error in a professional environment, and feel comfortable expecting that sort of perfection from every other employee, summarily dismissing a candidate for a single typo on his or her resume is lazy and ultimately foolish.
See my post, above. Are you good at your job? Have you ever made a silly mistake? Would a prospective employer being doing him- or herself a disservice by focusing on the latter instead of the former?
Oh, no dear. I actually agree with you. I was referring to Thudlow’s comment regarding the use of “LOL” in a resume, as in one LOL should be too many.
<is stupid>
Sorry.
Oh, I don’t know. I would get a pretty big chuckle if I ever saw a resume that included something like “Interests: Travel, snowboarding, foreign film, and omglolcatz.”
If I was dealing with a deep stack of resumes to fill one position, typos might be one way to decide who would or would not get an interview. If I only had a handful of resumes, I’d notice the typos but wouldn’t write anyone off because of them.
Back in 1999, I did a lot of interviews to hire COBOL programmers for the Y2K effort. COBOL is an acronym for Common Business-oriented Language and is customarily rendered in all caps, no periods. One of the resumes I received used two spellings, Colbol and Cobal; there were no occurrences of the correct spelling. The print and web ads for the job were headlined : COBOL Programmer.
I blacked out the dude’s name and hung the resume on my wall.
IM IN YER OFFICE TRASHIN YER RESUME
One of my friends got her job with our organization when our boss was intrigued by her interests, which read “reading, writing, recycling”. Or maybe even “readin’, writin’, recyclin’.”
I often leave the “interests” area off in favor of giving volunteer information. I seriously doubt any employer at this immediate moment is going to like that I enjoy cross stitch, mischief, playing fetch with the dog, planning for a wedding that’s two years away, collecting books and being an all-around pedant. Is it really that important for an employer to know what your hobbies are?
Oh, I think it would be kind. I think it would open up all sort of liability issues. You NEVER let anyone know why they weren’t chosen.
I hired in the mid-90s for Network Consulting. I had a resume from an expert in Sysco.
Can’t spell it, I’m guessing you aren’t much of an expert.
I’ve reviewed resumes and done interviews several times, generally as part of an interviewing team. I remember several times that typos came up, and weren’t a big deal. On a few occasions, they were bad and numerous enough that we eliminated the candidate, but only if they were borderline anyway. I’ve found that rrors appear much more often in the cover letter instead of the resume.
Getting back to the second question from the original post:
During the interview, I hand the cover letter and resume back to the applicant with the errors highlighted. I review each one. Then I ask the obvious question: Why should we be interested in hiring someone that presents this as some of their finest work? :eek:
Cruel, perhaps. But sincere.
No. I can’t imagine the circumstances under which they come across as anything but bizarre on a resume. If something’s relevant, deal with it in the cover letter.
I’ve actually received resumes that were:
-Written in pencil on yellow legal paper.
-From the “manger” of McDonalds.
-That listed graduating 6th grade as an acheivement.
We got one from the “manger” of Taco Bell. Wonder if it was the same guy…
Susan
I see no problem with typos or mispellings in general, as I am inclined that way myself, as well as to poor grammar or meaningless phrases. Much better verbally.
For me, finding these on a CV (I’ll call them resumes over my dead body) is generally a demerit, but hardly a black flag.
A resume and a curriculum vitae are totally different documents. Submitting a CV for anything other than an academic position or one that involves research related activities would be absurd.