spelling errors in resumes/CVs

A Bhattacharya wrote:I Heck, I have seen documents in big companies shared across inter-country teams that have lots of spelling and grammar mistakes, and nobody's productivity was lessened.

This quote comes from another thread and reminds me of a discussion I've been meaning to start:

What do you think of resumes/cvs that contain spelling/grammar errors? We've been interviewing a lot of contractors/consultants lately so I've been looking at a lot of resume/cv. I'm astounded by how many of them have errors. This has always been a problem, but I've looked at more resumes in a short time over the last few months so it bothers me more.

Some discussion points:
1) Do you think it is appropriate to have errors in a resume/cv? Why or why not?
2) Does it matter if it is a resume/cv? Does the cv being longer make a difference?
3) Does this vary by region/country? In particular, is it appropriate in India to have spelling errors in the CV. All of the instances I've seen of errors in the resume/cv have come from people who went to school in India. (I've also seen many correct resumes/cvs from people who went to school in India.) This gets me wondering if it is socially acceptable there or if it is just a coincidence.

And my answer:

Absolutely not. It shows carelessness and lack of attention to detail. I see words spelled wrong, technology names spelled wrong and in one case, a customer's name spelled wrong. And for the excuse of not knowing English well: I'd like to think that anyone interviewing for a job in the US at least knows someone he/she can ask to proofread a resume/cv.

I cannot see how anyone can justify sending out a document with basic spelling mistakes. As I sit here typing this response, I know that Firefox is validating each word I type. And if I make a spelling mistake, Firefox will highlight it for me. If I were sending a document to a client or a potential employer, I would be writing it in Microsoft Word or Open Office - both of which have spelling checkers.

I am a little more lenient in accepting documents with basic grammar errors in general conversations. The more important the document, the less lenient I become. Once again, I know that there are free word processors with excellent grammar checkers - most of them allow you to specify not only the language, but also any regionalisms. For example, Open Office not only allows me to choose English, but it allows me to choose between the dialects used in Australia, America ... Zimbabwe.

When talking about technologies used, and companies worked out, I have very low tolerance for sloppy spelling. If you cannot even spell the name of the company you worked out, how can I believe you worked there? Likewise, if you cannot spell the name of the technology you used, I find it hard to believe you opened a book on the subject (or even searched for it online).

In addition, both your CV and your Resume are meant to showcase your skills. If you are sloppy with a 2 page document, then I suspect you will be sloppy in your day-to-day work. As a side note, I feel the same way about movie trailers (especially trailers for comedies): they are meant to showcase the movie. If I look at a 5 minute trailer, and only laughed for 30 seconds, I am inclined to believe that they have already shown me what they think is the funniest portions and I am therefore unlikely to find the overall movie funny.

I think the worst problem I have seen is when a candidate uses SMS/texting/leet speak in a document. If that happens, I will conclude that there will be a barrier to communication, and not consider the candidate.

Immediate relegation to the circular file.

Programming is all about accuracy and attention to detail. If that level of care can't be take with an important document such as a resume, I don't even want to think about this person's code.

Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:is it appropriate in India to have spelling errors in the CV. All of the instances I've seen of errors in the resume/cv have come from people who went to school in India. (I've also seen many correct resumes/cvs from people who went to school in India.) This gets me wondering if it is socially acceptable there or if it is just a coincidence.

Definitely not acceptable here in India too. Like you said, it does show carelessness and lack of attention to detail.

Having said that, I've seen a lot of resumes/cvs and even technical documents with spelling errors. And I'm not sure a spell-checker can always help. If the person does not understand English properly, there could be errors even after using the spell-checker.
For example, I've seen so many people spell "career" as "carrier". In fact, I've also heard people pronounce it as "carrier" instead of "career". A spell-checker would not help you here as both "career" and "carrier" are valid words in English. I've also seen people make mistakes with "there" and "their". Again, a spell-checker would be of not much use here.

I'm not trying to defend anyone since these kind of errors are simply not acceptable, but I guess it could be because English for most people in India is 2nd or 3rd language in schools. It is also not the preferred common language of communication (especially verbal and outside the IT/Software world), since Hindi takes precedence over English there.

To summarize, I think the reason could be a bit more than carelessness for some people, since they might not be very fluent in English. Of course, this can never be a reason/excuse to make mistakes specially when you're applying for jobs in the US.

Pushkar Choudhary wrote: If the person does not understand English properly, there could be errors even after using the spell-checker. .... To summarize, I think the reason could be a bit more than carelessness for some people, since they might not be very fluent in English. Of course, this can never be a reason/excuse to make mistakes specially when you're applying for jobs in the US.

But what about things that aren't English words? Granted a spell checker is useless, but this is somewhat different. Some are obviously wrong like "Javva". Others I'm not so sure. I've seen "Strut" instead of "Struts" enough times in this forum that I wonder whether the spelling varies.

That said, I work in the US. I am interviewing for jobs in the US. Where we speak and write in English. If there are errors in the resume, how am I supposed to believe this won't be an issue on the job?

Jeanne wrote:I've seen "Strut" instead of "Struts" enough times in this forum....

Ha! But does it have a Ranch FAQ entry like Swing does

I find spelling mistakes a sign of slackness and a big no no for me. Like it or not, almost all the programming languages are English "based". If you want to be a good programmer, you have to know good English.

Maneesh Godbole wrote: . . . If you want to be a good programmer, you have to know good English.

I would think, more likely, good English spelling than a good command of the language.

Which makes the problem about spelling errors more acute. I see people on this website writing Int, so I am not sure whether that means int or Integer or integer. All three are different, and different from the original spelling.

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Maneesh Godbole wrote: . . . If you want to be a good programmer, you have to know good English.

I would think, more likely, good English spelling than a good command of the language.

I don't know. I have always thought spelling was part of the language. And it is not just documentation you know. If I am working with a team mate, whom I have never met except on the phone, I would really like to make sure I convey my ideas correctly in a verbal mode too. On this background I feel a good command over the language takes one a long way.

Yes, you are probably right, Maneesh.

This post reminds me of an email from one of one of ex-manager where hibernate is mispelled as "hybernate". lol

spelling mistakes in an important document like resume is certainly not acceptable as it shows the attitude of carelessness.
But lets think of a person in managerial role who replies to around fifty to hundred of emails in a day as a part of his day to day activities...spelling/typing mistakes creep in such situation where people do not have time to check the content...

In fact i could recollect some situations where i have replied as "can be done" where i intended to reply as "cannot be done" due to hastiness

and used to send the correct sentence highlighted when i notice the error.

Shouldn't cvs in subject of this thread be CVs?

ankur rathi wrote:Shouldn't cvs in subject of this thread be CVs?

Changed.

Extra points for anyone who works at CVS and uses CVS to keep track of CVs.

ankur rathi wrote:Shouldn't cvs in subject of this thread be CVs?

And I learned something - that it matters. My excuse is that I am American and we supposedly don't use CVs. We request resumes and get sent both resumes and CVs.

Pushkar Choudhary wrote:I've also seen people make mistakes with "there" and "their". Again, a spell-checker would be of not much use here.

A spell checker won't pick that up, but a grammar checker will:

See the green squiggly line under "their" - that tells me that the grammar checker realized that the word did not fit in context, and so it is warning me about it. Right clicking on it (or choosing to run the grammar checker explicitly) tells me that the better option would be "there".

No spelling errors, proper camel case for technology names, line up things that are supposed to be in a line, no random double-spaces between words.

Attention to detail matters. I'm dumbfounded by the number of crappy-looking resumes I'm seeing, and that's *after* screening by the HR department (which... I wish I *didn't* have to deal with). If they can't take the time to produce something attractive, let alone their actual ability in the job, what's their code going to look like? Their documentation? The information they send to other non-development stakeholders?

David Newton wrote:If they can't take the time to produce something attractive

I am not as concerned about attractiveness anymore, having dealt with far too many job placement companies that insist that the candidates provide resumes in a format that they the placement agency then mangles before forwarding to the prospective company.

The last few times I went to a company where I had been referred by an agency, I took multiple copies of my resume with me - properly formatted and with my name on every page (it amazes me that people don't do that). I have more than one case where the company has been surprised that my hand delivered resume contained relevant information that the referrer chose to leave off. And I had one case where the prospective employer had been given totally wrong information about me.

Good point, although we don't deal with outside agencies--what we see is what they have.

Andrew Monkhouse wrote:..more than one case where the company has been surprised that my hand delivered resume contained relevant information that the referrer chose to leave off. And I had one case where the prospective employer had been given totally wrong information about me.

Huh? How is this possible? Is this even legal?

I suppose there is a case for misrepresentation, however I doubt it would go far in court: they would just claim that there is no benefit to them in getting a resume incorrect, and they would blame the computer system / bad transcription / the person who left last week.

Some recruiters are pretty shady.

I was hoping someone would say that spelling doesn't matter to understand the opposing point of view. Nobody?

No, because it matters. I mean, come on--we have spell checkers now. We don't even need to look stuff up any more. A resume should ShowSomeEffort, just like a post.