First Impressions
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With so many candidates on the market looking for work, it seems like first impressions would be of the utmost importance. Yet, I still am receiving resumes with numerous typos. I take these typos very seriously when considering a potential employee/contractor given the fact I may either have to maintain, modify, fix code they have written at some point. Am I over reacting?
No you're not. If they can't put 100% effort into the one document that gives them a chance to shine then what kind of quality will you get from them. And if that is their 100% then wish them luck. Lots of it. It's really not that hard to ask someone else to proof read a resume.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
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With so many candidates on the market looking for work, it seems like first impressions would be of the utmost importance. Yet, I still am receiving resumes with numerous typos. I take these typos very seriously when considering a potential employee/contractor given the fact I may either have to maintain, modify, fix code they have written at some point. Am I over reacting?
For the CV I look past most typos. For the resume it better be 100% correct. BTW it took me about 10 passes to catch all of the errors in my first CP article. And I'm sure there are still some in there. The mind plays tricks on you so it can be difficult to catch them all.
Todd Smith
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With so many candidates on the market looking for work, it seems like first impressions would be of the utmost importance. Yet, I still am receiving resumes with numerous typos. I take these typos very seriously when considering a potential employee/contractor given the fact I may either have to maintain, modify, fix code they have written at some point. Am I over reacting?
Wil Peck wrote:
Am I over reacting?
Hi Wil, I go along with the general consensus here, that you are not over-reacting to exclude if there are multiple typos. I think one possible exception would be that if you were looking at a CV that had a very impressive (and easily verifiable) track record of recent experience in just the technologies, languages, etc. that you were interested in hiring for : in that case only I would want to exclude (if there was any indication the CV did not come directly from the candidate : i.e., it was on some head-hunting firm's letterhead) the possibility that the CV had been re-typed by someone else. In that (admittedly improbable) case, I might ask the candidate to send me a copy of the CV they originally sent to the head-hunting outfit, or inquire if they had written their own CV, or if it had been altered. best, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be arithmetical, numerical, rather than algebraical and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine numerical quantities as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and it fact it might bring out its results in algebraical notation, were provisions made accordingly." Ada, Countess Lovelace, 1844
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Be careful here, A lot of agencies retype CVs this can introduce errors (both spelling and factual) I have experianced both (my spelling is terrible so i allways ensure that i check and then get someone else to proof read so i know that the errors were introduced by the agency) I have also found the addition of experiance in certain languages "added" to my CV. Needless to say that not only have I refused to do business with these angencies but in one case the company actually ceased payment and obtained a refund despite placing the person
Alex hogarth wrote:
experiance
There goes your chances of Will hiring you.
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
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Alex hogarth wrote:
experiance
There goes your chances of Will hiring you.
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
Oakman wrote:
Will
And you. It always helps to get a person's name correct. :)
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Colour-color, Travelled-traveled, etc US and UK spellings are a pain to decypher!(or is that decipher)?
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
Dalek Dave wrote:
Colour-color
If you're applying for a job in IT, you should know how to switch the spell-checking dictionary to the language of choice.
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Oakman wrote:
Will
And you. It always helps to get a person's name correct. :)
Hoist on your own petard! :)
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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Hoist on your own petard! :)
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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With so many candidates on the market looking for work, it seems like first impressions would be of the utmost importance. Yet, I still am receiving resumes with numerous typos. I take these typos very seriously when considering a potential employee/contractor given the fact I may either have to maintain, modify, fix code they have written at some point. Am I over reacting?
If you have a feeling that the candidate may be potentially good, you could try to take a telephonic round before anything else. Some people don't care much about grammar/spelling, but they may be technically strong.
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
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Hoist on your own petard! :)
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
Dalek Dave wrote:
Hoist on your own petard!
Anyone who writes 'Not everyone is as wise and discretionary as us" instead of "as we are," needs to spend some time with the beam in his own eye, methinks. ;)
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
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With so many candidates on the market looking for work, it seems like first impressions would be of the utmost importance. Yet, I still am receiving resumes with numerous typos. I take these typos very seriously when considering a potential employee/contractor given the fact I may either have to maintain, modify, fix code they have written at some point. Am I over reacting?
If a person can't take the time to have a resume spell checked, not to mention having grammar checked, I have serious doubts. You want to make the best impression just to get an interview. Interviews are nerve racking because you don't always know what to say and time is limited. You can take all the time you want to triple and quadrupile check a resume. If a person shows that little attention to detail I don't expect them to take the time to test coding properly. One typo is not a big deal to me, and I understand those that do not have English as a first language may have some grammer errors. How hard is it to take your resume to a career center for review or even have a friend look it over?
Back in the blog beatch! http://CraptasticNation.blogspot.com/[^]
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Dalek Dave wrote:
Hoist on your own petard!
Anyone who writes 'Not everyone is as wise and discretionary as us" instead of "as we are," needs to spend some time with the beam in his own eye, methinks. ;)
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
Ah, hoist with my own petard!
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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Oakman wrote:
Will
And you. It always helps to get a person's name correct. :)
Electron Shepherd wrote:
It always helps to get a person's name correct
Only if you are looking for work. I'm turning it down these days, so I don't give a flying flip what their names are. :cool:
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
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With so many candidates on the market looking for work, it seems like first impressions would be of the utmost importance. Yet, I still am receiving resumes with numerous typos. I take these typos very seriously when considering a potential employee/contractor given the fact I may either have to maintain, modify, fix code they have written at some point. Am I over reacting?
I say no. It's not just typos. Are the professional enough to use a non-goofy email address? Which reminds me; a year ago I was about to go in for an interview when the recruiter called and said the hiring manager couldn't find my articles on CodeProject so could I bring proof I actually wrote them. Even the recruiter was rather shocked by this. I told the recruiter to tell the hiring manager that I wasn't going to work for a company run by such incompetent people. I still stand by that.
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Alex hogarth wrote:
experiance
There goes your chances of Will hiring you.
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
yep and if you look further you will probably find more. However this is not a CV and to be honest if I had to put the effort into finding these mistakes on here I probably wouldnt bother posting. A CV however if a different matter and I agree that mistakes on a CV is bad, however as I pointed out these maynot be the fault of the author.
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Ah, hoist with my own petard!
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
Dalek Dave wrote:
Ah, hoist with my own petard!
And how far out of the water did your ship raise your ship?
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
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yep and if you look further you will probably find more. However this is not a CV and to be honest if I had to put the effort into finding these mistakes on here I probably wouldnt bother posting. A CV however if a different matter and I agree that mistakes on a CV is bad, however as I pointed out these maynot be the fault of the author.
Alex hogarth wrote:
probably wouldnt bother posting.
If a things worth doin'; it's worth doing right, I always say. . . And saying that all the time is what makes me so well loved. ;)
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
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Dalek Dave wrote:
Ah, hoist with my own petard!
And how far out of the water did your ship raise your ship?
Jon "One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less
Only a few inches, but stern first!
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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Wil Peck wrote:
Am I over reacting?
No. You're hiring someone who needs the ability to pick an errant semicolon or misplaced operator out of pages of dense code. They should be able to proof a one or two page resume...
Hi, Shog. I agree with your point, but I did want to point out that picking out an errant semi-colon in dense code and proof-reading a CV use different sets of language rules and skills. I'd argue the rules for programming languages are laid out more thoughtfully than the rules for spoken or written languages. Not to mention a programmer may have more experience proof-reading code than proof-reading his/her language. :-\ But, yes. You are hiring someone who not only needs to speak well to computers, but also to potential customers (through direct contact or through documentation). So, communication skills are a must. If their CV looks like crap, just imagine what kind of documentation they may produce... *shudder* Cheers! :beer: Flynn
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He's drunk again :)