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?
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 :)
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Only a few inches, but stern first!
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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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
Flynn Arrowstarr wrote:
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.
Yes, i agree with that. But, the OP mentioned "typos" - inadvertent errors, misplaced keystrokes and the like. That's the difference between expecting a C programmer to notice a semicolon between an if condition and block... and expecting a VB programmer to see the same thing.
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Flynn Arrowstarr wrote:
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.
Yes, i agree with that. But, the OP mentioned "typos" - inadvertent errors, misplaced keystrokes and the like. That's the difference between expecting a C programmer to notice a semicolon between an if condition and block... and expecting a VB programmer to see the same thing.
Shog9 wrote:
That's the difference between expecting a C programmer to notice a semicolon between an if condition and block... and expecting a VB programmer to see the same thing.
That's why I included the second paragraph. I'd be less concerned with the person writing/proof-reading application source than with writing/proof-reading documentation. Particularly any documentation which will be released into the wild. The applicant may have impeccable code-writing/proofing skills, but simply suck at written communication. At that point, if the applicant scores high enough on the skill-set, I may be willing to sit through a telephone interview to see if they can back up their skill set, and then work with them on their communications skills. If they don't, it goes in the "do not hire" bin. :) Note, I'm not responsible for hiring anyone, so take my opinions with a canister of salt, heh. Flynn -- did I hear someone say, "Thank goodness!"? :-\
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Shog9 wrote:
That's the difference between expecting a C programmer to notice a semicolon between an if condition and block... and expecting a VB programmer to see the same thing.
That's why I included the second paragraph. I'd be less concerned with the person writing/proof-reading application source than with writing/proof-reading documentation. Particularly any documentation which will be released into the wild. The applicant may have impeccable code-writing/proofing skills, but simply suck at written communication. At that point, if the applicant scores high enough on the skill-set, I may be willing to sit through a telephone interview to see if they can back up their skill set, and then work with them on their communications skills. If they don't, it goes in the "do not hire" bin. :) Note, I'm not responsible for hiring anyone, so take my opinions with a canister of salt, heh. Flynn -- did I hear someone say, "Thank goodness!"? :-\
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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
Oakman wrote:
I'm turning it down these days
I envy you. I've been "resting" for the better part of a year. :(
Kevin
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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
Flynn Arrowstarr wrote:
If their CV looks like crap, just imagine what kind of documentation they may produce... *shudder*
This is to assume that they produce any documentation at all of course! :)
Kevin
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Oakman wrote:
I'm turning it down these days
I envy you. I've been "resting" for the better part of a year. :(
Kevin
Kevin McFarlane wrote:
I envy you. I've been "resting" for the better part of a year
I was there for awhile. Now I work for me (and a couple of partners), the hours suck and my boss doesn't accept any excuses, but on the other hand, the challenges are monumental and the benefits are almost non-existent. I wouldn't go back for love nor money.
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?
While I generally agree with you, I don't put quite the emphasis I used to on certain types of spelling errors. Especially what I call spell check induced errors. My typing skills were learned on a key punch machine and my spelling is abominable, so I spend extra time trying to find my errors. Occasionally I will find words I had miss typed/spelled have been auto-corrected by the spell check, but it has selected the wrong word. Those can be especially hard to catch.
Melting Away www.deals-house.com www.innovative--concepts.com
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While I generally agree with you, I don't put quite the emphasis I used to on certain types of spelling errors. Especially what I call spell check induced errors. My typing skills were learned on a key punch machine and my spelling is abominable, so I spend extra time trying to find my errors. Occasionally I will find words I had miss typed/spelled have been auto-corrected by the spell check, but it has selected the wrong word. Those can be especially hard to catch.
Melting Away www.deals-house.com www.innovative--concepts.com
The extra time you put into your resume to find the errors is really what I'm looking for and what I'm calling to question here. If someone doesn't care to take the time to review their resume thoroughly prior to submitting it for employment, why should I think they would do any different when they complete a development task? Thanks for your reply.
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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:
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?
Not if you are hiring a secretary. If you are hiring a developer as long as they misspell consistently they are just naming another variable. :~
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