August 7, 2012
By: Melanie Berkowitz, Esq.
Take notice job seekers and business owners: the informality of social media does not excuse poor writing skills.
In a recent blog post now making the rounds of many jobs-centered websites, business owner Kyle Wiens explains his reasoning for refusing to hire any job applicant who fails a basic grammar test.
It should come as no surprise that poor grammar, spelling and proofreading can impact the recruiting process. But the increase in electronic communication seems to have spawned a generation of writers who believe that it is acceptable to blame typos on auto-correct and that the informality of the “text generation” excuses almost any grammatical error.
While casual grammar may be okay when texting friends, the job application should include proper grammar, spelling and punctuation -- all things to watch for in your resume review.
Yet it’s not only job seekers who need to be careful with their electronic communications.
With social media websites and specialized marketing software making it easy for even small businesses to send targeted messages to potential customers, a single mistake can quickly be duplicated and distributed to hundreds or thousands of potential customers.
While you can argue that occasional errors do happen, in an economic era when every customer matters, losing even one can be devastating for small business.
If you aren’t sure about your own grammar skills, check out this grammar quiz.