Comments on FORTIFY YOUR OASIS: The next geneeration of job-hunters

It's not just a question of lower standards in sch...

2007-08-28T12:47:00.000+01:00

It's not just a question of lower standards in schools and universities. Applicants need to feel the pain of their mistakes. If employers don't insist on high linguistic standards in CVs, candidates will keep churning out such rubbish.

Your idea for a warning on job adverts is an excellent one.

My organization actually spells out really explici...

2007-08-27T23:53:00.000+01:00

My organization actually spells out really explicit instructions on what a cover letter must include, and includes this line in the instructions:

"MPP highly values fastidiousness in writing style, grammar, and spelling."

(You can see the whole detailed instruction memo at http://www.mpp.org/jobs/process.html )

Yet we still get error-ridden resumes and cover letters that ignore the instructions above. It's ridiculous.

ok, I guess I don't understand why EITHER "your" o...

2007-08-27T20:26:00.000+01:00

ok, I guess I don't understand why EITHER "your" or "you're" belongs in a resume, or a job application for that matter. what happened to "one is" and "one's"?

Besides being correct, they have the additional advantage of having identical acceptable spellings.

I don't know about the UK, but I believe that a large part of the laziness of today's US job applicants stems from a growing sense of entitlement among the population at large, as evidenced by the waxing population of (and increasing hostility toward) illegal immigrants who do jobs that citizens don't want.

Great post! This was a critical part of selecting ...

2007-08-27T18:59:00.000+01:00

Great post! This was a critical part of selecting our interns for this fall, and will be in the future - we chose wisely by not accepting the "slacker" resumes we saw!

Also, you and I are even on laundry bills now, as your "disclaimer" resulted in a rather uncomfortable coffee expulsion!

I've seen this trend first hand over the last 10 y...

2007-08-27T16:39:00.000+01:00

I've seen this trend first hand over the last 10 years of hiring. It's now as predictable as it is depressing. We didn't have spell-check or other tools available to our generation. These kids have all the technology to polish up their presentation, but can't be bothered to use it. On top of that, most of them lack even basic numeric skills. Are the teachers really blameless? [Rant ends]

Hello,for me, this sounds quite funny.Hereover, in...

2007-08-27T16:24:00.000+01:00

Hello,

for me, this sounds quite funny.

Hereover, in the german-speaking countries, we do have strict rules on what ist to spell in capital letters and what is not, as well as pointing is crucially regularized.
Guess what? - First
"The Officials" changed the rules. Children in school are now leraning other, often nit quite easier rules, then their parents did. Most of the newspapers finally "switched" this year - the past five years it was about 50/50 amongst the papers, adopting or refusing the "new rules".
Guess what? - Second
The caos is much greater, then between british and american english.

So if we now try to be this rigid for applications, as you point it out, we'd need help ourselves, to figure out, what is and was correct and what -until now- ever had.*

* = Some proposals in the latest version of "The Rules" were removed or changed, since the first public attempts to make them easier about five years ago.

I wish you all the best and very good luck with your searches.

Best regards
Weekly-Spectator