Grammar Gramercy
When I look at a resume, you know what I do first? I see a misspelling, grammatical error, or outright typo and mark it in red. Every once in a long while, I hit a resume that doesn't trigger any application of the pen, but these specimen are pretty rare. If someone includes VMware experience and they put it in as "VMWare", points are lost. ZENworks, NetWare, and XenServer are other favorites for incorrect capitalization. I can spot a singular that ought to be a plural from fifty paces. And the other day I got to thinking about how valid this is in a world of disposable data - text messages, massive quantities of email, continually changing priorities, and Lolcats (I'll have you know that I just went to the icanhazcheezburger site to verify how lolcats is capitalized there; I acknowledge that many other references use LOLCats instead, and a few use LOLcats). Does it make sense to hold people to high standards of grammar and spelling when many of us try to save a fraction of a second by typing "plz" instead of "please" on a regular basis?
The first reason this sort of things bothers me is that I am fairly meticulous about these things myself and it drives me mad when other people are not. This is largely a personal angle on the issue, since other people whom I respect aren't bothered in the slightest and honestly don't notice half the things that get under my skin. Actually, I know engineers I would hire in a heartbeat based on personal knowledge of their skills who still use VMWare instead of VMware. While I will continue to twitch when someone mixes his tenses within a work experience description, I am willing to concede that my standards may be a bit high for the normal run of things.
On the other hand, it seems to me that when you put out a document that tries to define your value and sell you effectively, it shows a lack of SOMETHING to have mistakes or inaccuracies. I'm not entirely sure what the lack is: you're sloppy, you don't care enough to make the effort, you are so incredibly confident that you think you are above this sort of minutiae, you lack any type of social support structure with people who could proofread for you. It could be one or more of any number of things, but none of them seem like an asset in an employee. When you work with my clients, with other employees, and with me, are you going to show the same cavalier attitude about details?
I recognize that the modern business world doesn't have much room for vellum and fountain pens. I recognize that few people are artists with the written word, turning dull fact into brilliant prose. I'm willing to cut some slack on valid English words that a spellchecker would have passed, even when they are used incorrectly (there, their, they're, job applicant, it's all going to be fine). At the end of the day, however, I still feel that accuracy and care in how someone communicates, particularly on a prepared document like a resume, are vital. I'd love to hear some other opinions on the topic and particularly on where it makes sense to draw the line. In the meantime, feel free to send in a resume if you have one - I've got plenty of red pens.