Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Why good grammar is still ‘bang tidy’

What on earth has become of us? Amazeballs, oojamaflip and frape are just three of thirteen new additions to the dictionary - http://t.co/wDdWEJes.

I must confess, if I speak to people in their early twenties there are times when I question whether I need a formal translator. Where I would describe someone as a great laugh, the youth of today might say they are “bare jokes.”

Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn’t make grammar unimportant. Increasingly I am seeing CVs which contain grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.

How you write can say a lot about you and your abilities. No matter how qualified you are the lack of attention you pay to drafting and editing your CV can be your downfall. Poor grammar, typographical mistakes, and incorrect or weak vocabulary can get your job application rejected just as easily as the lack of relevant skills or experience. Silly mistakes say to an employer that you might be uneducated, lazy, or in a hurry and didn’t give the CV the proper attention it deserves. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can’t tell the difference between their, there, and they’re. With the advent of mobile texting and social network sites some people have forgotten that there are certain rules when writing professionally.

I’m sure we have all heard stories about CVs being ripped up and thrown in the bin without being looked at for more than ten seconds. The reason we’ve heard these stories is that they are true.
Granted, putting together a CV is often something that people do in more of a rush than they’d like. Equally, I am here to try to catch those mistakes before they are passed on to potential employers. But when it comes down to it the message is clear: your CV is supposed to be polished and formal. If it has not been written, read and edited properly you will be putting yourself at an immediate disadvantage.

That is most definitely not fandabidozi.

Tim Court - Director