Re: OT - Errors on cover letters

Subject: Re: OT - Errors on cover letters
From: Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM>
To: "'TECHWR-L'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:38:17 +1100

Lauren wrote:
>
> Over the years, my writing has improved and I finished a bachelors degree.
> I think that the writing ability of young people should be assessed
> according to what they plan to do with their lives and their maturity for
> communication in general, rather than by a comparison of their communication
> abilities to communication standards.
>
> Sometimes, a person can graduate high school, from what I've seen, with
> skills in certain areas, but not necessarily the holistic skill set of
> adults with effective communication and comprehension skills. Some skills
> for some people may not begin to develop until the person is older. So I
> think that each case of a bad resume should be evaluated according to its
> own merits and the potential of the individual presenting the resume, rather
> than according to the ideal of what that resume presentation should be.
>

I think this is true to the extent that I wouldn't
necessarily expect the polished work of an experienced
tech writer from someone just out of school. However,
a resume is a relatively brief document intended to
present a first impression of the candidate in his or
her absence. Therefore, seeing one with errors to me
speaks not only to writing skills but to a lack of
attention to detail, or to concern about impressions,
at least.

Even if the young candidate might not have the most
sterling of writing skills just out of school (and I
agree with the original message that this is a shame
and needs to be addressed), I'd think that s/he would
review such a crucial document several times over to
make sure that it was perfect, and also take the trouble
to have other people look it over. So, it's not just
the writing error itself that would be of concern to me.

-- Janice

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References:
RE: OT - Errors on cover letters: From: Lauren

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