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Employers reject four out of 10 job applications because of spelling and grammar howlers
Jonathan Prynn and Nicholas Cecil3 Jun 2011
Major London businesses throw four out of 10 job applications in the bin because they are so littered with spelling and grammatical errors, the Standard has learned.
The shock finding came as Work Secretary Iain Duncan Smith warned that failing to learn to read or write can lead to a life on benefit, falling into the hands of ruthless loan sharks and a "cycle of despair" which may end with living on the streets.
The Cabinet minister, who set up the Centre for Social Justice, told how he had personally seen many cases where youngsters had their lives blighted by poor education leaving them unable to find a job.
"Far too many young people have been failed by the education system and the effect that has on the rest of their lives can be devastating," he said. "Literacy skills are absolutely vital to getting into employment and staying there. Education is the cornerstone of success or failure."
In London, employers are spending tens of millions of pounds a year to equip recruits with the literacy skills they should be learning at school.
James Fothergill, head of educational skills at the CBI, the business group, said many of its members complained about staff who are "unable to read, understand and act on basic information".
Employers fear the problem is getting worse as a new generation of pupils is educated by teachers who grew up with texting and emails. Mr Fothergill said employers were not persuaded by the argument that the "txt generation" should not be judged by grammatical standards that were the norm 20 years ago. He said: "To be frank the clue is in the message. These are basis skills and it would be very risky indeed to start accepting a poorer standard."
Research from the Every Child a Chance Trust, which has received £5million in support from the business community, suggests that employees starting their careers with low literacy skills were unlikely ever to get off the bottom rung of the ladder.
It revealed that 75 per cent of men and 63 per cent of women with the lowest level of literacy attainment up to the age of 37 had never been promoted. They were also most likely to be on the lowest wages with 42 per cent earning less than £200 a week.
Reader views (35)
Hmm. Really? Better not make any typos here then. Well, not to blow my own trumpet but I have published a book - nothing major just a cycling guide. I've applied for literally hundreds of jobs over the past few years, in a whole range of different areas and never been offered one. If only employers rejected people down to a poor standard of written English. How lovely things would be!
No, I think deep down we all realise that in England these days it is more a case of who you know, not what you know. Connections - family and friends in high places, that's what you need if you want to get on. As such politicians and business people can come out with as many glib platitudes as they like but insincerity and double standards flow through their words like a flood.
"Yes sir, no sir." "Do you want fries with that." Master these key phrases and you'll get on about as well as possible here.
Yes, enable people to write clearly (this is vital) - but please make the career ladder in this country fairer and less incestuous too. You see this way we may be able to actually make use of our abilities to write well - and not just, well you know, flip burgers.
- JJ, Frozen North, 06/07/2011 16:18
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I wonder if this rise in badly written CVs coincided with Job Centres forcing benefit recipients into applying for 2 jobs a week, however unsuitable the person might be for the vacancies?
- Sarah Bradshaw, London, 07/06/2011 13:31
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Progress and change are inevitable. But, if you ignore the obvious, the Chinese aren't! It is already happening! It is so obvious that ENglish is in dire need of a reform, even ENglish is mispelled! I suppose we could add a "d" and spell ENDglish!
- Peter, Canada, NEW Westminster, 05/06/2011 23:20
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- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 05/06/2011 21:01
So that'll be Frank from the Isle of Wight.
- André, Peckham, 05/06/2011 22:51
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Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
- Frank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 05/06/2011 21:01
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pincer, at least I'm expressing an opinion about what is being said rather than sneering at someone.
- Rogan, Irving, 05/06/2011 19:18
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"Far too many young people have been failed by the education system and the effect that has on the rest of their lives can be devastating"
Er, might it be that a lot of these failed students simply can't be bothered to work and leave school believing that the State will provide? Oh wait...
Anyway, what about parental responsibility? I believe that many parents think that their responsibility for their children ended at the moment of conception. Lets get the fact right first!
- John Bull, Woking, (still) Broken Britain, 05/06/2011 18:34
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Making a spelling mistake does not mean you are unable to do a job well.
Employers expect employees to be 100% perfect but maybe they should look closer to home.
I am currently looking for a job and my job search is riddled by incorrect spelling on job adverts, wages of £8.00/year (instead of hour) and arrogant recruitment staff who don't even use the word 'Dear' in letters or emails.
I am so happy that empployers have so much spare time that they can trash applicants via the media, what a wonderful country we live in.
- Adam, Bristol, UK, 05/06/2011 15:57
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People who can spell well are not necessarily more intelligent. They have better verbal memories for the unnecessary difficulties of English spelling. If these are removed - especially by removing surplus letters in words - children and foreigners would find a great handicap is ended. Leave 36 common irregular words, but change the rest.
It would not handicap present readers - only 3% of letters need changing and 6% need removing in ordinary text.
Why can't we do this, when we are probing the secrets of the universe?
- valerie yule, Melbourne Australia, 05/06/2011 00:38
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Er...Steve, methinks you're a little confused. Language evolves and in any case, I don't see anything wrong with those examples you gave. I have never in my life heard the statement that it isn't a collision unless both objects are moving. That's just pedantic gibberish. Also saying that "at about" is contradictory is a new one on me.
Looking in the dictionary the definiton of Collide is as follows...
"to hit with force when moving". The car's moving and then hit the tree. How is that incorrect?
In fact checking online in the "Merriam-Webster" online dictionary, it gives that very example of a car colliding with a tree as how to use the word!!!
There are people out there who will happily write "I should of", or who don't know the difference between "your" and "you're", or "there", "their" and "they're". As for the difference between "past" and "passed" you're just banging your head against a brick wall. I think those are the sorts of errors we should be looking at. Not getting bogged down in the stuff you've suggested.
- Kevin, Watford, 04/06/2011 20:18
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@Ian
People who complain they have sent off hundreds of applications for jobs without receiving any offers of an interview might better check (or get someone older to check) their written work first.
_________________
Alas, there's many of us who sent off dozens of CVs and never received any offers, even though the spelling was perfect. Perhaps there's more than meets the eye... for instance, hundreds of candidates for a single post.
- TS, London, 04/06/2011 20:02
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The standard of grammar is appalling, even in newspapers. 'The incident happened at about...' It either happened at or about... That is the same as saying exactly approximate; a car collided with a tree...only moving objects collide. There are many other instances, too many to list. I blame it on the poor standards of the so-called teachers and proof readers who lead us down the slippery slope of illiteracy. It seems they both have something in common. Yes, they are both as thick as dockers' sandwiches.
- Steve, Bexhill-on-Sea, 04/06/2011 19:24
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It's called expressing an opinion. It's up to the reader whether it has any relevance. What I wrote re literacy was entirely relevant to the article and thus a legitimate contribution.
Are you suggesting that there was something wrong with what I wrote (to justify that you'd have to post a contrary opinion - if indeed you do have a contrary opinion, not having contributed materially to the subject matter yourself) or that you simply don't like me commenting, period. Censorship by popularity on a complaintant by complaintant basis?
Also, are you actually suggesting there's nothing amusing in someone correcting someone else's grammar, incorrectly as it turned out incidentally, whilst having an error of their own in their comment? I've seen similar errors in my own posts that have completely changed what I was saying, making complete 'howlers' out of them. Trouble is, you can't correct them once you hit the 'submit' button. Such is life. And such, if you think about it, is comedy (there's always a victim or butt of a joke).
- Rogan, Irving, 04/06/2011 17:16
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Standards have been declining for the past 10 years. In a job description I was given (and this, by the way was put together by a 'Head of HR', the following howlers were spotted:
"Able to diffuse confrontational situations" - the word should have read - 'defuse'.
"Be courtious and presentible at all times" - should have read 'courteous and presentable".
Now, if such poor spelling is tolerated by the NHS at senior level, what possible chance is there of our teachers impressing on children the importance of good, correct spelling? If employers were allowed to impose spelling and basic numeracy tests on all applicants, then the message might, just might, get through.
- Gatedweller, The People's Republic of Newham, 04/06/2011 17:01
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Ah, what we would we all do without dear old Rogan to put us all right on every issue!
- pincer, London UK, 04/06/2011 07:57
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How the heck did Clegg get a job then
- morris holms, Glasgow Scotland, 04/06/2011 07:09
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(try again sans 'bad' word that wasn't bad)
- Vince, London, 03/06/2011 12:47
If we are talking about gramatical errors surely we should be calling children children and not kids, kids are young goats arn't they? - Benny, Manc, 03/06/2011 14:23
At first glance you seemed to be doing really well there in that corrective comment, until you spelled "aren't" incorrectly. I should also point out that 'kids' is not just the word for a goat's sprogs, but the colloquial term in common usage in the UK and everywhere that has English as a first language as the term - wait for it - for children.
as in:
–noun
1. Informal . a child or young person.
Yeah, I'm being picky - facetious actually. Seriously, I doubt most employers, despite what the guy who thought it was all a conspiracy to treat Brits unfairly suggested, would be too worried about commonly used colloquialisms and contractions - as long as they didn't delve into some of the more robust Anglo-Saxonisms, of course! It's simple really - if you're writing in a formal document, you employ formal English. For every day usage, you might use conversational English, including contractions, such as "didn't" (note though, spelling is still important). And if your life revolves around incessant Tweets and Texts detailing what you've done in the last five minutes you sink to the level of rearranging the language to fit into the devices (as opposed to having devices designed to actually employ the language people speak).
- Rogan, Irving, 04/06/2011 05:06
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- Vince, London, 03/06/2011 12:47
If we are talking about gramatical errors surely we should be calling children children and not kids, kids are young goats arn't they? - Benny, Manc, 03/06/2011 14:23
...at first glance you seemed to be doing really well there in that corrective comment, until you spelled "aren't" incorrectly. I should also point out that 'kids' is not just the word for a goat's sprogs, but the colloquial term in common usage in the UK and everywhere that has English as a first language as the term - wait for it - for children.
as in:
–noun
1. Informal . a child or young person.
Yeah, I'm being picky - facetious actually. Seriously, I doubt most employers, despite what the guy who thought it was all a conspiracy to treat Brits unfairly suggested, would be too worried about commonly used colloquialisms and contractions - as long as they didn't delve into some of the more robust Anglo-Saxonisms, of course! It's simple really - if you're writing in a formal document, you employ formal English. For every day usage, you might use conversational English, including contractions, such as "didn't" (note though, spelling is still important). And if your life revolves around incessant Tweets and Texts detailing what you've done in the last five minutes you sink to the level of bastardising (no, I'm not swearing) the language to fit into the devices (as opposed to having devices designed to actually employ the language people speak).
- Rogan, Irving, 04/06/2011 00:02
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Trip Hazard
No, that's not what I meant. I wrote it in a bit of a hurry whilst I was on the train home, and I can see how it could be read that way....ironic eh, given the subject matter?
I was replying to Juma, who said that you should just use a spell check. What I meant was that people's RELIANCE on spell checkers was the problem. Obviously it's impossible to program a spell checker that can correct your/you're and who's/whose etc. with 100% accuracy since you need to understand what's being said. People like Juma and perhaps school children today rely on the spell checker to fix everything and it won't.
The difference between "your" and "you're" etc. should be focused on a lot more in schools rather than picking up on small spelling mistakes such as "suprise" instead of "surprise". Most students today write their assignments on computers, so small, simple spelling mistakes are no longer as important as before. More importance needs to be attached to the huge number of words in English that are pronounced identically to each other but are, in fact, completely different words with different spellings. You could cover the majority of it in a 30 minute lesson. Just repeat the lesson once a term from the moment they start secondary school, and come down hard on those sorts of mistakes, and most school children's English will improve drastically in my opinion.
- Kevin, Watford, 03/06/2011 23:38
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A poor spell check? "That's the sort of problem that needs addressing."?
Wow. You are right Kevin. Maybe in a special establishment built just for the purpose. Let's call it "A School" and see how we get on?
- Trip Hazard, Cambridge, 03/06/2011 22:53
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Well that's the problem, a simple spell check won't fix everything. For example the spell checker in my browser has no problem with the following...
"your right, I should of been there but who's fault is it anyway?"
A complex spell checker, like the one on Microsoft Word will usually pick up on them, but not with 100% accuracy. That's the sort of problem that needs addressing.
- kevin, watford, 03/06/2011 21:32
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Spelling errors are increasing.
I immediately throw out any CV with spelling mistakes, as it points to a superficial personality. The remaining 10 / yes, ten!!!/ percent are usually great candidates. As for grammar, well, it's a flexible subject, and not pivotal in our field, so......
Then I take the 10 % of CVs where I cannot spot any obvious mistakes, and facebook and google the names. Any young person careless enough to leave weird pics up, are put in a "second choice pile, in case the more internet savvy ones fail to do well"
Surprisingly, the second best pile very often turns into interesting candidates .
But then, we're hiring for hotel jobs, all sorts.
JUST RUN A SPELLING CHECK. A CV IS NOT AN INTERNET COMMENT, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. IT'S YOUR LIFE!!
- Juma, at home, today, at last, 03/06/2011 20:23
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Poor teaching standards and corresponding educational achievement demonstrate the multiplicity of bad ideas that have resulted from educationalists’ experiments for quite some time. There are two important aspects that must be addressed: firstly that the parents of children, and children themselves, have an obligation to receive and actively pursue education as it is not an option in a society that requires very few unskilled people in its workforce, and secondly that the experiments of the liberal left, having abjectly failed to provide the needs of society, must be abandoned for proven and successful teaching methods. Self expression by teachers must be encouraged only where it is clearly advantageous and not where it suits the political predilection of the teaching professions.
- Sir Stu Pidfool, London, 03/06/2011 20:01
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"75 per cent of men and 63 per cent of women with the lowest level of literacy attainment up to the age of 37 had never been promoted"
With the greatest respect, this is not earth shattering news now, is it? Employers do not employ persons below the intellectual level necessary to accomplish their alloted task.
Except the Judiciary and Labour Politicians, of course.
- Trip Hazard, Cambridge, 03/06/2011 20:00
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It just shows the value of investing in your education.
- Terry K, London, UK, 03/06/2011 19:35
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Yeah, and the 6 out of 10 who pass that test fail the experience test, or the work for low wages test, or the fake jobs put up by agencies test
Less employer whining and more treating Brits fairly
- John Smith, London, 03/06/2011 17:06
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I've always laughed at the suggestion by some that texting and the internet doesn't damage pupils' ability to write correct English. There was some suggestion that it actually made them better as they were able to "code switch". However it's quite apparent that they're unable to write properly at all. The problem doesn't necessarily stem from a lack of books at home; I don't remember having many books myself when I was younger. The problem is that when I was at school in the 80s and early 90s I never read anything that wasn't official e.g. Text books, newspapers, or on TV. Same goes for everything I wrote, it was all for school or my parents. Everything I read was virtually certain to be correct and everything I wrote was corrected. Now kids mostly read things on facebook or text messages which are probably littered with errors and they don't get corrected. That's where the source of the problem is.
- kevin, watford, 03/06/2011 16:36
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Charly, London: At the time they operated across the Country, less than 25% of pupils attended Grammar schools. The percentage mentioned in the article above is 40%; so your suggestion might well make things worse rather than better.
- Alan J, London, 03/06/2011 15:04
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Of course many of these little dears have received A or A* in English and cannot understand a universe in which they are never criticised for slack punctuation and grammar. Children, notwithstanding all those leftie teachers who don't correct mistakes, understand this: "Bad spelling and poor grammar may get you an A in school but if you don't get them right, your CV will be thrown in the bin by many a prospective employer." People who complain they have sent off hundreds of applications for jobs without receiving any offers of an interview might better check (or get someone older to check) their written work first.
- Ian, Colchester England, 03/06/2011 14:31
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The best (worst???) CV I ever recived was emailed from 'BigBoy Steve@........com.
- Bill, Wapping, 03/06/2011 14:26
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- Vince, London, 03/06/2011 12:47
If we are talking about gramatical errors surely we should be calling children children and not kids, kids are young goats arn't they?
- Benny, Manc, 03/06/2011 14:23
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Once received a CV from an English "First" and one paragraph listing their interests had fourteen "and"s in with not a sign of a Serial/Oxford comma anywhere.
- Mark, Gerrymandered African Republic of Southwark, 03/06/2011 13:31
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Exact thats our cheep labour market sorted now we can kick out all the immigrants.....
- Carole, Londonistan, 03/06/2011 13:24
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As Labour put it "Education, education, education." Bring back grammar schools and the 11+.
- Charly, London, 03/06/2011 13:14
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The Media is the first place to find spelling and grammar howlers - maybe they should put their house in order. Some examples are:
there for their
it's for its
weather for whether
and vice versa
Bring back the old 3 Rs to junior schools and get the kids to do spelling and grammar tests on a weekly basis. The same should apply to numeracy - have the kids recite their times table during their mathematics lessons.
Mental arithmetic was a regular item taught in schools many years ago. Nowadays kids rely too much on calculators or computers to do some simple calculations.
No wonder the youth of today are not progressing as they should. The whole concept of teaching should be revamped to ensure literacy and numeracy is embedded in our kids and also in generations to come.
- Vince, London, 03/06/2011 12:47
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