Do Employers Forgive Applicants’ Bad Spelling in Résumés?

Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Sep 2017

Do Employers Forgive Applicants’ Bad Spelling in Résumés?

Christelle Martin-Lacroux ; Alain Lacroux

Abstract

Spelling deficiencies are becoming a growing concern among employers, but few studies have quantified this phenomenon and its impact on recruiters’ choice. This article aims to highlight the relative weight of the form (the spelling skills) in application forms, compared with the content (the level of work experience), in recruiters’ judgment during the selection process. The study asked 536 professional recruiters to evaluate different application forms. The results show that the presence of spelling errors has the same detrimental impact on the chances of being shortlisted as a lack of professional experience, and recruiters’ spelling skills also moderate their judgment.

Journal: Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published: 2017-09-01
DOI: 10.1177/2329490616671310
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Topics: multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

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Cites in this index (1)

CHARNEY et al. (1992)

How Writing Quality Influences Readers' Judgments of Résumés in Business and En…

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