Resume Blunders

So, I haven't updated in a few days. I've been busy starting a new job! I'm working in the HR department of a 4,500-employee company, so getting acclimated has been exhausting.

Never fear -- not only will I not stop posting, I'll probably be posting more once I get settled. I have a lot of resumes coming across my desk that are filled with errors in grammar, spelling, formatting, word choice, etc.

Of course, I can't post items in their entirety, but I can give snippets that don't identify applicants.

My favorite one this week:

Why did you leave this position (application question)?
Answer: "Took care of my father till he died."

It just cracked me up because 1) the person shortened "until" in a professional document and 2) s/he didn't even shorten it correctly!

Spot the Error Tuesday: Can YOU Spot the Error?

Every Tuesday, I'm going to post a piece of text or a photo with an error in it. Some are really obvious and others may take a few minutes to find. Today's is courtesy of a Yahoo! advertiser.

Do you think this was an accidental error, or a deliberate attempt to use a keyword in an advertisement? If it was a keyword, why would they use it in an ad graphic? Don't the search engine robots only see text and links? Either way, I wouldn't hire a company that has an ad with such an obvious error to write something as important as a business plan for me. Am I being too picky?

Grammar and Punctuation Lessons

I must confess I haven't always loved discussing grammar issues and marking errors with a red pencil. In third grade, I would stick my head in my desk every time my teacher told my class to take out our English workbooks. They were purple books by Houghton Mifflin (see how much I hated them?) and I just couldn't stand doing the boring exercises. As I've gotten older and started enjoying grammar, I realize that I don't remember learning about many of the grammar issues I've encountered in life. I remember learning punctuation thoroughly (we were taught to use the serial comma in second grade), having the differences between their/they're/there and you're/your hammered into my head, and learning all about contractions. However, I just figured out the difference between who's/whose a few years ago and I remember being astounded to learn that "10 Items or Less" is gramatically incorrect!

After sixth grade, I never heard another word about grammar and punctuation from teachers (except when papers were being corrected). In seventh grade, we read excerpts from The Odyssey. In eighth grade, we read The Outsiders and The Diary of Anne Frank. Ninth grade was spent reading Shakespeare and Greek tragedies. Tenth grade was the worst - our English book was all poems and works from the 1700s and 1800s. English was completely boring to me at the time! Eleventh grade was only slightly better than tenth; I must say I hate The Canterbury Tales with a passion after hearing it read aloud in class. Twelfth grade English was great -- I had a wonderful (very talented) student teacher and I discovered Ethan Frome that year.

Are we doing students (and the world) a disservice by cutting off these lessons in fifth or sixth grade? To me, the way grammar and punctuation were taught (at least in my district) says, "this stuff's not all that important, so we won't be talking about it anymore once you hit junior high." That attitude seems pervasive these days -- many people I talk to don't understand that these errors reduce their credibility and make their communications confusing or ambiguous.

What do you think? Did you learn about grammar/usage in junior high and high school, or did all of your grammar lessons end with your transition from elementary/middle school to an upper level?