Job Discussion Forums

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:38 pm Post subject:

It's only a matter of time before "pronounciation" gets added as an alternative to "pronunciation;" because it really is in use. Sad

More common, in my experience, than the original.

Justin

MamaOaxaca · Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 201 Location: Mixteca, Oaxaca

True honest to god email in my inbox this morning

craftynick · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Sunny Barca

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject:

Dear Sir or Madam will be fine, and good luck with the job hunt. Just be sure the rest of the letter is as professional as the greeting, and it'll be great. Do spell check, and, um, be careful with the apostrophe's.

Best,
Justin

craftynick · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Sunny Barca

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject:

luck with the hunt!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Even a spelling checker cannot catch everything. If a word is spelled correctly, spelling checkers let it go, but a correctly spelled word may be used incorrectly in a grammatical sense. MS Word underlines dubious spellings in red, and dubious grammar sections in green.

So, I would suggest looking at grammar checker, too, and have a very trustworthy person go over the document after that.

Jetgirly · Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Posts: 741

I was eating breakfast in a restaurant this morning and I observed a job interview. The interviewee was wearing jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap. On what planet is that considered acceptable?

fancynan · Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:33 pm Post subject:

With regard to reviewing your cover letter or CV before sending it out, spell and/or grammar checks are useful tools, but you need to be able to recognize when it isn't quite right. Also, once you have written something, as you read it, your eyes may skip right over small mistakes so it helps to read it backwards, word by word.

On another note, I was recently on a panel to review and grade college senior projects, which were semester long research projects culminating in a written report. The grammar and spelling were atrocious! As I was redlining the paper, the professor announced not to pay attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation - he would leave that to English teachers! Is it any wonder recent grads are unable to write cohesively?

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

craftynick · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Sunny Barca

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

It is quite acceptable to start
Dear Sir
How on earth are you to find out the name of somebody you don't know from Adam? It is a rare occasion that the name is actually given, together with the appropriate honorific, in the job ad. How do we know if it's Dr. Kruhoeffer, Ms. Kruehoffer, or whatever? And there are many cases where hiring is done by committee.

Don't go overboard however. I once got a cover letter addressed to
Resplendent Sirs and Magnificent Madams

The Word grammar-check tool is awful garbage; ignore it. Do make sure that you don't have something that passes the spellchecker but is obviously nonsense, which is very common (incidentally, if you want to impress, the technical name for this is the Cupertino Effect).

Kent F. Kruhoeffer · Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 2129 Location: 中国