Well, times are hard and jobs are increasingly becoming difficult to come by. Pink slip, downsizing... errrr, rightsizing... (we got to be 'politically correct', you see).... ramp down, lay-off, retrenchment, people pruning, cost-cutting, cutbacks, recession... are the new buzzwords or rather the new 'corporate mantras'... being sprinkled liberally on the unsuspecting employees/job seekers!
But, one can still land a job or keep one they already have... if they are very, very, careful.... careful with the new scourge, the 'typos'...!! Of late these 'typos' have developed a taste for and a tremendous appetite for people's jobs! In reality, 'typos' are 'job eating monsters' in disguise... who travel from one CV to another... incognito!!! Just like "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away", "if you want your job to stay, keep typos at bay"...! More rhyming (!)... I am now convinced that I have been bitten by... no not the 'recession' bug... but the 'rhyming' bug!!!
I read a report carried by The Times of India newspaper, dated May 9, 2009 and feel like to share it here... to emphasize my point.
CV errors can cost you dear: "I love cooking dogs", "I was responsible for dissatisfied customers", "My job is to pervert unauthorized people from coming onto site", "I have excellent poof-reading skills"... Fret not. These are only bloomers from job applicants, a new survey of CV blunders has revealed.
According to the survey, 94% of job hunters risked missing out on vacancies through poor spelling, grammer or presentation on their CVs. What's hilarious is that in some cases, applicants' attempts to impress potential employers failed through the odd missed word, with phrases such as: "I was responsible for dissatisfied customers."
For others, the omission of a single letter consigned their CV to the dustbin: "I am a pubic relations officer." And sparing use of comma led to seemingly embarrassing disclosures of equal note: "My interests include cooking dogs."
From a sample of 450 CVs, researchers found that 81% were laden with spelling and grammatical errors, while nearly half were poorly laid out.
So, even aesthetics mattered! We all know that there are 3 types of lies in this world: lies, damn lies and statistics! But, sometimes statistics do tell us the truth... maybe it too is worried about accumulating bad 'karma'... ! What say?!!
Read my blog: "Marketing Strategy + Technology = A Job!!!" to gather more insights on how to stop your job from 'flying' away...! As you know, this is not the 'kite flying' season... yet a lot of things... including our four legged friends without wings have taken to 'flying'... what to say about jobs...!!! Therefore, with hands over our hearts, let us all take a solemn pledge to become 'word warriors'...
Note: Information gathered courtesy: The Times of India newspaper and Wikipedia.
CV refers to Curriculum Vitae (Latin for "course of life"). Also known as a Résumé; a summary of academic and professional history and achievements.
Typo usually refers to a typographical error.
Photographs: Comic strips depicting various 'office/work' scenarios - all in good humour, though. Cartoons drawn by Parimal Joshi.
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