A few weeks ago, I came across a post on LinkedIn that reiterated a growing trend my literary soul cringes at whenever it shows up: normalizing the lack of effort, and in this particular post, normalizing errors on résumés (typographical, grammatical, etc.). This post, like the many that flood social media, was claiming that such errors are of no real concern or reason enough to dismiss a candidate.
As a writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working with students, academics, and business professionals, I have been painfully witnessing the devolution of writing skills in America. I appreciate that not everyone is a born writer, nor is everyone passionate about becoming one. However, I do believe there are some basics everyone needs to master, and simplest of all is editing/reviewing.
With the obsessive rise in generative AI, I’m baffled to see that typos on business cases, résumés, and formal reports are prominent. In my business program alone, I’ve noted a typo on at least one case per class. But that’s nothing compared to the PhD. program I left—that had typos EVERYWHERE including the syllabus of the English literature class, which consisted of misspelled names and titles of classic American authors. (I seriously need to write a vent piece on that one year as doctoral candidate!)
The crux of my frustration isn’t about the errors themselves, but rather the lackadaisical attitudes people easily carry now to not put in the effort. The bare minimum to submit or present something well made. I’ve received emails from “professionals” who’ve butchered the spelling of my name despite it being clearly written: (1) on my business card—where they likely got the email, (2) in my signature—that they have seen in the last few exchanges, or (3) in any of my online profiles. Someone once said to me, “Well, maybe it was autocorrect, not intentional,” to which I replied, “That’s the bigger issue. If it was autocorrect, why didn’t bro take the time to read through it before hitting send? Making sure he got it right? That’s my issue!”
I can’t imagine that with all the available (practically free) resources out there, we’re trying to make subpar résumés acceptable. This is literally someone’s first shot at putting their best foot forward, and we’re okay with half-assing it?
The moment I got accepted into my current program (yes, the one with typos on quite a few cases—which I’m looking at as a potential employment opportunity here) we were immediately provided a detailed handbook that specified how to build our résumés (down to font size and line spacing), the exact wording of our email signatures, and the approved templates we are to use for any stationary, presentation slides, or Zoom backgrounds.
There could be arguments made about accessibility to these free resources to support people with editing or résumé building, and I agree. Often, our institutions fail to provide said resources, let alone awareness about them. But in such a technologically transformative world, where people treat Instagram and TikTok as the new Google, I’m hesitant to believe that all these errors are coming from a place of insufficient resources. ChatGPT has a free version that I hear can do a decent round of editing. Reach out to friends who are experts in the field and ask if they can take a look or recommend someone else. Finally, ask your own institutions, be it a school or a local resource/employment center. Many nonprofits offer these services for free or at a low cost.
Okay, I’ve gotten a little off track here; this isn’t a piece on résumé building resources. The main point here is effort, and how it’s become such a scarcity today. But this trend started long before today, maybe over a decade ago?
I was at the workout studio I used to go to and a friend was telling a group of us about a bad date she had the night before. “He pulled up to my house, honked, and the texted me that he was outside. It was pretty rude and disrespectful. Like he couldn’t even get out of the car to ring the doorbell?” Her words still echo in my mind often when I think about relationships, all kinds—romantic, platonic, familial, professional. There’s this rising blasé attitude about dealing with one another that’s genuinely caused a moral decline. It makes engaging with people unpleasant. I’m working on a series about this particular point, so I will save this for later. The point is, we cannot keep letting these things slide because eventually it builds up and backfires.
Someone who has illustrated such low efforts on their résumé or the first date is giving you an inclination of who they are likely to continue being. And instead of normalizing these behaviors, why not address them? Without shame, without attacking, but with genuine honesty and care. Offer feedback, explain why this didn’t work, and maybe even guide them to the right resources (when appropriate, as in probably not with the bad date).