AIBU to think that an application for a job should NOT look like this?

[travelswithtea]

This small bit cut & pasted directly from part of a longer application letter. For an ACADEMIC position!

l believe now u can understand my intation & my ambition . if u feel
me as the right academacian u can recommend me selection . waht ever
the dession u will take i abide to it .

What is wrong with people? At least get someone else to look at/edit it before sending if you're unsure of whether using 'u' or 'you' is standard practice these days.

[bold fail]

I don't know where to start. That made my eyes bleed .

Excellent. I always want to send this sort of thing back with red pen corrections and "C. Could do a lot better"

A "C" is very generous!

Is the applicant a proper qualified professional? How can anyone think that is ok?

soupey, I thought if I gave them a U you'd all accuse me of being mean!

It must be taking the piss?

It sound like someone whose first language isn't English?

dido A U or a You?
fairgame Sadly, yes. I checked the CV. I googled the publications listed.
I did actually start to write a number of replies reply starting with "Might I suggest that in future..." but I feel so irritated that I fear it might be one of those things I will regret later, and should have waited until I felt calmer before penning a response. So I vented here instead and it feels gooooooood!

It sound like someone whose first language isn't English?
What difference does that make?

Lady Yes, it is. That is no excuse.

If you don't know that you shouldn't use text speak in a job application...be it for a job in McDonalds or as a CEO, you aren't going to get very far!

Well at least it saves on reading time and makes the decision making process easy.

It's obviously someone with English as an additional language coming from a different cultural and working background. If you get a lot of your English exposure from the internet then that is bound to be an influence. If you've got time I would write back offering a few tips.

They've published? What in? Surely they must know about correct English if they've managed to write whole papers. I'd be suspecting it's not their own work....

The only, even slight, excuse I can maybe think of is severe dyslexia. But even then, they must manage to get their work published, so they must be able to produce readable documents, so that doesn't really stand either.

No. Words.

Solomon I sympathise with the English thing. I've seen people struggle during interviews when coming from a non-English speaking country/cultural background, but their written material submitted was impeccable. Because they hired a translator or found an editor. [grrrrr]
Based on the CV I suspect the person thought they'd be in such a good position for the job, that putting in actual effort (rather than just a few attempts at nicely worded phrases) was not needed.

I work in a university and several of the academics I work with are not native English speakers. However, they want to work and teach and write books and do research in an English speaking country, so they learned the language and most of them have better English than me!

That application is horrendous.

What cherry said. Or at the very least they work and rework publications and lecture material with the help of native speakers to make sure everything is correct and clear if their own English is not entirely fluent.

It's just sloppy even if English is not their first language

What sort of academic position were they applying for? Oxbridge? Russell Group? Tertiary College? Teaching assistant?

That application wouldn't be OK even in standard English. It's all about what the employer can do for the applicant, whereas it should be the other way round.

Mm that is odd. Some foreign scientists/ academics might not be good at spoken English but they are very comfortable with written English as they've spent years reading brainy articles stuffed full of formal language and technical terms.

That application came from someone who:
-Doesn't read standard English often
-Has some exposure to spoken English but no awareness of different styles
-Doesn't know how to use computer language tools
-Doesn't really care enough to bother putting together a decent application!

None of which matches the profile of a published author.

Very weird

This person wouldn't get into my school's Year 5/6 student council with that application.
Actually, the Year 2's could mostly do better than that, too.

Do they currently hold any sort of responsible position?

If so, that almost brings me to tears. When I think of the years I spent, desperately but unsuccessfully trying to get the foot in the door of a decent job that I might find fulfilling or demanding, to think that there are people out there, who treat applications like this, who are more successful in the world of work than I ever was. Well, it's so depressing.