Woud you reject a job application due to incorrect line spacing in a couple of typos?

[tigermoth]

I am just curious to know as this has just happened to me.

I applied for a post with a public sector organisation in Exeter. The post was in the marketing and communications field. I know my background fitted the requirements of the post very well.

The person spec was a long one so my answer ran into four or five pages. I checked my text thoroughly (a lot more thoroughly than I check my posts on mumsnet!) and of cause I did a spell check. It took me over a day to write the supporting statement and I know it read well.

I was not shortlisted for interview, and when I emailed to ask for feedback I was told that my application was rejected at the very first hurdle because I had 'a missing paragraph space' between two paragraphs and on page one I had mis-spelled Exeter as Exert.

The email goes on to say 'Had
the application been accurate you would have been a strong candidate. I cannot say you would definately have been shortlisted as we did have a very strong field and it would have been a panel decision. However I
can say that I think your application responded well to the criteria we
set'

Oh well, you live and learn I guess. Next time I will have to be more careful when I run a computer spell check and ensure place name words like 'Exeter' do not get bastardised, not even the once.

I have just checked the form on screen and can see no evidence of lack of spacing between two paragraphs. I can only assume this happened when it was printed out.

It was not the be all and end all of jobs and I won't dwell on what might have been.
But still, I am pretty amazed at this feedback. I understand that in communications posts, excellent written skills are a must, but honestly, these were typos!

Also, there was nothing in the application pack to suggest that shortlisting would be dependent on 100% perfect presentation.

I am interested to know if the above is a common reason for rejection - any comments please!

I would be so tempted to send a comment back..not that I'm petty or anything but

Tigermoth - I would comment on the fact that the reply you had grammatically wrong!

unbeleiveable

at unbeleivable

Oh sod it, am writing a covering letter now and am paralysed with indecision about what font to use and what gsm paper to print it on after all this...

bog off twig

now, I thought you were joking till you told me to bog off

I would have rejected it if there were lots of applicants.

well of course I was joking - aren't I witty

Lol at the reply from HR, I would not have the cheek to send a reply criticising someone for attention to details unless I had spent ages making sure my response was accurate!

lol at all the typos in this thread

tm, what fun... she spelled definate wrong. Perhaps if you tell her that for the future she might reconsider....

My mother when were little and teaching us spellings used to pronounce it defin I te (eye) so we could learn how to spell it.

90% of the cvs I get are full of howlers and gibberish but then 90% of the applicants don't have English as their first language so I'd be kind. My personal favourite was the guy who listed "being indoors" as a reason why he'd be such a great hire.

When I worked in Romania, we advertised for two jobs in our office. The money was very good for Romania and we knew we were going to get shedloads of applicants. We got 300 applications for one job and 200 for the second. We weeded out anyone who a) made spelling mistakes in their covering letter and b) anyone who addressed their letter to "The HR Director" as they were specifically asked to send applications to "The Programme Manager". Just by doing that we reduced the applications to a reasonable shortlist - we got rid of 150 out of the 200 applicants for the more senior job. Probably some very credible candidates there, but if they couldn't be arsed to check that their application was top notch, then we didn't want them for our top notch job. Oh and I also got rid of the person who started his letter with "You need a man for this job as a woman would not be capable of doing this kind of work..."

"I cannot say you would definately have been shortlisted"

Is that how it was written? If so, it's the pot calling the kettle black methinks!

Yes, I would and have dropped CV's. Sorry. My feeling is that if you can't be bothered to make your CV absolutely failsafe, then you may not pay attention to detail in the future.

failsafe?????????????????

Interested to know how a 'reasonable adjustment' under the DDA would be made in the communications arena for dyslexics. Anyone know?

Were you asked if you had any disabilities, if not you can always say you are dyslexic and expect a 'reasonable adjustment' be made when sifting.

"Exert" - ouch. I know how that feels.

I once ran spellcheck on an important announcement going out to 70,000 employees. It changed someone's name to a commonly used short word.

Ouch, ouch, ouch. I never ran spellcheck again on anything that came out of that office even though the person whose name had been changed was apparently quite amused.

I can understand them using that as a criteria if they have a lot of applicants. It may also be that when offering feedback, although you might feel miffed with this, it's a very straightforward response to give you. Cynically, you have no comeback on this - it's annoying but other reasons for shotlisting choice could lead to discrimination claims.

It's a public sector job anyway. You are not going to be valued in real life there!!!! Tigermoth, don't be de valued, there are other jobs that are not paid for by the Govt'.
You will end up with a mediocre job and lots of benefits. This is crippling this country.

And for everyone here who is nit picking:- How would you do in an interview today??

There are lots of 'Alpha Mums' on here. I would challenge you to find these 'so called jobs that you used to do'??????

Unique what's wrong with Public Sector?

SueW - there's a story they use to scare you off searching and replacing large documents:

A novelist once wrote a book in which the hero was called David. Just before it went to press, someone decided that 'David' was a bit of a boring name and decided to change it to Fred. They searched and replaced 'David' with 'Fred' and sent it off to the printer.

It was only once the copies were in the warehouse that someone happened upon the chapter in which a character goes to Italy, and gazes in awe at Michelangelo's Fred.

What is it about the word "definite?" So many people spell it with an 'a' where the second 'i' should be, including the person who emailed to say that the application was rejected because of spelling errors (unless he/she was misquoted)!

If you cannot see what is wrong with the 'private sector', since Labour came into Govt then I can't explain. Yes, they have put loads of money into education & health, but they (labour) have also contracted out stuff.

Nothing wrong with working in the public sector. I can't see that private sector companies or their employees are really more valuable members of society, sorry! I pay taxes and national insurance and I pay Council Tax just like everyone else, 20% of London's workforce are employed in public services of some kind. In fact, I'm less likely to be able to dodge paying taxes, specially council tax, than a private company employee, as it's a sacking offence with my local government employer.

And the benefits of my job come from high unionisation in the past, not government generosity. I'm now on good maternity leave, but I have worked for my employer for just 2 months short of 9 years when I stopped work at Easter.