I have the honor this year of serving on the selection committee for an international scholarship program. I’ve been reading applications from some pretty outstanding college students and young professionals. Among their resume accomplishments: straight As, Phi Beta Kappa, recommendation letters from prominent politicians and more. They’re applying to receive very generous scholarship packages to travel abroad to a country of their choosing.
5 Avoidable Job Application Mistakes
- Multiple typos in an application essay
- Typo crossed out in an application essay with the correct word written in
- A cutesy email address listed as an applicant’s contact information
- An application essay that is a full page longer than the stated limit
- A question typed into the application essay that was meant for a proofreader and not the final submission (along the lines of ‘Is this the right spelling?’)
The simple fact is that such mistakes make me less likely to give these applicants my vote in the selection meeting this weekend. I’m so much more impressed by the students who took the care to submit a perfectly proofread, professional application that is worthy of the scholarship committee’s investment–even if their GPAs weren’t the highest. I think a lot of recruiters and hiring managers would agree with me.
I totally understand that we all make mistakes and typos, but when it comes to something as important as a scholarship application (or a resume or cover letter for a job you really, really want), I believe that easily avoidable mistakes are unacceptable. Especially in this day and age of computers, spell checkers and English teachers just an email message away.
Okay, lecture over! (Please tell me there aren’t any typos in this post…)
