Poor spelling can cost you money, or even a job.

Does good spelling matter to you?

But, is that really the right question?

Perhaps the right question is:

Does good spelling matter to others?

Why is this?

Writing and publishing material which is poorly spelt is like going around poorly dressed.

What you write is how you dress yourself in the minds of your readers.

When you start to see the impact of how you write and spell from this perspective it will help to change how you see the importance of correct spelling and writing.

So, before you send out a piece that you have written to other people; whether that be via e-mail, a letter, a report, a blog article, a web page or some other document, take a moment to consider whether what you are about to publish is indeed well-dressed.

If you do not pay careful attention to correct spelling, you may find that it will cost you money or even a job opportunity.

Poorly spelt material typically creates a bad impression in the minds of the readers; so why make your life, and theirs, hard? In many cases, there is no excuse for poor spelling because modern e-mail programs and word processors usually have a decent spell checker. In fact, poor spelling can appear to be even worse when the reader considers how easy it would have been to use a spell checker. People who do not even use a basic spell checker can come across as being lazy, inefficient and second rate. Is this the impression you want to convey?

Of course, we all make mistakes, and the odd mistake here and there is not the end of the world. Many reasonable people, your readers included, will make allowances for a small level of mistakes in some circumstances. That said, this is not an excuse for slapdash writing. Some people will also need to guard against becoming perfectionistic, with its attendant problems.

Recently, on behalf of one of my business consulting clients, I have been running a human resources project seeking to fill a senior managerial position. My work has included screening resumes/CVs and the frequency of poor spelling has quite frankly been shocking. Otherwise suitable candidates were eliminated on the basis of poor spelling. The principal of the business concerned has a particular dislike for poor spelling, though is a very good boss and does not have perfectionistic standards. Like me, he finds poor spelling a key indicator as to the quality of an individual’s finished work output. If he was to hire a person with very poor spelling, just think about the impression that person would make on other people whilst interacting on behalf of the business.

Interestingly, one candidate with particularly bad spelling was sent a thanks but no thanks email and the principal of the business asked me to comment on the poor spelling so that the applicant would have a better chance when applying for jobs elsewhere in the future. The kind thoughts of my client towards this failed applicant were met with a rather unpleasant e-mail response, which attempted to justify the poor spelling and made excuses about some of the mistakes being Americanisms (they were not). The spelling concerned was especially bad and it is very unfortunate that the individual appeared not to be able to learn from the situation.

Even elite universities can get spelling wrong, though that does not excuse the rest of us! Knowing this might help you feel better though ;-)

Have a look at this article:

13 of the World’s Top 20 Universities Misspell “University” on Their Own Website

The article is published by a service which offers spell checking for websites: http://spellr.us

On my website I have a comprehensive links section which is regularly added to. One of the pages relates to writing:

http://www.blackshaman.com/Links_Writing.html

The page does not currently have many links on it however I will be adding more. Some of these will be links to key ways you can improve your writing, spelling and grammar.

We live in a very wordy world today due to the Internet. You would do well to make efforts to improve your writing and grammar.

English was one of my weakest subjects at skool, partly due to a hearing problem I have, however I make continual efforts to improve.

Did you spot it? The deliberate mistake?

Related posts:

1. How to write emails which people will both see and read.
2. Writing better will help your career or business.
3. Poor customer service by professionals, health insights and positive thinking.
4. Do Aldi, or other ‘budget’ foodstores really save you money?
5. Write more descriptively and understand English better.