I am a fan of The Apprentice.
This evenings episode had my full attention, while the remaining candidates were interviewed by Sir Alan's colleagues and friends.
It was entertaining, interesting, and unsettling viewing.
Lee's interview revealed that his CV was not all it could have been; containing some fairly basic spelling errors and what were described as inaccuracies.
Consider the spelling/grammar mistakes on a CV word processed by a man who is a sales manager for the Capita Group applying for a job as Alan Sugar's apprentice.
You might think that he would have used a spell checker; the errors highlighted included tommorrows, fulfill, ambtion, and recoingsed!
Perhaps they were typos, perhaps not. Perhaps he can't spell, perhaps he's dyslexic.
He should have checked or asked a friend to check for him. Does he not have a secretary?
Scribefire (the blogging extension for Firefox) is showing me his mistakes as I write.
Why didn't he notice?
He was writing a CV, an application for a job, and it was full of errors.
I'm not certain I would have even short listed him.
What was more worrying was the fact that he had been less than honest about his educational background, claiming to have been in receipt of a college education for two years when he actually left the course after four months!
The impression the programme gave was that this was forgivable, which is unforgivable. He lied.
Would you employ him?
Industry claims that job applicants cannot spell, are barely numerate, often lacking in social skills and ill prepared for the business environment.
In The Apprentice, a highly visible, televised selection process, the selectors note that some applicants cannot spell, lack social graces and do not always tell the truth but they still select them.
Why?
Like Universities identifying plagiarists, Lee's interviewer spotted the lie.
What is the difference between plagiarism and fabricating a CV?
This evenings episode had my full attention, while the remaining candidates were interviewed by Sir Alan's colleagues and friends.
It was entertaining, interesting, and unsettling viewing.
Lee's interview revealed that his CV was not all it could have been; containing some fairly basic spelling errors and what were described as inaccuracies.
Consider the spelling/grammar mistakes on a CV word processed by a man who is a sales manager for the Capita Group applying for a job as Alan Sugar's apprentice.
You might think that he would have used a spell checker; the errors highlighted included tommorrows, fulfill, ambtion, and recoingsed!
Perhaps they were typos, perhaps not. Perhaps he can't spell, perhaps he's dyslexic.
He should have checked or asked a friend to check for him. Does he not have a secretary?
Scribefire (the blogging extension for Firefox) is showing me his mistakes as I write.
Why didn't he notice?
He was writing a CV, an application for a job, and it was full of errors.
I'm not certain I would have even short listed him.
What was more worrying was the fact that he had been less than honest about his educational background, claiming to have been in receipt of a college education for two years when he actually left the course after four months!
The impression the programme gave was that this was forgivable, which is unforgivable. He lied.
Would you employ him?
Industry claims that job applicants cannot spell, are barely numerate, often lacking in social skills and ill prepared for the business environment.
In The Apprentice, a highly visible, televised selection process, the selectors note that some applicants cannot spell, lack social graces and do not always tell the truth but they still select them.
Why?
Like Universities identifying plagiarists, Lee's interviewer spotted the lie.
What is the difference between plagiarism and fabricating a CV?
The errors you highlight are pretty basic, but technology is not a panacea. You must have seen this little ditty (no originality claimed!):
ReplyDeleteEye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
The errors you highlight are pretty basic, but technology is not a panacea. You must have seen this little ditty (no originality claimed!):
ReplyDeleteEye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.