tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36770289.post4148477641928350075..comments2024-01-20T20:11:51.589-07:00Comments on Telling Secrets: Word GamesMartihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04492242951732140223noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36770289.post-86690816636281831402008-06-01T20:38:00.000-06:002008-06-01T20:38:00.000-06:00er, i still use 2 spaces. plus some weird citadel ...er, i still use 2 spaces. plus some weird citadel formatting sometimes! but i have an excuse :) and i would not do it in formal writing. :)Megan Noelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11855509464903187806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36770289.post-77426512282845331662008-06-01T14:09:00.000-06:002008-06-01T14:09:00.000-06:00There is a word, Meg - it's 'grammarian.' Many of ...There is a word, Meg - it's <BR/>'grammarian.' <BR/><BR/>Many of the applications and correspondence from these teams I'm helping to train next week show a similar lack of attention to details like spelling and grammar. I do wonder if some of these guys are going to be slow on the uptake during training or unable to do quality work on the field. But it's best for me to put my prejudices aside and just remember they may need someone to come along after them in their areas of apparent weakness. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes those that come across the sharpest on the applications lack the social intelligence, guts, or flexibility that are more important in the kind of work we do than good writing skills. One of our past teams had a guy who couldn't type and was weak academically. His teammates treated him like he was stupid. But he was quite brilliant and skilled in other important respects and would probably have been my first pick if I were bringing one of them along on a team I was leading. His greatest strengths were in my areas of greatest weakness, and vice versa. <BR/><BR/>And sometimes academic sharpness is a bad sign, in our work; it's the dean's list types that have the hardest time with culture shock, ambiguity, leadership mistakes, etc. Those who are a little laid back, maybe even a touch lazy, end up doing better than those who are ambitious and driven. In the end of course everybody brings something different to the table, and it usually works out pretty well. <BR/><BR/>There may be parallels in your work as well. So yeah, it's a bad sign that they turn in sloppy resumes, but you'll need to read between the lines looking for the skills that are more important.<BR/><BR/>One thing that surprises me is that almost all of the team members we've got this time around - and these guys are in their 20s - put two spaces after a period. I would think that people educated in the last decade would have learned not to do that. But maybe the change from double- to single-spacing between sentences is not as universal as I thought.Martihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04492242951732140223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36770289.post-9121509800115307412008-06-01T10:59:00.000-06:002008-06-01T10:59:00.000-06:00oh, i did not figure out the IE and EI test either...oh, i did not figure out the IE and EI test either. drat that class. <BR/><BR/>i have been reading resumes this week (34 of them) and i don't think these people even used a spell check >(<BR/><BR/>and i edited 3 (or was it 4) more publications this week. i can't read anything any more without checking the captions! and you know, i am not a gifted speller or grammatician. is that a word? it should be. of course i am a little better with CAPS when i need to be!Megan Noelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11855509464903187806noreply@blogger.com