CV's

[Rebel Ian]

Dyslexics are known to be particularly strong in seeing the big picture, getting to the heart of issues, delegation and teamwork and creativity. And you are filtering them out because they made some spelling mistakes.

No, as I've said twice already I'm filtering them out because they didn't think that submitting an application with poor spelling and/or grammar might disadvantage them. Communication skills and judgement are key skills in the people I recruit. Not bothering to get their application checked shows poor judgement.

As we obviously aren't going to agree on this I'll make a deal - next time I get a load of CVs with errors, I'll forward them to you!

 

[Globalti]

I seriously hope you guys are not in a position of deciding on recruitment - I suspect not or your HR Departments would be down on you like a ton of bricks. The law says its the employer that has to make the allowances, not the disabled person (and dyslexia is a recognised disability). Discriminating against dyslexics in recruitment because of poor grammar or spelling is no more acceptable in law these days than discriminating against women because they might get pregnant.

I know of several employers who have paid out thousands of pounds to rejected dyslexic applicants because of the way their applications were handled. I have also had to deal with similar complaints but I was able to demonstrate that the applications were properly considered and the rejection was on factors related to qualifications and experience against the job and person spec, not spelling or grammar or dyslexia.

Your post is typical of the PC hysteria that surrounds this kind of issue. You have jumped straight onto the discrimination bandwagon without attempting to understand my post. I would never discriminate against any disability; however if I saw a stack of CVs and any were scruffy, mis-spelled or grammatically incorrect they would go straight in to NO pile because they would tell me the applicant couldn't be bothered to present information accurately and correctly. That has nothing to do with skin colour, age, sex, disability or any other attribute.

 

[MontyVeda]

Maybe they don't always declare dyslexia on the CV because so hard to spell

 

[Red Light]

however if I saw a stack of CVs and any were scruffy, mis-spelled or grammatically incorrect they would go straight in to NO pile because they would tell me the applicant couldn't be bothered to present information accurately and correctly. That has nothing to do with skin colour, age, sex, disability or any other attribute.

Except in the case of written information produced by a dyslexic it has everything to do with it. Its just a continuation of the old prejudice of people with dyslexia being thought to be thick and written off because they had difficulty reading and writing.

Richard Branson: "They thought I was a hopeless case because I'm dyslexic, although no-one had heard of it in those days. I was always bottom of the class,"

Jamie Oliver: "It was with great regret that I didn't do better at school. People just thought I was thick, it was a struggle, I never really had anyone to help that understood dyslexia and who could bring out my strengths."

And you are potentially consigning people to the bin on the basis of similar prejudices - they are lazy, sloppy, couldn't be bothered to spell - rather than considering that they might have a disability of which that is a manifestation and making allowances for it. And the solution is easy really - just read their CV and compare the content with the job and person specification to see whether they are qualified or not, only bringing spelling, grammar etc into it if you are recruiting for e.g. a proof reader or technical writer.

And as for PC, it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with not discriminating against a group which makes up one in ten of the population (some level of dyslexia) or one in twenty (severe dyslexia) and with complying with employment and disability discrimination law.

 

[swee'pea99]

I've no axe to grind, but I have to say Red Light that you seem grimly determined to retain your firm grip on the wrong end of the stick.

No-one has suggested discriminating against the dyslexic.

What people are discriminating against is people who, knowing they're dyslexic, are too sloppy, lazy or just plain dumb to apply readily-available compensating remedies. Such as running a spell-check and getting a non-dyslexic to give it the once-over.

Do you really not see the difference?

 

[Red Light]

But they are describing discriminatory practices against dyslexics requiring them to present themselves as if they didn't have the disability or be binned. Do you not see that?

What people are discriminating against is people who, knowing they're dyslexic, are too sloppy, lazy or just plain dumb to apply readily-available compensating remedies. Such as running a spell-check and getting a non-dyslexic to give it the once-over.

Do you really not see the difference?

Its quite clear that you do not understand disability discrimination. You are suggesting that unless they conform to your norms of a person without disability they must be sloppy, lazy or dumb. Just the sort of thing they said to Richard Branson and Jamie Oliver at school.

Here is what ACAS say:

"The employer has the legal responsibility to ensure that no unlawful discrimination occurs in the recruitment and selection process on the grounds of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, and religion or belief."

Dyslexia is a recognised disability. You have a legal responsibility not to discriminate against that disability and throwing out their application because it does not conform to the norms of an able person's application with accusations of sloppiness, laziness or stupidity on their part is both discriminatory and illegal.

On top of that you are missing out on potential employees who, while they may not be able to spell and have difficulty with written tasks, have very many skills which the non-dyslexic typically does not have - skills that are extremely useful in business as evidenced by the large proportion of successful entrepreneurs who are dyslexic. I'd far rather receive a mispelt memo from Branson than a word perfect memo from Sir Humphrey anyday.[/quote]

 

[swee'pea99]

Nothing like a nice, firm grip...

 

[Rebel Ian]

This all sounds like a classic example of someone who absolutely knows their rights but chooses to overlook their responsibilities.

 

[Norm]

But they are describing discriminatory practices against dyslexics requiring them to present themselves as if they didn't have the disability or be binned. Do you not see that?

No, they are describing practices of weeding out those who come across as being poorly prepared and lazy.

Getting my work checked when it matters is simply a fact of professional life, whether that is a marketing proposal, a budget or a CV. If someone cannot produce a decent CV when there is no time pressure and everything to be gained from doing it right, then that is not down to any disability.

I don't discriminate between someone who is disabled and someone who isn't.

 

[jay clock]

Better get your plurals and apostrophes sorted out.

It's CVs.

Agreed 100%. I have worked in the recruitment field for years, and if you use bad grammar, punctuation etc, like it or not, there are people who will throw it in the bin. CVs is the plural, CV's is the possessive.

My tip is try to limit it to 2 pages unless highly technical. Do not list every training course you did on how to program computers if you are now an IT director.

Use lots of white space, indent to emphasise. Save as PDF format when emailing, and use you own name in the file name (eg josephbloggscv.pdf).

Get a sensible email address. sassychick69@hotmail.com is less likely to work than debbiesmith@hotmail.com. Same applies for any "amusing" outgoing voicemail message you have. Bin it. Delete ALL facebook content that you would not like me to see (probably too late now!) and lock down your FB account 100% to the max privacy settings. I WILL Google you before you are invited in.

I can offer lots more but that is it for now

Jake Lock

 

[jay clock]

I have just read Red Light's comments. Nothing is worse than seeing people held back unfairly by a disability. Let's assume you have dyslexia. You may well be extremely bright. Presumably bright enough to know that insisting on your right to send in a CV with errors is less likely to get you the job, then getting your friend who is better at these things to go over it with a fine-tooth comb.

 

[Becs]

For ease of decision making I've always thought a 3 page CV was about right, top sheet a brief intro to you, why you want/are right for the job and bullet points of achievements/skills. The next two pages expanding on this via your career history still keeping things brief and snappy. Basically I want to be able to scan a top page as an initial whittling process.

I usually put that in a covering letter and keep the CV as purely factual - would you say this is wrong? (I have limited experience of such things)

 

[cookiemonster]

Agreed 100%. I have worked in the recruitment field for years, and if you use bad grammar, punctuation etc, like it or not, there are people who will throw it in the bin. CVs is the plural, CV's is the possessive.

My tip is try to limit it to 2 pages unless highly technical. Do not list every training course you did on how to program computers if you are now an IT director.

Use lots of white space, indent to emphasise. Save as PDF format when emailing, and use you own name in the file name (eg josephbloggscv.pdf).

Get a sensible email address. sassychick69@hotmail.com is less likely to work than debbiesmith@hotmail.com. Same applies for any "amusing" outgoing voicemail message you have. Bin it. Delete ALL facebook content that you would not like me to see (probably too late now!) and lock down your FB account 100% to the max privacy settings. I WILL Google you before you are invited in.

I can offer lots more but that is it for now

Jake Lock

I have heard about many recruiters doing this. Why?

 

[Archie_tect]

I suppose it depends on the role but I've known quite a few people that will dump handwrittens on the reject pile automatically. They want plain type, nothing fancy, and no effort to read......

That's true MacB- but in my business, that's the applicant they'd get... plain type, nothing fancy, makes no effort!

 

[Rebel Ian]

I have heard about many recruiters doing this. Why?

You wouldn't believe what some people will write on Facebook. There's more than one example of someone phoning in sick yet posting on FB that they went out the night before and got hammered.