It seems like common sense: Look over your work before you share it.
But sometimes – especially in the era of “do more with less” – that simply doesn’t happen. In the name of timesaving, we skip the review and let it fly. We hit “send” or “submit” or “publish” without giving work a once-over with our proofreader glasses on.
And it happens more than you may think.
According to a study by The Creative Group, a specialized staffing service, one-third of the pool of marketing and advertising executives they polled found that the most common resume mistakes made by creative professionals were typos or grammatical errors.
Some cringe-worthy (but still entertaining) examples:
- On a cover letter: “My work ethics are impeachable.”
- Under “Duties”: “I was the company’s liaison with the sock exchange.”
- Languages: “I speak English and Spinach.”
But typos aren’t limited to the job application process. They’re pretty much everywhere.
David Weedmark, a Canadian author, compiles some of the highlights on his blog.
- In 1962, a typo by a NASA programmer sent Mariner 1 into the ocean rather than its intended end destination: Venus. (cost: $80 million)
- A typo in a medical publication almost made it to print referring to a professional as “John Smith, the rapist,” instead of “John Smith, therapist.”
Typo Buddy shares more typo horror stories with a bookkeeping error that cost New York City more than $1 million, a New Mexico car dealership that owed eager scratch ticket recipients $1,000 each due to a misprint by a marketing company, and a trader who sold more than 600,000 shares for 1 yen a piece … instead of 1 share at 610,000 yen. Oops.
Typos make readers question credibility, fast-track resumes to the recycle bin, and make brands and organizations look careless and sloppy.
So how do we avoid them?
1 The easiest thing is to check over your work. Don’t finish and assume you made it through the gauntlet unscathed. Force yourself to read it again. And again.
2 Print it out to really make your eyes focus on it. If you can, read it out loud to make sure you’re concentrating on each and every word.
3 If it’s a long article or presentation, break it up into manageable chunks so that you’re equally invested from beginning to end. Avoid the temptation to read the first couple paragraphs diligently and then skim through the rest of the piece.
4 Give it to a trusted colleague (make that three) to check over or someone who’s pointed out your mistakes before. (If you’re lucky enough to have a quality control team, send it their way. If you aren’t, check out some of the resources on this quality mixtape for content creators.)
5 Lastly, let the project sit, so you can look at it with fresh eyes and catch anything that might be off.
And if you want to make sure you’re doing your breast work, don’t just rely on autocorrect.
Er, uh, best work, that is.
Related articles
- What is Typo Squatting? (eset.com)
- Typo time (100w.wordpress.com)
- Would the Real Experts Please Stand Up? (engage.tmgcustommedia.com)
