misspelled name on cover letter

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HELP! Misspelled the company name in my cover letter, am I out?

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So I realised that I misspelled the firm's name in the cover letter (in the header, nothing weird just inverted 2 letters), however I spelled it correctly twice in the content of the letter. I also scored "higher than average" in their online tests, and am a good fit for the role according to their requirements.

Am I fucked? NB: I applied in Europe, if that changes anything to the error acceptance...

I have a friend that put the wrong Ivy league university name in her application letter and still got in.

That being said, you still have a chance but def took a shot to the arm.

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5 Spelling Errors That Can Torpedo Your Resume or Cover Letter

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Double-check your work to avoid these common, embarrassing and totally preventable mistakes

You know you’re qualified for the position, but you could derail your chances of being hired if your resume and cover letter contain typos and misspellings—especially if you’re applying for a content or editorial job .

No matter what kind of work you’re going for, you can make sure potential employers focus on your best qualities by keeping your resume and cover letter free of the five common trouble spots below.  

Also on Mediabistro

1. Misspelled names. First things first: Since you’re sending a cover letter to a specific person (after all, “To Whom It May Concern” is a big no-no), triple-check the spelling of the recipient’s name. Pay special attention to first names with common variants. (You may be accustomed to seeing Alison spelled with one l, but Allison and Alyson are possibilities too.) If any spelling error will pop out to the reader in neon lights, it’s this one.

2. Misspelled action verbs. Resume-writing experts recommend beginning each bullet point with an action verb, but several of the most useful ones ( achieve, acquire, analyze, guarantee, liaise, synthesize ) are frequently misspelled. Keep a master list of any verbs that regularly give you pause, and add relevant adjectives ( knowledgeable, necessary, noticeable ) and nouns ( acquisition, calendar, commitment, privilege ) for good measure. Update your list as needed—and consult it often.

3. Incorrect verb tenses. Speaking of actions verbs, the ones you list for your current position should appear in the present tense (“ Lead monthly workshops”). Action verbs describing your former jobs should be in the past tense (“ Led monthly workshops”).

4. Mixed-up homophones . Homophones are words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings. The spellings of the words below seem straightforward—which may be the reason we gloss over them when scanning our work for errors. Take advantage of the “find” function of your word-processing software to hunt down and highlight every instance of the words listed. That way, you can double-check that you’re using each one correctly.

You’re/Your You’re is a contraction of the words you are. Your is the possessive adjective (which shows ownership) for you. “ You’re the best candidate for this position. Your resume makes that absolutely clear.”

They’re/Their They’re is a contraction of the words they are. Their is the possessive adjective for they. “Many qualified applicants applied, but they’re not as impressive as you are. Indeed, their resumes are no match for yours.”

It’s/Its It’s is a contraction of the words it is. Its is the possessive adjective for it. “ It’s only a matter of time before the company hires you. You’ll increase its sales tenfold.”

Let’s/Lets Let’s is a contraction of the words let us. Lets is the present tense of the verb let  (third-person singular). “ Let’s discuss the perks of this position. Your employee badge lets you into the executive lounge, for one.”

5. Inconsistent spellings of repeated terms. Lock down a style for terms that appear more than once. On your resume, you’ll need to list dates of employment for each position, but dates can be styled in several different ways. The month can be spelled out in full (January 2014), abbreviated (Jan. 2014), or listed as a numeral (01/2014). All these choices are legitimate, but pick one format and stick with it. Otherwise, you’ll risk looking sloppy and haphazard.

Your proofreading strategy:

By all means, run spell-check—but only as your first defense. Spell-check can help you catch typos, but it may not catch mixed-up homophones (see above), and it can’t fact-check the spellings of proper names.

Enlist a member of the grammar police. You know that friend on Facebook who can’t resist pointing out spelling mistakes? Now is the time to use those powers for good. Ask your pal to proofread your resume in exchange for a tasty beverage at a local cafe. Bonus: While you’re there, you can study up on other tricky spellings, such as cappuccino, macchiato, and decaffeinated .

Read your resume and cover letter out loud. When we’re typing quickly, short prepositions ( to, of, and for ) and articles ( a, an, and the ) have a mysterious tendency to go missing. Even spookier? When we’re reading quickly, our mind has a tendency to fill in those gaps without our awareness. It’s the literary equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle. Reading aloud encourages us to slow down, so we’re more likely to notice when pesky little words go MIA.

Print out your files one last time before you send them. Whenever we go back into a document to make a change, there is a possibility we’ll introduce a new error. (It’s fun being human, isn’t it?) In addition, auto-correct functions can work lightning-fast, making it easy for random and nonsensical “fixes” to slip by us. As a precaution, always make a clean printout after editing your files. Take a short break to refresh your eyes, and reread your work one last time. The file is ready for attachment only when the last printout is mistake-free.

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SMARTER WAYS TO FIND A JOB

*Top Tips* What to do if you spell the recruiter’s name wrong on a cover letter

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

The US website Career Realism is running a twitter advice project where people tweet their career questions and career experts have a crack at answering them. A recent one was what to do if you misspell the name of the hiring manager on a cover letter.

I shouldn’t be writing this, given I help people write cover letters and resumes but I’m mortified to say I have done this myself. It was in an email to an editor where I claimed some amazing creative writing skills and asked for some freelancing opportunities. Trouble was I spelled the editor’s name creatively.

I sat there red faced for a half a minute and decided the only thing to do was to point it out. So I wrote:

“How embarrassing!! Sorry for the creative spelling of your name. And I claim to be a writer too! But either way I spell it I would love the opportunity to freelance for you.”

She laughed. I didn’t get an opportunity, but I did get a decent answer. Ironically I don’t think she would have replied to the first email even if I had spelled her name correctly.

Karalyn is the Founder of InterviewIQ and chief champion for all her clients. Get personal coaching to make 2023 your most successful year yet. Check out our job search booster services here>> Give me smarter ways to find a job .

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Tagged as: Cover letters , secrets from recruitment consultants

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RT @InterviewIQ: #jobhunting What to do if you spell a recruiter’s name wrong in a cover letter or email: http://interviewiq.com.au/cover-letter-m …

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RT @InterviewIQ: #jobhunt What to do if you spell a recruiter’s name wrong on an email http://interviewiq.com.au/cover-letter-m …

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• Resume and Cover Letter
• How Employers Interpret...

How Employers Interpret Mistakes on Resumes

4 min read · Updated on October 19, 2021

Don't let a simple typo on your resume cost you the job offer. Avoid these common mistakes.  

There are tens of thousands of blogs online about how to write resumes, and all of them suggest proofreading your resume to ensure it is error-free. Obviously proofreading is a good idea, but do employers really throw away resumes and skip candidates just because of a misspelling or formatting error? In truth, yes, but not because of the reasons you might think. Mistakes on your resume can expose traits about yourself which can ultimately keep an employer from offering you a job.

Three Common Resume Mistakes, and How Employers Interpret Them.

• Misspellings.  Perhaps the easiest mistake to make on a resume is misspelling a word. If you type "recieve" instead of "receive," does that mean an employer will think you are unqualified? Are you unable to perform your job because of a simple typo? Not necessarily, but misspelling words DOES show that you do not show adequate attention to detail. Employers are less concerned about your spelling (knowing you probably just made a typo) and more concerned with the fact that you overlooked an error, which speaks volumes about your tendencies. If they hire you to work in accounting, for instance, and you constantly overlook small details, you could cause some serious problems for the company. Make sure to run spell check prior to submitting your resume, but also print it out and have a few friends review it as well. Many leading word processing applications, such as Microsoft Word, will auto-correct misspellings for you, but that does not mean you are in the clear. "There" and "their" are both spelled correctly (and will not get caught by spell check), but they have totally different meanings, so make sure to proofread your resume manually as well.
• Bad Formatting.  Formatting your resume can be tricky, and even the smallest mistake can get your resume thrown away. An often overlooked issue with resumes is the size of your page margins, also known as the whitespace around your text. If this whitespace is too small, trying to print the document may cause a box to pop up stating "margins are too small, some clipping may occur" (or something similar). We have all seen that message before. If you cannot pay enough attention to ensure your own resume prints properly, why would a potential employer want you to represent their company to their customers? Companies have a brand to maintain, and they do not need lazy employees tarnishing their image or reputation.
• Too Much Info.  Resumes in today's job market should be (usually) a maximum of two pages, and your job descriptions should be concise and powerful. If your resume is longer than two pages, there is a good chance your resume will be thrown away. Why, you ask? First, employers do not have enough time to sit around reading that many pages. Secondly, if you ramble on in your resume, it demonstrates that your communication skills are lacking. Communication is key in the business world, and the inability to convey your thoughts in a brief yet informative way is unattractive to employers.

In summary, employers are less concerned with the actual mistake in your resume and more concerned with the root of the mistake: your skills (or lack thereof). Misspellings represent your lack of attention to detail, bad formatting shows your inability to represent yourself or their company, and rambling on your resume demonstrates poor communication skills. To ensure your resume is as effective as possible, and error-free, consider hiring a professional resume writer to handle the project for you.

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African American burial grounds across the United States have been erased or forgotten, and others are at risk of disappearing.

They have been covered by pools, playgrounds, parking lots and performance halls.

Community organizations in Charleston, S.C., and beyond are working to change that.

In the process, they are also searching for descendants of those buried.

Tracing Charleston’s History of Slavery, From a Burial Ground to a DNA Swab

A quest to find living descendants of 36 enslaved people has transformed into a project that gives Black residents new clues to their ancestry, wherever it may lead.

By Caroline Gutman and Emily Cochrane

Photographs by Caroline Gutman

Reporting from Charleston, S.C.

When Edward Lee heard about a project collecting DNA from Black residents like him in Charleston, S.C., he had reason to be skeptical. Knowing that African Americans have been exploited before financially and in medical experiments , he feared that handing over his genetic identity could leave him vulnerable.

But he knew the people behind the Anson Street African Burial Ground Project, having worked with many of them before on similar efforts to preserve the region’s Black history.

And they came to him with a unique proposal: With DNA extracted from 36 enslaved people whose bones had been unearthed by a construction crew downtown, researchers were now searching for their living descendants.

Even if he wasn’t related to any of them, Mr. Lee figured, maybe a DNA test could still provide other answers that had eluded him. He could trace his ancestry to a great-great-grandmother on one side, but no further. So last spring, he sat still as a researcher gently swabbed the inside of his cheek.

“I had to have guarantees that we control the results — that’s the only reason I did it,” Mr. Lee said.

Now, dozens of Black residents have agreed to play their part in this genetic detective work. Their catalyst came in 2013, when workers building a concert hall stumbled upon what is believed to be the oldest known burial ground of enslaved people in Charleston.

The project’s supporters believe it can serve as a blueprint for how to handle the preservation of neglected aspects of Black history across the country, before development and time erode more of it.

That history is particularly poignant in Charleston, where ships once docked with hundreds of kidnapped Africans onboard, and where community leaders like Mr. Lee have spent years fighting to protect the graveyards of enslaved people.

“It feels like every piece of ground you step on — it is seeped with that history,” said Joanna Gilmore, an anthropologist and a member of the project who has devoted much of her career to chronicling African burial grounds.

Researchers began taking DNA samples from current residents, holding events in familiar community spaces and promising confidentiality.

Because the community had been involved in the yearslong process of reinterring and honoring the 36 ancestors, there was already a sense of trust with the research team.

Black residents said those ties were essential to their confidence in the project.

The analysis of their DNA was conducted by Dr. Theodore Schurr, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the decade since the burial ground was discovered, Ms. Gilmore and other researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the College of Charleston and the Charleston community have shed light on the African and Indigenous ancestry of the 36 people buried along Anson Street in the late 18th century — several men, most likely a mother and a child among them.

Six were most likely born in Africa, and others were born in Charleston or nearby. While the graves had no markings , the bodies were carefully spaced, buried with shrouds or with coins meant to cover their eyes.

The “Ancestors” — as they are collectively known — have since been reinterred, and there are plans to construct a fountain ringed with bronze hands , all modeled from Black residents of similar ages to the 36 people found.

But another question remained: Were there any living descendants still in Charleston?

That quest, however, required persuading as many people as possible from the region to participate. Some agreed because they saw it as a way to safely answer fundamental questions about their family history, or to trace their roots beyond the Carolina shores.

“Time is not on our side, and I feel like if somebody doesn’t take a stand to actually bring the attention to the family ties, the younger generation, they’re not going to do it,” said Karen Wright-Chisolm, after submitting her swab in spring 2023. “In order to be able to teach them, then I need to know the information, so that I can pass it on.”

Others came as a way to pay their respects to the enslaved Africans, or simply because friends suggested giving it a try.

“It’s just a vessel to connect,” said Clifton R. Polite Jr., who also participated in the creation of hand casts for the fountain.

So far, no direct descendants have been found, something researchers acknowledge may never happen. But the project has shown that each individual result has the possibility to transform people’s understanding of their heritage.

La’Sheia Oubré, a teacher who has led community engagement for the project, saw not only different regions of Africa reflected in her results, but also markers of German and Asian ancestry.

“For the first time in my life, I know where I came from,” she said. “If everybody could do this, they would then realize that you’re related to somebody in one way or another.”

Months after their swabs were taken, dozens of participants gathered again in a darkened auditorium. Ms. Gilmore, Dr. Schurr and Dr. Raquel Fleskes, another anthropologist who works at Dartmouth College, dove into their findings and dissected how to interpret each sliver of genetic data.

Hushed in silence, audience members snapped photos of screens and jotted down the occasional note as Dr. Schurr described how to see which lineage was represented where in their results.

“Just as a reminder, we’re all 99.99 alike — everybody in this room, we’re all alike because we’re a very recent species,” Dr. Schurr told the room, adding that the results would not “reflect the deep divisions between human populations in genetic terms, because that’s not true.”

And then, finally, the participants had a turn to see their results in full.

Mr. Lee was among those claiming a manila envelope with a broad summary of his DNA results. There was a surprise — a small, but unexpected, percentage of Middle Eastern ancestry.

“When the doctor said we’re all 99.9 percent the same, that hits you,” he said.

An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misspelled the given name of a hand model for a memorial fountain in Charleston. She is Zyaire Massie, not Zaiyre. Another picture caption misidentified the location of a waterfront scene. It was in Mount Pleasant, not on Sullivan’s Island.

How we handle corrections

Emily Cochrane is a national reporter for The Times covering the American South, based in Nashville. More about Emily Cochrane

The Mysteries and Wonders of Our DNA

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DNA fragments from thousands of years ago are providing insights  into multiple sclerosis, diabetes, schizophrenia and other illnesses. Is this the future of medicine ?

A study of DNA from half a million volunteers found hundreds of mutations that could boost a young person’s fertility  and that were linked to bodily damage later in life.

In the first effort of its kind, researchers now have linked DNA from 27 African Americans buried in the cemetery to nearly 42,000 living relatives .

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That person who looks just like you is not your twin. But if scientists compared your genomes, they might find a lot in common .

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