The Importance of Written Communication: Five Questions for Hiring Managers
I'd like to open up my previously-private interview with hiring managers to any others who'd like to respond to the five quick questions below. Feel free to share, and feel free to respond privately!
Having worked in academia and with many of my clients asking for resume/CV copyediting, much of my focus unavoidably rests on that transition from 'looking for work' to 'hired'. Indeed, as a freelancer self-marketing is where I place a lot of my energy, so I've seen its importance first-hand. I love to gain new insights into that process from those on the other side of the table (or screen)!
The ultimate goal is for the answers to inform an article that can guide job applicants concerned about the weight of written communication on their chances of being hired. I'd be grateful for any responses -- as a token of my appreciation, hiring-manager respondents will receive $5 off any single service they then contract with me in the future!
Five Questions:
- What rating out of ten would you give written communication in terms of priority in hiring a candidate? (With one being lowest and ten highest.)
- What is your initial reaction to an unpolished CV/resume?
- Have you ever hired a candidate who shows less than polished or professional written communication?
- What’s the most common error you see on CVs/resumes?
- If there was one piece of advice you could give applicants regarding written communication, what would it be?
A huge thank-you to everyone who has contributed thus far!
(Note: All answers delivered privately will remain private; all answers delivered publicly will remain public on the platform and in the manner in which they were originally posted, but will remain anonymous in the article itself and will not appear publicly elsewhere. This article will be for personal use only.)