How to address spelling in HR questionnaire

March 7, 2010 4:55 PM

A job I recently applied for responded to me with a questionnaire about my experience in certain areas. After filling out the questionnaire and emailing it back to the company's HR Rep I realized I misspelled a fairly common word, it was a stupid typo I somehow missed. I've been beating myself up over this, wondering what to do. Send an email with a new corrected copy? Ignore it? Let them know I found the mistake and apologize?

Anonymous b\c current employer does not know I am searching for something new.

posted by anonymous to work & money (14 answers total)

If you are really concerned, make a bunch of changes and send it again, with an apology that you accidentally sent the rough draft.
posted by smackfu at 5:06 PM on March 7, 2010

I wouldn't say you accidentally sent the rough draft because that makes you look careless. If you look stellar in every other way, a single typo probably won't make them throw out your questionnaire. In your position, I would ignore it and hope for the best.
posted by wondermouse at 5:20 PM on March 7, 2010

Don't worry about it. If you misspelled a common word, they'll understand it as a typo. If it's a little bit less common (like saying discrete when you meant discreet), etc, they might just shrug and move on.
posted by suedehead at 5:22 PM on March 7, 2010

You will look like a crazy person if you draw attention to this single typo. You will look like a normal person if you just let it be.
posted by chudmonkey at 5:25 PM on March 7, 2010 [12 favorites]

Don't send them a whole new copy over a small typo, that's just kind of weird. If you want to feel better about things, next you mail them for some other legitimate reason (or you come up with one), just drop a little "and please excuse the silly typo in the first sentence paragraph 3! What was I thinking?" in at the end or something.
posted by floam at 5:27 PM on March 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

If this is a company that would evaluate you based on a single spelling error rather than your competence and ethics, is it really a place you'd want to work anyway?


I would ignore it - it probably won't be a big deal and it's likely that HR either won't notice or won't care.
posted by Despondent_Monkey at 5:27 PM on March 7, 2010

Nthing ignoring it.

And thanks to sudehead for educating me that there's a difference between discrete and discreet, I had no idea!
posted by kylej at 5:52 PM on March 7, 2010

As a recovering grammar-nazi, all I can say is that it will only make you look normal.
posted by rhizome at 6:04 PM on March 7, 2010

I think it's safe to say that if it comes down to you and another candidate, the deciding factor will have nothing to do with a typo/misspelling. I understand why it's bugging you, but let it go. Trust that you have a lot more remarkable things about you and your answers than one small typo. Good luck!
posted by katemcd at 6:22 PM on March 7, 2010

I'd send over a clean copy. To me, knowing that you were conscientious enough to discover and correct a typo would be a plus.

There's also the possibility that the HR rep might pull your old version and sub in the clean version before the person reading the applications even sees the mistake.
posted by salvia at 7:08 PM on March 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Definitely correct it but make a show of it and use it as an excuse for a positive followup contact. Something like "We are none of us perfect, but I've realized a little mistake in the resume I've left with you and my personal goal is to make right on any errors I may make." etc.
posted by carlh at 7:17 PM on March 7, 2010

I say fix it and send over a new copy.

I'm in the process of reviewing a lot of resumes for a position that clearly is a "detail-oriented" job. You didn't see your mistake? Then you aren't a detail-oriented person, and it will make a difference if you are among the top candidates.
posted by HeyAllie at 7:39 PM on March 7, 2010

Unless the job is in proofreading, just let it be. If it's a common word, the reader's mind will add in the missing letters, and if it's an uncommon word, no one will know you misspelled it anyway.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:06 PM on March 7, 2010

If there was only 1 misspelled word, you will already appear better than most.
posted by Goofyy at 9:52 PM on March 7, 2010 [1 favorite]