We often hear people nonchalantly announce that they are 'terrible' at spelling or grammar. It seems to be okay to admit that you have poor written communication skills coupled with no desire to improve them. After all, who needs to know how to spell when online tools will highlight your mistakes and suggest alternatives, right? Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you do. I do. We all do. And here are a few reasons why:
It could cost you a job
Many potential employers reject candidates who demonstrate poor English skills at application stage. I am one of them. You may argue that being able to write well is not a necessary criterion for a particular job. You could argue that someone can be a fantastic Recruitment Consultant with terrible written skills, and that a company discriminating on those grounds would miss out on a great person. You may be right. However, I am aware that every staff member I employ is representing my company to the outside world. I need to have confidence that whenever a staff member sends an email, makes a phone call, or writes a letter, they are able to communicate effectively and represent the company well.
It can cause misunderstandings
If you do not know how to use punctuation correctly your sentences can become very long and very difficult to understand it is not always possible for the reader to know where one sentence ends and where another sentence begins you need to sort this out. Phew! Okay, hopefully you take my point. Punctuation is there to make your writing easy to understand. Poor writing can be confusing, clunky, and misleading. Offenders sometimes argue that it doesn't matter, as long as the reader can get the gist of what is being said. Sure, but why make it hard for them? Why leave them feeling frustrated and irritated? And what if the reader is someone you want to impress?
People will not read what you have written
When viewing your writing, the reader should not have to struggle through badly written sentences, go back and re-read segments in order to understand, or feel compelled to scrunch up their nose and make "huh?" noises. If any of these scenarios apply then you can take a pretty safe bet to say that they will not bother, and will abandon your email/ letter/ report. If this happens in your personal life it is annoying. If it happens at work then you stand an excellent chance of losing business over it.
Not everyone feels the same as you do
If you are content with your poor written skills, and see no reason for improvement, that is your choice. However, know that not everyone feels the same. There are many people who will make other assumptions about you based on your written communication, and what you may see as unimportant or irrelevant, others may see as a reflection of your ability, intelligence, or attention to detail.
So where do you go from here?
My advice is to take an honest appraisal of your current situation. Do others comment on your writing? Do you get asked to re-write things sometimes? Are you someone who can't be bothered to proof-read what you have written? There is always room for improvement. Often just taking a little extra time to proof-read something can make all the difference. If a mistake is pointed out to you then pay attention to it. Learn from it, and make sure you don't repeat it. If a spell-checker highlights a word then take time to notice where you went wrong. If, after all that, you feel that you need some extra help then there are many good books and courses devoted to improving your written skills. Anyone can make mistakes or find something difficult, but you have the power to change!
It could cost you a job
Many potential employers reject candidates who demonstrate poor English skills at application stage. I am one of them. You may argue that being able to write well is not a necessary criterion for a particular job. You could argue that someone can be a fantastic Recruitment Consultant with terrible written skills, and that a company discriminating on those grounds would miss out on a great person. You may be right. However, I am aware that every staff member I employ is representing my company to the outside world. I need to have confidence that whenever a staff member sends an email, makes a phone call, or writes a letter, they are able to communicate effectively and represent the company well.
It can cause misunderstandings
If you do not know how to use punctuation correctly your sentences can become very long and very difficult to understand it is not always possible for the reader to know where one sentence ends and where another sentence begins you need to sort this out. Phew! Okay, hopefully you take my point. Punctuation is there to make your writing easy to understand. Poor writing can be confusing, clunky, and misleading. Offenders sometimes argue that it doesn't matter, as long as the reader can get the gist of what is being said. Sure, but why make it hard for them? Why leave them feeling frustrated and irritated? And what if the reader is someone you want to impress?
People will not read what you have written
When viewing your writing, the reader should not have to struggle through badly written sentences, go back and re-read segments in order to understand, or feel compelled to scrunch up their nose and make "huh?" noises. If any of these scenarios apply then you can take a pretty safe bet to say that they will not bother, and will abandon your email/ letter/ report. If this happens in your personal life it is annoying. If it happens at work then you stand an excellent chance of losing business over it.
Not everyone feels the same as you do
If you are content with your poor written skills, and see no reason for improvement, that is your choice. However, know that not everyone feels the same. There are many people who will make other assumptions about you based on your written communication, and what you may see as unimportant or irrelevant, others may see as a reflection of your ability, intelligence, or attention to detail.
So where do you go from here?
My advice is to take an honest appraisal of your current situation. Do others comment on your writing? Do you get asked to re-write things sometimes? Are you someone who can't be bothered to proof-read what you have written? There is always room for improvement. Often just taking a little extra time to proof-read something can make all the difference. If a mistake is pointed out to you then pay attention to it. Learn from it, and make sure you don't repeat it. If a spell-checker highlights a word then take time to notice where you went wrong. If, after all that, you feel that you need some extra help then there are many good books and courses devoted to improving your written skills. Anyone can make mistakes or find something difficult, but you have the power to change!
