There’s nothing I dislike more than receiving letters and emails that are peppered with mistakes – spelling, punctuation and grammar.
At the moment I’m recruiting a new member for our Student Services team, so I’m looking at lots of CVs and covering emails/letters. I have three folders: ‘yes’ (those who I will interview); ‘ maybe’ (those who might be suitable) and ‘no’. And I can assure you that the letters with mistakes always go in the ‘no’ folder.
It really is important that all your business correspondence – letters, emails, reports, minutes of meetings – is error free. To achieve this you need to make sure that you proofread your work very carefully before sending it out. This means reading it through (usually more than once) to check that everything is correct. The first time you read it, make sure that it makes sense – that what you intended to say is clear and easy to understand. The second time you read it, ensure that there are no spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. Then give it a final read to check that the layout is good and you haven’t missed anything. It’s also important that during each reading you really concentrate, in a quiet environment where you won’t be disturbed.
But it’s not only business correspondence that needs proofreading. If you are taking exams of any kind then it’s important to check that everything is correct if you hope to get good marks.
Also, if you run your own business you need to ensure that your adverts are correct and that any leaflets and brochures you produce are not peppered with mistakes. If you run a café make sure that your menu is correct, and if you have a retail outlet or market stall look at any notices that you put on your produce. It’s amazing how many times we see ‘Orange’s £1.50 per kg’ when it should be ‘Oranges £1.50 per kg’. (You don’t need the apostrophe because ‘oranges’ is a simple plural.)
Finally, being able to proofread could be useful in your career. If the company you work for produces printed material then you could always volunteer your services to do the final check. If you do a good job it might just lead to promotion or a salary increase!
