Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + suits necessary, neutral, or harmful?

Re:Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + su... by gaius on Tuesday June 17, 2008 @01:04AM (#219450)

OK, every word processor these days can check your spelling for you. You don't even need to do anything; it will underline words it doesn't know by magic. Given that big a shove in the right direction PLUS the manual proof-reading that ought to be done, it is incomprehensible that typos get through. It can only be carelessness. This isn't an IRC conversation; it's a professional document.

Clumsy use of English from someone for whom it isn't their native language is a completely different matter, I don't care about that.

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Re:Interviewing for startups : are formal cover letters + su... by pjackson on Tuesday June 17, 2008 @11:39AM (#219807)

I agree with the first paragraph and disagree with the last sentence.

For me, it's less about the typing or language skills and more about proving that you can produce a complete work-product. A typo-laden resume indicates to me that you failed to have at least one native speaker of the language review it.

If you have a known weak area (English is not your most fluent language and is also required for the job), I would expect a thorough individual to seek help.

Just like I would expect a rock-star hacker to call tech support or post on open-source forums for help if they have a particularly difficult bug that they aren't making headway with.

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