How important is proper grammar and punctuation?

Which to use?

The English language is very confusing.  English is my mother tongue and I was educated in the Ontario school system back when grammar was a subject on your report card and it was drilled into us.  My kids, also educated in Ontario, have a much more lackadaisical approach to proper grammar, which has become even worse with text messaging, tweeting, etc.  I am most definitely a "cross your t's and dot your i's kinda girl".  As much as I would like to be part of the "btw, fyi, lol generation" it just isn't going to happen on anything that I consider an official document.  Having had an old Motorola phone when I started texting definitely moved me along the path of short forms.  Tweeting has also helped, but when it comes to writing an email, cover letter or resume I am a strictly by the book kinda person.  Not saying that I don't make mistakes, but if I see that I say forgot to capitalize something, it is impossible for me to leave it (even when I try a big argument ensues with my "daytime night time" personality, daytime wins - back I go and correct it).  

Your email is the first thing I read, this is my first impression of you and if you haven't taken the time to use proper English and correct spelling then chances are I might not even open the rest of your documents.   A couple of years back I was looking for an Administrative Assistant with good communication skills and the ability to write professional business letters.  This is one of the emails I received:

• lynne - attached is resume, I can type.  Use word all the time.  - DELETE, in the trash it went

"Their, there, they're" - I tried drumming this into my kids heads when they were little and I am still doing it.  It really isn't that hard:

• Their - Adjective - "belonging to or associated with the people or things previously mentioned or easily identified".  It's like a plural "his" or "her".  
• Their company needs someone to upgrade their desktops.  
• The company is looking for resumes for their Financial Services Department.
• There - Adverb - "in, at or to that place or position"
• There is an opening at ABC Company
• I understand there are three people being interviewed for the position.
• The interview will be held over there.
• They're - is a contraction of the 2 words "they are"
• "They're going to interview me tomorrow."  or  "They are going to interview me tomorrow."

"Your, you're" - 2 more words that are frequently mixed up.

• Your - Adjective - "the possessive form of you".
• Your interview went very well and we would like you back tomorrow.
• Please send us your resume
• You're - is like they're, it is a contraction of the 2 words "you are"
• You're going to be seeing Mr Jones at 1 pm" or "You are going to be seeing Mr. Jones at 1 pm"

Punctuation - is another one of my pet peeves.  

• Commas: "Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two"
• My skills include Java, PHP, and MySQL.  NOTE:  that it goes "word comma space" NOT "word space comma".  Putting the space after the word and the comma beside the next word causes MS Office to light up like a Christmas Tree.
• Periods:  "Are used to end a sentence".  There should be 2 spaces after a period.  period!!!!
• Colons:  "The colon focuses the reader's attention on what is to follow, and as a result, you should use it to introduce a list, a summation, or an idea that somehow completes the introductory idea.  - http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/colon.html"
• Please note:  The colon should be beside the word that starts the list or summation. It should not be at the beginning of the first word of the list. 
• Skills:    Java, PHP, Cobol  NOT  Skills    :Java, PHP, Cobol

English grammar is definitely not the easiest thing in the world to master.  We are luckily in an age when if you aren't sure you can type it into Google and just ask "how do I use a comma".  Take the time to do this with your email, cover letter and resume.  Or get someone to help you.  These are official documents.  Take your time, proofread, double check and hopefully you will get to the interview stage.

I'd love to hear about any of your grammar pet peeves or mistakes that you have seen that are becoming more and more common.

Good Luck Job Hunting O:)

Hot Job - March 5, 2013

Amdoc CSM Developer

This is a 6 month contract working for an international consulting firm.  

Your role as the Amdoc CSM Developer  will include:

• Working on a large content storage management project with the possibility of extensions

We are looking for Developers with the following skills::

• Amdocs CSM Developer
• Oracle/SQL
• Unix
• Tuxedo
• Telecommunication Experience
  

If you are interested in applying for this position please send your resume in WORD format quoting job reference code #328878 to:

Lynne Carlson - lynne@carlynservicesinc.com

Hot Job - February 25, 2013

Mobile Developer

Located in Toronto this is a permanent position for an interactive technologies company with operations in Canada, US and the UK.  

Your role as the Mobile Developer will include:

• Building one of several Mobile Apps

You will need experience in the following:

• 2+ years involvement in building complex mobile applications
• Experience in performance optimization and debugging large code bases
• Familiarity with Apple's Human Interface Guidelines or UX design
• PHP (Server infrastructure)
• Java (Android & web services)
• Objective-C (iPhone)
• JavaScript, CSS
• LAMP Environment 

Education:  A B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or related field is needed

If you are interested in applying for this position please send your resume in WORD format quoting job reference code #134279 to:

Lynne Carlson - lynne@carlynservicesinc.com

Resumes Trash bound can be fixed with these little changes

You have sent your résumé out and you're just not getting any responses.  Family and friends have checked it over and given it a green light.  It's been proofread, double checked.  What's going on?  It might be something as easy to change as your file name, or your email address.  Below are 7 things to check on your resume before you send it out, starting with the most important "Are you qualified for the position?".

1. Are you qualified for the positions you are applying for?  This is definitely where a case of quality over quantity is important.  HR/Recruiters deal with 100's of resumes every day.  If you are applying for a specific position then make sure you are qualified.  If a job has been advertised then HR/Recruiters are focused on that job, they don't have time to waste on resumes that don't fit, so click goes the delete button.  Feel free to send a general email over saying "I am a Java Programmer and would be interested in any positions you might have available".   This lets them know that you are available and would like to meet.  There is a chance this will get moved over to their "To be Looked at" folder over the trash folder.


2. Your file name can tell a lot about your job searching.  Keep it to just your name.  Don't categorize it with the position or industry, ie. John Doe-ba or John Doe-pm or John Doe-ehealth.   This is a red flag to HR that you have been applying for a number of positions.


3. Is your email address professional.  Being known as "thekegger@....com" is great for your friends but won't get replies from HR.


4. Does your résumé match your LinkedIn profile.  In this day and age most recruiters will have a look at your online CV.  Dates, companies and positions should match up


5. Is there a gap in your dates, then fill it in.  "Went back to school, maternity leave, relocated to Canada" are a couple of examples.  


6. If you put in your hobbies make sure they won't offend anyone or set off red flags.  Saying that you play party poker every night when you get home from work probably won't sit well with the HR department of an investment company or bank.  Physical activities like running, team sports or music/art interests are always popular.  But don't lie.  


7. Social media.  Be careful what sites you give access to.  If you are going to follow a company on twitter or Facebook then keep your site professional.  And watch your language. 

It's hard getting your foot in the door.  Don't get tossed because of a couple of little blunders.  And remember there's nothing better than a "referral" to help you crack that door open a little.

Good Luck Job Hunting !!

Hot Job

PHP Developer 

This opportunity is a permanent position in the trendy part of downtown Toronto, walking distance to the subway and Union Station.  

Your role as the PHP Developer will be: 

• Maintain & enhance multiple instances of PHP applications such as Wordpress and vBulletin
• Maintain & enhance proprietary PHP applications: Admin, Classifieds, Specs
• Research and prototype new technologies as required
• Provide Development-team support to Ad Operations, Creative, and Editorial teams on HTML/CSS/JS-related issues, especially where it pertains to the above mentioned PHP applications

5 years of  PHP and MySQL knowledge is needed.  

Other skills that would be nice to have include:

• Knowledge in other scripting languages such as shell, bash, perl
• Extensive knowledge in working within the Linux command line and available command line tools
• Knowledge in the use of browser development tools
• Familiarity with AJAX/JSON
• Knowledge in working with 3rd-party APIs
• Familiarity with revision control, with Git preferred
• Knowledge of OOP and other software development design principles

If you are interested in applying for this position please send your resume in WORD format to:

Lynne Carlson - lynne@carlynservicesinc.com

Interview ??: What have you learned from your mistakes?

The easiest answer to that question would be "I don't make mistakes".  Which might be true!  But definitely not what the interviewer is looking for.  Don't be too vague with your answers.  It helps if you give an actual example:

• I updated a billing module, it was all tested and ready to go and I realized that I had neglected to send it to production.  My first reaction was to hide and hope no one noticed.  But thankfully I realized that that would have been a way bigger mistake.  So I bit the bullet admitted my mistake and quickly worked to correct it.  I learned from this that you can't hide from your mistakes.  They won't go away, so just fix them.  
• I didn't believe in myself.  When I had a problem I went looking for help as soon as I hit a bump.  My co-worker finally said, "Don't give up so easily.  Persevere at it and you will figure it out."  Now I don't give up as soon and keep digging until I find the answer.
• When I first started in my previous position, I was scared to ask for help, in case my co-workers thought I wasn't qualified for the job.  Now I know that it is better to ask for help then make costly mistakes that have to be fixed by myself or my co-workers
• In dealing with customers I quickly learned not to say "I can't do that" right away.  Customers want you to at least try to help even if the outcome is the same.  So I found that telling a customer "Let me see what I can do" and then trying my best to help them, made the customer more satisfied.

Keep in mind that the interviewer isn't too worried about how bad the mistake was, they want you to admit that:

• Yes, you have made mistakes
• You learned from your mistakes
• You didn't blame co-workers
• That you are open to learning.

This question helps you to show your integrity, honesty, ego, very important characteristics that employers are looking for.

So keep in mind, that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes.  

Good luck job hunting.  

Why should my company do an eNewsletter?

eNewsletters are a very effective way to reach your customers/clients.  Yes, I know with all the social media capabilities out there do we really need eNewsletters.  Twitter, Face Book, Google+, etc all send millions of messages out every day.  And there lies the problem with SM.  If you don't happen to be on your device at the time when the message/tweet comes through there is a good chance that your customers/clients will never see it.  Twitter and Face Book deal with such large volumes of data, that blink and you can miss it.

eNewsletters are directed at specific customers/clients with information directly related to their needs.  Which is why it is important to make sure that your eNewsletter is catchy and has information in it that your customer wants to read.  Even if they don't have the time when it comes in, it can be filed and looked at later.  

Think of your business and how you can help your customer.  An eNewsletter isn't just about advertising/selling something, although no one turns down that outcome.  So let's look at some companies whose customers can benefit from their eNewsletter:

• Financial Planners
• It's tax season, let your clients know about any upcoming tax changes
• RRSP - how to maximize your money
• Tips:  Organizing your tax information
• Landscapers:
• It's time to apply your weed/fertilizer
• How to separate your plants
• What herbs grow best in sun
• Retailers:
• Sales
• New releases of merchandise
• Real Estate:
• I have a couple of  Real Estate Agents who send me eNewsletters that I love, they always have handy household tips in them, ie "thinking of a winter vacation don't forget to change the hot water setting to vacation", etc
• Recruiters:
• Let your clients know about hot job markets
• Advice on resume writing, interview techniques
• Municipalities
• Updates to bylaws
• Town meetings
• Special presentations, ie Citizen of the Year
• New parks that are opening up

eNewsletter Criteria:

• It has to be catchy:  pictures, tips, good use of fonts and colour
• Retailers probably want to send out an eNewsletter every week, whereas Real Estate might work better on a monthly cycle and Landscapers could go quarterly.
• It can't be too big.  If I receive a newsletter that locks my computer or takes too long to download, I hit the delete button faster than you can sneeze.  
• Don't direct me to a website that then has all sorts of pop-ups.  I just want to quickly read your newsletter for any pertinent information that may benefit me.

There are some really good companies out there that can help you get started.  MailChimp and Constant Contact  are both geared towards small companies who want to do their own campaign.  They are a great place to start and also give you good analytics on how many customers actually opened or clicked on your eNewsletter.  eNewsletters are a great job to outsource and help you get going.  If you need some help feel free to contact us - Carlyn Services Inc.