Do Employers Forgive Applicants’ Bad Spelling in Résumés ?

Alain Lacroux (1) , Christelle Martin Lacroux (1)

1 GRM - Groupe de Recherche en Management - EA 4711

Spelling deficiencies are becoming a growing concern among employers, but few studies have quantified this phenomenon and its impact on recruiters’ choice. This article aims to highlight the relative weight of the form (the spelling skills) in application forms, compared with the content (the level of work experience), in recruiters’ judgment during the selection process. The study asked 536 professional recruiters to evaluate different application forms. The results show that the presence of spelling errors has the same detrimental impact on the chances of being shortlisted as a lack of professional experience, and recruiters’ spelling skills also moderate their judgment.

Mots clés: spelling errors; personnel selection; impression formation; résumé screening

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Gestion et management

Alain Lacroux, Christelle Martin Lacroux. Do Employers Forgive Applicants’ Bad Spelling in Résumés ?. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 2016, ⟨10.1177/2329490616671310⟩. ⟨hal-01451842⟩