Spelling mistake in Application forms

[Emilia Hdsn.]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone had any experience of making a spelling mistake and still getting through? Moreover, does anyone also know the spelling policy of A&O? (Do they throw your application into the bin if they see one mistake?)

In my work experience section, I wrote: "organized" instead of "organised" and the same for "analysed" (I wrote (analyzed).


I am a bit annoyed because I spent two months on this application and these are the only two mistakes that I have made. Furthermore, because both mistakes are made in my first "work experience" position, I am worried that they see this and decide to not go further with my application.

I know that what is done is done but I wanted to hear about any of your experiences please?

Thanks

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone had any experience of making a spelling mistake and still getting through? Moreover, does anyone also know the spelling policy of A&O? (Do they throw your application into the bin if they see one mistake?)

In my work experience section, I wrote: "organized" instead of "organised" and the same for "analysed" (I wrote (analyzed).


I am a bit annoyed because I spent two months on this application and these are the only two mistakes that I have made. Furthermore, because both mistakes are made in my first "work experience" position, I am worried that they see this and decide to not go further with my application.

I know that what is done is done but I wanted to hear about any of your experiences please?

Thanks

When I was at Freshfields, 99% of trainees had some form of error in their application.

And that was the people we recruited!

US rather than U.K. spellings are a relatively minor issue, especially if you use US spellings consistently.

 

[Emilia Hdsn.]

Thank you!

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

When I was at Freshfields, 99% of trainees had some form of error in their application.

And that was the people we recruited!

US rather than U.K. spellings are a relatively minor issue, especially if you use US spellings consistently.

Would you suggest Grammarly to remedy this? There is also an option to choose whether you'd like to write in British or American English but is it effective? What is your general stance about these online softwares?

Thanks

 

[Jessica Booker]

Would you suggest Grammarly to remedy this? There is also an option to choose whether you'd like to write in British or American English but is it effective? What is your general stance about these online softwares?

Thanks

I put everything I write of importance through Grammarly but you cannot rely on it. Sometimes it makes mistakes. For instances, it tries to correct “a FTSE company” to “an FTSE company” because the algorithm is not sophisticated enough to know you pronounce it FUTSEE rather than EFF-TEE-CEE-EE.

Lawyers use similar technology all the time. It is not a problem to use it, but it should be part of your proofreading - it shouldn’t be relied on.

I have a paid version which is a bit better, so I can’t say how consistent the free version is. However, for me it always brings up inconsistencies in U.K. and US spelling. It wouldn’t necessarily pick up if you had used all of US spelling though if you needed to use UK. It just picks up the inconsistent use.

 

[PirateShip]

Small trick I learnt: once you've finishing writing something in Word, copy and paste it into a draft email in Gmail. Google's grammar check often finds things that Word's doesn't (and vice-versa).

 

[AvniD]

Old school trick that I learnt from a careers consultant that has worked without fail every time I've tried it- when proofreading, increase the font size to at least 12/14 and block out the entire paragraph underneath the sentence you're reading with a notebook, ruler, piece of paper (anything that works, really). It makes the sentence you're reading really stand out, making it infinitely easier to catch any errors/inconsistencies. It takes longer to proofread this way but using it alongside Grammarly/Gmail will make for really clean applications every single time 💪

 

[George Maxwell]

Would you suggest Grammarly to remedy this? There is also an option to choose whether you'd like to write in British or American English but is it effective? What is your general stance about these online softwares?

Thanks

Old school trick that I learnt from a careers consultant that has worked without fail every time I've tried it- when proofreading, increase the font size to at least 12/14 and block out the entire paragraph underneath the sentence you're reading with a notebook, ruler, piece of paper (anything that works, really). It makes the sentence you're reading really stand out, making it infinitely easier to catch any errors/inconsistencies. It takes longer to proofread this way but using it alongside Grammarly/Gmail will make for really clean applications every single time 💪

Just adding to this:

One trick I used was to read my pieces of writing back to front. It sounds strange, but I found that this focused my mind on each individual word as it removes the meaning from what is being said. This trick meant that I missed fewer errors. It is a big laborious, but I found it helpful!

@AvniD I love this trick, thank you for sharing. Will definitely try it in future!

 

[James Carrabino]

I also learnt a trick on several applications - read it through after you've already submitted it and you are guaranteed to notice the mistakes you didn't notice before! 🤣

 

[Alison C]

Another trick: changing the font. It helps you concentrate, which helps you see the inconsistencies. But then change it back, obviously! No one wants to submit an application/cover letter in Comic Sans.

 

[Insecable]

I also learnt a trick on several applications - read it through after you've already submitted it and you are guaranteed to notice the mistakes you didn't notice before! 🤣

This one works in practice too.

 

[Kubed]

Another trick - copy+paste it into a free text-to-speech website. I picked up so many errors that I would otherwise skim through, by having my answers read back to me.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Another trick - copy+paste it into a free text-to-speech website. I picked up so many errors that I would otherwise skim through, by having my answers read back to me.

You can do this with the read aloud version on word too. Highly recommend it, especially if you aren’t sure how a sentence reads where you have read it so many times.