But, is that really the right question?

Perhaps the right question is:

Does good spelling matter to others?

Why is this?

Writing and publishing material which is poorly spelt is like going around poorly dressed.

What you write is how you dress yourself in the minds of your readers.

When you start to see the impact of how you write and spell from this perspective it will help to change how you see the importance of correct spelling and writing.

So, before you send out a piece that you have written to other people; whether that be via e-mail, a letter, a report, a blog article, a web page or some other document, take a moment to consider whether what you are about to publish is indeed well-dressed.

If you do not pay careful attention to correct spelling, you may find that it will cost you money or even a job opportunity.

Poorly spelt material typically creates a bad impression in the minds of the readers; so why make your life, and theirs, hard? In many cases, there is no excuse for poor spelling because modern e-mail programs and word processors usually have a decent spell checker. In fact, poor spelling can appear to be even worse when the reader considers how easy it would have been to use a spell checker. People who do not even use a basic spell checker can come across as being lazy, inefficient and second rate. Is this the impression you want to convey?

Of course, we all make mistakes, and the odd mistake here and there is not the end of the world. Many reasonable people, your readers included, will make allowances for a small level of mistakes in some circumstances. That said, this is not an excuse for slapdash writing. Some people will also need to guard against becoming perfectionistic, with its attendant problems.

Recently, on behalf of one of my business consulting clients, I have been running a human resources project seeking to fill a senior managerial position. My work has included screening resumes/CVs and the frequency of poor spelling has quite frankly been shocking. Otherwise suitable candidates were eliminated on the basis of poor spelling. The principal of the business concerned has a particular dislike for poor spelling, though is a very good boss and does not have perfectionistic standards. Like me, he finds poor spelling a key indicator as to the quality of an individual’s finished work output. If he was to hire a person with very poor spelling, just think about the impression that person would make on other people whilst interacting on behalf of the business.

Interestingly, one candidate with particularly bad spelling was sent a thanks but no thanks email and the principal of the business asked me to comment on the poor spelling so that the applicant would have a better chance when applying for jobs elsewhere in the future. The kind thoughts of my client towards this failed applicant were met with a rather unpleasant e-mail response, which attempted to justify the poor spelling and made excuses about some of the mistakes being Americanisms (they were not). The spelling concerned was especially bad and it is very unfortunate that the individual appeared not to be able to learn from the situation.

Even elite universities can get spelling wrong, though that does not excuse the rest of us! Knowing this might help you feel better though ;-)

Have a look at this article:

13 of the World’s Top 20 Universities Misspell “University” on Their Own Website

The article is published by a service which offers spell checking for websites: http://spellr.us

On my website I have a comprehensive links section which is regularly added to. One of the pages relates to writing:

http://www.alexwebley.net/Links_Writing.html

The page does not currently have many links on it however I will be adding more. Some of these will be links to key ways you can improve your writing, spelling and grammar.

We live in a very wordy world today due to the Internet. You would do well to make efforts to improve your writing and grammar.

English was one of my weakest subjects at skool, partly due to a hearing problem I have, however I make continual efforts to improve.

Did you spot it? The deliberate mistake?

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Poor spelling can cost you money, or even a job. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

100 Clever Ways to Change Your Habits and Improve Your Life

Published by Masters of Healthcare — Online Health and Medicine Degrees, the article is very useful. I like it a lot.

The article comes in handy for busy people, people in a hurry, people who like stuff in one place, people who like to work though a checklist – addressing one issue at a time, and so on.

Besides providing advice, each item has a link to additional content elsewhere on the web. I haven’t checked all of these, however the ones I clicked on led to some interesting, helpful material.

If a career in health care interests you, or if you are already working in the field and want to develop your skills further, check out the information on the Master of Healthcare — Online Health and Medicine Degrees, home page. Over the years I have done a lot of online study and this is a trend which is becoming increasingly popular.

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100 Clever Ways to Change Your Habits and Improve Your Life is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

TwitterJobSearch

I quote:

Until now, search engines for social media sites merely looked for words.
We’re looking at context.

We use semantic tools to look at what was said.
We then look at what they’ve said before.
We then look at who was saying it.

If we do this right, we can figure out why they’re saying anything at all.

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The Social Media (Twitter) Job Search Engine is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Here is an interesting article with information about using Twitter for job search. Be sure to read the comments at the bottom as well. Some comments are negative in the sense that they say that email could have been used instead of Twitter and so on; however I suggest you do not focus on those. Other comments are of more interest and relevance; and in any case, Twitter is a different medium to email with a whole set of different dynamics and effects.

Have a read of the article, then the comments. Follow up on any links or comments of interest and then think about how you can apply what you have learned to YOUR situation.

All the best.

Here it is:

How to Use Twitter to Find Your Next Job

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Find your next job with Twitter. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

In this article I will be discussing the .jobs domain name extension (instead of .com on the end for example – we are looking at sites with .jobs at the end of the URL/web address). The .jobs domain’s existence is not that well known in general society, so do not be surprised if you have not heard of it before now.

.jobs is a special domain name extension which is heavily restrictive in its allowed usage. Simply speaking, it is designed for use by businesses and organizations to advertise their own job vacancies. A good example is the Asda.jobs website – Asda is a British supermarket chain. For those who want more, and general, information about the .jobs domain then I suggest a visit to the Wikipedia article here. The goto.jobs website is the place for highly detailed information about the .jobs domain.

.jobs domain applications are subject to stringent conditions. For example; I could register PersonalDevelopmentMagic.jobs if I wanted to; but only because I own a business with the name of Personal Development Magic, and only if I used the domain to advertise jobs at MY business. I could not for example use the .jobs domain to list other people’s vacancies or run a website dispensing career advice. .jobs domains are considerably more expensive than .com or other more common domain name extensions.

For those interested in registering a .jobs domain, then I suggest a visit to Go Daddy – one of the world’s best domain registrars. You can also view an article I wrote recently about the new .IN domain extension and get a better idea about why I like Go Daddy so much:

Be part of the IN crowd – register a .IN domain name.

Now that you have a clear idea of what the .jobs domain is we can move on to the key points of this article as far as job search and career change are concerned.

I am sure that many of you have by now realized that you can check on whether a company that you know of, or are interested in, has a .jobs extension by typing in the company name with .jobs on the end instead of .com or similar. This is a good starting point.

Another tool you can use is the Google Advanced Search. I will explain how below, however first a technical note. The link I have just provided is the US Google advanced search. Despite being located in Australia I have forced** my browser to give me the US version for the convenience of my US and Canadian readers who make up the majority of my readership. (**Information on how to do this is given in my article Google search – the problem towards the bottom). The Australian Google Advanced Search is here.

When you get to the Google Advanced Search page, insert the term: .jobs into the Search within a site or domain: area. This will cause Google to look for only .jobs results. If you like, try clicking the search button without entering anything else. Then explore what else is out there using different search terms in the relevant boxes on the rest of the Advanced Search page. Provided you keep the .jobs term in the Search within a site or domain: area you will always get results from .jobs websites.

Enjoy and good luck!

PS: If you want to view more Google results per page, rather than have to click for a new page of results after 10, then go to the Preferences link in Google, scroll down to where you see Number of Results and change it to what you want (maximum 100). This will help you scan pages faster because you will have up to 100 results per page.

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New methods of job search – continued. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Perhaps you, or someone you know is looking for a job.

Or maybe wanting a career change.

Many people these days are aware that the Internet is a good place to look for jobs.

What is not so well known however are the more ‘unusual corners of the Internet’. Unusual in the sense that they are not yet mainstream and in common usage.

Be prepared to use some lateral thinking to widen your net for job search.

Twithire – no, it is not what it sounds!

Twithire is a free job listing service for Twitter.

Find out more here.

And here is the main Twithire website.

In job search, as in life, if you want to make better progress it is often a good idea to use unorthodox methods as well as the more mundane.

The crowd is using the obvious. You can get a head start on them by being more diligent, more open minded and getting out of your comfort zone.

Embrace some new technology or new thinking today. It won’t bite.

Tomorrow I will detail another unusual technique for job search.

PS: My Twitter account is: http://www.twitter.com/Black_Shaman

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Looking for a job? Or career change? Consider new methods of job search. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

If not, I am sure that you know someone who does.

“I hate Mondays” – you have probably heard that before too. (I love Mondays! – another new week of an exciting life filled with opportunity).

Why are you still in a job you hate? There could be many reasons for this. One could be that you are a square peg in a round hole – in a job that does not suit you.

One solution is to start moving towards getting yourself into a career which you like, something which you have a passion for. And ideally one in which you already have, or could develop, some ability.

You need to find good quality information on potential career choices, and ideally not spend too much money in the process, or waste loads of time.

There are many ways in which you can begin your search for information and I am going to tell you about a key resource which will help you find your dream career (or simply just supplement your income by starting a part time business, maybe from home).

Some of the things I like about this resource:

• Excellent value
• Inexpensive
• Highly respected publisher
• Instant availability (electronic download)
• Wide range
• Quality information
• Material is easily understood and digested
• Recommended by career centers
• University websites link to publisher’s site
• Some material written by Professors
• Easy to check out several possible careers at once
• Some are suitable for children in preparing to pursue their dreams
• Website founders’ book (Dream Careers) is a bestseller which has ranked # 1 in career books, # 1 in business books, and as high as # 4 among all books at Amazon.com
• Publisher gives back to the community in significant ways
• Ideal for presents

Click Here to Discover How to Dream Careers

Publishers’ book on Amazon:

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Hate your job? Find your Dream career. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog