You’ve discovered a typo in your cover letter; now what do you do?

by | Apr 21, 2011 | Writing Matters Blog | 63 comments

… after you stop hyperventilating, of course.

Here’s an e-mail I received today from Heather B:

Leslie,

Recently a friend shared her chagrin at discovering that the closure in an email she sent with her resume to a prospective employer contained an obvious typo. The closure!

What would you have advised her to do? Nothing? Apologize for the typing mistake in a second email? Or…?

Here’s the answer I sent to Heather.

Hello, Heather –

Thanks for contacting me. My heart goes out to your friend; I have made similar errors, in my resume, no less! (Thankfully, I spelled my own name right, which isn’t easy.)  Actually, it’s a tiny bit less embarrassing, in my opinion, to make a typo (“htat” instead of “that”) than an actual misspelling (“recieve”), though either error makes the reader mumble “Ever heard of spell check??”

I’ve found that people fall into two categories when it comes to others’ typos or misspellings. One is the “This error is a blight and an indictment” category. These folks regard a single typo in another’s writing as evidence of incompetence or a character flaw. If the prospective employer is in this category, an apology will not make the situation better. The second is the “Everyone makes an occasional mistake” category. These folks would probably be open to a quick, charming apology from your friend.

So, I guess I would advise her to jump in and offer an apology and a corrected cover letter. It would be best if she could call the prospective employer to let him know she’s sending an updated version, even if she has to leave a voice mail. That way, she can put a smile into her apology and maybe even turn this error into an advantage. After all, a person who goes to these lengths to remedy a typo is likely to be a tenacious worker!

Have you ever discovered a typo in your cover letter or resume? If so, how did you handle it? (Just curious – did you get the job??) Do you agree with my advice to Heather’s friend? Comment here or let me know what you would do.

Tags: Editing

63 Comments

  1. I hope small mistakes ignored unless you commit a big one.

  2. Hi – thanks for your comment. I agree that small mistakes don’t weigh as much as big ones, but I think mistakes in resumes and cover letters are rarely ignored unless the reader knows (and likes) the person who made the mistake!

  3. I’m pretty harsh when reviewing cover letters, applications and resumes. A typo in one of these documents translates to the person didn’t care enough about the job to proof what they sent in. However, if I received a call and a revised cover letter, that would certainly give me a reason to give them a second chance.

  4. Thanks for your comment, Mark. I’m glad to read you’d give the applicant a second chance. I hope Heather’s friend got that second chance!

  5. I help French job-seekers with their English CVs and letters, so I am used to finding all sorts of errors, but I never accept an error which could have been spotted by a spell-checker. Whether you are native or non-native, there is simply no excuse nowadays for that type of error in such an important text. A more “acceptable” slip would be, for example, “form” in place of “from”: indetectable by a machine and obviously a slip. But is “loose” for “lose” a slip or poor command of English? I might give the writer the benefit of the doubt unless they asked for my advise.:-) A correction makes it clear that it was a slip made by a competent writer.

  6. Hi, Sheila – Good point. If the spell-checker can find the problem, the human who doesn’t use the spell-checker owns the problem. That seems fair to me (as I avidly proofread this post…)

  7. So what would a good apology letter be like? I made a mistake where instead of saying “clinical assistant” I said “clinician assistant”. Please reply ASAP. I sent it recently (after spending 5 hours writing it!), and the job requires “high attention to detail”.

  8. Hello, Ash – Thanks for your question — and so sorry to hear about your typo! Before you apologize for the typo, are you absolutely sure that it will be held against you? It’s not a spelling mistake or grammar error. Of course, you did not use the word you wanted to use, so if the misused word is an (unforgivable) error, you do need to apologize. I would send a breezy apology e-mail and attach a corrected cover letter. Merely say that you mis-typed the word “clinical,” and you are sending a correction. Best wishes – I hope you get an interview and, if you want it, the job.

  9. Hello,
    Thank you for this article. I actually came across it as I just realized that I misspelled the employer’s name in an application I sent one week ago so I was looking for advice: I inadvertently took off the “Mc” that precedes his name, he having scottish origins. This is in the opening of the letter, so there’s chances that my carefully prepared application gets discarded from the first line… I would like to send a letter of apologies, and renew my application with a corrected cover letter and, again, my resume. Do you think this is a good idea? Do you think one week time to do this is too much? My feeling is that, in any case, this would be regarded as a responsible, if clumsy, move, and maybe give me a second chance in case my application had been rejected. I must specify, I am not a native language speaker! I am applying for a position in another european country than mine. Thank you for your advice! Regards!

  10. Hello-
    I just noticed I left a word out of a cover letter for a position I’m very interested in. I wrote, ” I am an educational because…” Instead of “I am an educational LEADER because…” Is this major? I had seen and worked with so many drafts of this letter with the word “leader” there, my eyes must have inserted the word without it actually being there.
    Please help!

  11. Ugh this just happened to me on Friday….Had the best interview of my life; sent the thank you and noticed (tonight…) that my thank you had a typo – and spell check didn’t catch it (‘can’ but instead it was ‘an’)
    I am absolutely livid at my not noticing this; and stressed that the job I’ve waited 5 years for has just vanished; and wondering what the heck to do – if anything…hope they don’t notice; do I call and make a fuss and fess up to it? or just hope that it doesn’t ruin what was an otherwise stellar interview… Can’t believe this actually happened…lets hope for the best. If they toss me to the ‘rejected’ pile I have no one to blame but myself…

  12. By accident I wrote ‘KINDA Regards’ instead of ‘KIND Regards’ on my e-mail application. The cover letter and resume I attached had no mistakes but it was just that opening e-mail. I hope they don’t notice it or wouldn’t mind because I surely didn’t see the mistake till later… if they read it really fast then it wouldn’t be noticeable at all!

  13. Hi! I just realized that I sent through a number of cover letters that shows 2012 as the year as opposed to 2013.. these are teaching applications… what should i do?

  14. This blog post really grabbed my attention. With that said I am going to subscribe. Therefore I will get more updates on what you have to say. Please keep writing as I want to learn more. Slimquick

  15. I noticed I wrote “Dir Sir/Madame” instead of “Dear Sir/Madame.” My spell check didn’t pick up on it and I guess I got so used to it that I thought it was correct. Thankfully I only sent it out to three companies that way. I corrected it with only one though as the others were through a job website and not to an actual person. Hopefully the company I want to work for will accept my apology and corrected cover letter.
    This blog helped me quite a bit, thanks so much!

  16. Hello,

    I applied for a two positions with the Council of Foreign Relations in DC. In my cover letter, I had the name of the organization an it’s address correctly in the letter. However, in the body, instead of writing Council of Foreign Relations, I wrote Council of Foreign ‘Affairs.’ It was an innocent mistake. Is that a huge mark against me in the hiring process, although I am highly qualified for the position? Also, I in the body of my email, I wrote. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

  17. I just experienced this trauma/drama. On review (and after having hit send), I found a single space before a hyphen in a hyphenated phrase. Ugh.

    Reality is, I need to wear my glasses. But further reality is, we live in a digital age where these things are taken for granted in our sloppy online social network correspondences. That is no excuse.

    What it boils down to is, who do you want to be? Do you want to be the prospective, possibly irresponsible employee who hopes you don’t catch her/his mistakes? Or do you want to be the responsible employee, who, despite drawing attention to what may disqualify her/him from consideration, owns her/his mistakes, and thereby sends an apology for the typo that may or may not have been seen?

    I sent an immediate apology on the heels of my initial send, trusting the employer to respect my honesty and integrity, and further trusting him to recognize that, when mistakes happen, I own them, correct them, and would do so in his important organization in those rare, somewhat awkward moments when human frailties prevail.

  18. I sent out many cover letters where I wrote “my skills MATH instead of MATCH..what do I do?

  19. I have sent my CV into a senior manager in my company applying for a promotion. In my CV, everything is perfect except one thing: there is one RANDOM word that should not be there! I have no idea how the heck I missed it after i proof-read it countless times and of course my spell-check didn’t pick up on it. I now feel a fool as I felt I was in a good position applying for this job now I don’t know whether I will even get to the next stage. I want to send an apology and an updated version to my manager and hope he accepts? Help!

  20. I frantically typed, ‘what to do if you just spotted a typo in your email cover letter’ on google the moment I reviewed my sent email cover letter. So i found this article. quite helpful.However, I’m still unsure what I should put on the email subject line.
    My typo was an unintentional grammar error because I had spent hours perfecting not only the resume, but also the cover letter. I even sent it to a friend to proofread it. The phrase was, “to produce and maintained”, when it was supposed to be “maintain”. This is really embarrassing. What do I do? The email was sent 12 hours ago! I really want to send an apology. Do I just type my apology some lines above the updated cover letter or attached the edited version as an attachment?Please help…

  21. Great site. I add this Post to my bookmarks.

  22. Recently a friend shared her chagrin at discovering that the closure in an email she sent with her resume to a prospective employer contained an obvious typo. The closure!

  23. I would not want to work for an employer that would judge someone based on a typo.

  24. That might sound like an impossible contradiction, but this much is true: Wacky or unprofessional resumes get rejected immediately. So it’s really important to know what not to do.

  25. This article was quite interesting. I am going to read more on your blog. I do agree with everything you are saying.

  26. So, I had a type in my cover… “I have a great appreciate…” instead of ” I have a great appreciation…”

    I was so mad when I saw this, thought my chances were destroyed, but I actually got an interview! Now, my problem is what happens if they bring up my error in the interview?! or should I bring it up first?? How do I explain this, besides the truth, which is I have been unemployed and jaded about job applications and after about the thousandth cover letter your eyes get a little tired… Help!

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  30. I just sent out my resume that had work experience as “February 2013 to August 2013” instead of “July 2013 to August 2013”! What do I do??

  31. i enjoy this topic i agree with. this just happened to me on Friday….Had the best interview of my life; sent the thank you and noticed (tonight…) that my thank you had a typo – and spell check didn’t catch it (‘can’ but instead it was ‘an’) I am absolutely livid at my not noticing this

  32. Can someone give some advice?
    I mistakenly spelled the word ‘Preparation’ and typed ‘Preparaction’ under my Seminars Attended section. Will this result in my resume getting thrown or shredded? Please help? I’m really getting nervous about this.

  33. I just sent a cover letter recently to an employer. It has been proof read by the careers service, as well as others and no mistake was spotted. I re-read it today, and I found I typed ‘you’ instead of ‘your’.
    What should I do? I’m really nervous about not getting this job.

  34. I’m really disappointed. I just learned out that I misspelled the last name of the person I addressed it to… not a typo so much, but she spells her name differently than it’s typically spelled. Following the advice that it’s best to avoid “To whom it may concern” I called the company to get the appropriate person’s name and they gave me incorrect information. Should I find a way to get a new version (the application was submitted online) or let it go? I was very interested in this position and now wish I had gone with the generic greeting. 🙁

  35. Tips for cover letter are all very useful. Most of the students now do not pay much attention to cover letter when applying for a job. These things should be in mind.

  36. Making typos is far less severe than misspelling, especially when you are applying for a job. I know from experience that employers frown upon a poorly-written cover letter or CV.

    Thanks for the article Leslie

  37. Typos (in a cover letter) a lesser evil in my opinion and you can get away with them. But using the word “effect” as a verb instead of “affect” is something that should be penalized, especially when you claim to be a writer. Leslie being part of journalism and running my own news blog, I have to keep reminding editors of keeping a close eye on such mistakes in their writing. Back in the days, students used to work hard on spelling, sentence structure and other grammar issues that are crucial. Today, these things are a rarity in our education system.

    Thanks Leslie for such a nice article. Peace

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  40. thanks for sharing

  41. Hello Leslie,

    I had a great introductory phone interview yesterday for an Administrative Assistant position with a Staffing Firm. I would be supporting the Owner and his wife who is the Office Manager and the person who performed the phone interview with me.

    I then sent a thank you email that I proofread 5 times.
    Formatting was correct and no typos.

    I sent the email, them checked my Sent box for the same email to find that the formatting was double spaced between sentences and triple spaced between paragraphs.

    I am not sure how this happened as I made no changes to formatting. None of my other emails sent had this issue.

    I am very upset and wish I had sent the email to me first as I would have caught the formatting error.

    Should I call, apologize and send again? I am not sure if this would be frowned upon.

    Thank you for any advice you may provide Leslie!

    Regards,

    Stella Kirkman

  42. Hello, Stella – I wouldn’t worry about the odd spacing very much. I’d just take the opportunity to follow up about the job. Possibly, in passing, you could mention the odd spacing in your email, but I wouldn’t make a big deal about it. It’s been a couple of weeks since you commented. Perhaps you’ve already learned that you got the job. Hope so!

  43. I made the mistake of inserting a period where a comma was required. The mistake appears in the introductory paragraph no less! I believe the cover letter was in other ways exemplary and made a persuasive case. Is a call prudent in this case? The internet is turning up conflicting advice. I should mention that my experience and education exceed those required by the position.

  44. That is my first time i am going post. I collected so many attention-grabbing issues in your web site especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your posts

  45. Typos in a cover letter leaves a very negative impact about you and potential employer, and if they spot a misspell, it will be even more disappointing because typos can be acceptable to some extent, but writing effect as a verb (which is affect) is something you can be penalized. I always double-check my letters before sending.

  46. I want to say that they are the best way to share information in all I am so happy to read this post I like it and I like it very much thanks for this sharing

  47. Thank you for this! You saved me today. My friends mother in law forwarded me a position, I spelled the word ‘autism’ as ‘austism’ on my cover letter and the job is working with children who have autism! My friend’s mother in law caught the error when I forwarded her the application after having sent it. I was mortified. I followed your suggestion of leaving a voicemail and follow up email, and while the hiring manager may or may not hold it against me, I definitely feel better knowing I’ve done what I could to correct it.

  48. I just did the same thing! I had several small-ish errors on an otherwise (I think) exemplary cover letter for a dream job. If it had been any ONE of the errors, I might have left it. But I was hasty in submitting, and there were 4-5 (yikes!). They were things like missing apostrophe, extra words left over from when I rearranged sentences, and worst of all, mis-typing the spelled out version of an acronym for a certification I have.

    It was an online application, but I was no longer able to edit it with a new CL. So, I emailed the recruiter with the new file and asked if they could please use it instead. They wrote back within minutes and had re-opened the application so I could attach the new file. No harm, no foul. I don’t think it even phased them. But you can bet I’m not re-reading this one! Bottom line, I agree with the people who say it can’t hurt to try contacting someone to re-submit. I feel much better now.

  49. I received an email from a hiring manager saying he would like to chat with me in person or on the phone. I emailed him and asked was he available the following Friday or Monday and he responded and said Friday. I then responded asked him what time works for him and that I was looking forward to meeting him.

    I never heard back from him. I noticed that I had a now instead of a know that I didn’t catch. Please let me now instead of please let me know. My keyboard k key didnt work.
    What would you recommend? I am freaking out. Should I contact him and apologize for my typo and ask him what time again or should I just follow up to ask him if Friday still works and please let me know(effectively correcting the error without spelling it out) or have I blown it?

  50. Thanks alot for this interesting article.

  51. Please, help me out with this. I am an ACCA Affiliate and i as i was awaiting my result for the research for the degree in Applied Accounting, i was over confident about the results, so i placed on my CV a degree in Applied Accounting with my ACCA certificates.
    But when results for the research was published i didnt make it. But right now i have been called by EY to come for an interview. someone advice me on what to tell the interviewer that he will consider me, i am really feeling bad right now about that.

  52. I submitted two different positions to the local council. One, I got an interview for, but the other person was better qualified. Now, I submitted an application for the other job. I checked/re-checked & sent the application off. A week later I went back over my application and discovered that although I’ve got the right position in 2 times in the cover letter. In the second paragraph I’ve got the wrong job position. I have no excuse for this! I checked the document before I sent it!! Now that it’s so much later, is there a recovery?

  53. This an informative article . I really like to read it . Thanks for share it with us .

  54. It was the absolute worst feeling when I realized in my follow up email I had a typo in the company’s name (wrote Johnson instead of Johnston). Should I or should I not acknowledge it? The phone interview went well and I seemed to connect with the hiring manager. I spent a good bit of time composing the email only to realize that mistake hours after sending. In a panic I googled “apology for typo” and found this blog. I took the advice and sent an email apologizing and acknowledging the typo. I added a quote to the bottom of the email after my signature: “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” Still anxious about my mistake and hope for a second chance…

    John C. Maxwell

  55. I submitted my SOP last night. It has two typos in it. I wrote “may” instead of “many” and “on” instead of “of”. What should I do? Should I email them? What should I say?

  56. I think the people who say I take typos “very seriously” because it is an indication of how seriously a candidate will take the job are ab bit overreaching. It always sounds like a power trip to me. While I agree typos are irresponsible and careless, it’s more of an indication that a candidate is anxious and nervous and perhaps a bit hasty. Not great sure, but what tells me how serious a candidate will take the job is an actual conversation and meeting. So if I like their quals and think it’s a good fit still, I will at least have a phone call with them.

  57. A new position opened up at my company. I talked to the hiring manager to express my strong desire to become an Administrative Assistant to his team. One of the job description bullets is “Support business development team by drafting, reviewing and editing presentation material and documents for accuracy, style guide compliance and grammar” The following Monday I received a test project from him. When I sent the project, I had a huge typo instead of writing “spreadsheet” I wrote “spread shit”. English is my second language but that is not an excuse. I want to send him a email apologizing for the mistake. I would appreciate any advise please. Thank you.

  58. A new position opened up at my company. I talked to the hiring manager to express my strong desire to become an Administrative Assistant to his team. One of the job description bullets is “Support business development team by drafting, reviewing and editing presentation material and documents for accuracy, style guide compliance and grammar”

  59. I am a student looking for work experience and I made a typo in my application. I wrote 7/5/18 inestead of 7/9/18 for when I sent the application at the top of my application . I don’t know if I should write a new one or leave it.
    Please help

  60. Hi,
    I applied for a Technician job today in a company called
    Guerbet, I mentioned the name 3 times in the cover letter but misspelt it as Geurbet the third time. I tried going down the apology route but the confirmation email I received doesn’t allow you to reply. Will this application go straight to the bin? Thanks Tim

  61. I accidentally put two periods at the end of a word instead of one and also forgot the last period in the last paragraph on my cover letter, do you think this is a total deal breaker?

  62. Amazing Post!

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