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&lt;p&gt;All applicants say they&#39;re detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it,&quot; says Kyle Wiens. As the CEO of a software company who hires &quot;code monkeys&quot; (programmers), it makes sense that he&#39;d need conscientious workers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But Wiens has an unusual way of making sure new hires are competent: he gives them a grammar test.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seem unrelated to coding work? Wiens doesn&#39;t think so. He explains this practice in Harvard Business Review:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don&#39;t think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren&#39;t important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren&#39;t issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on r&#233;sum&#233;s. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not all employers are doing grammar tests, but you&#39;d still better make sure yours is on point—here&#39;s why Wiens think poor grammar means bad news for new hires:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. It suggests inadaptability&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use &quot;it&#39;s,&quot; then that&#39;s not a learning curve I&#39;m comfortable with,&quot; says Wiens. Most of us learn grammar not necessarily through being taught it in school, but by absorbing the patterns of language and speech in our day to day lives. A poor grasp of &quot;too&quot; vs. &quot;to&quot; signals a slowness to take in information, or appraise new situations. &#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. &quot;Sloppy is as sloppy does&quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Grammar is something most of us do without thinking much about it; we have a thought, we construct a sentence. But if we do it in a lazy, slovenly way, well, that&#39;s a pretty strong hint as to our natural tendencies. Writes Wiens, &quot;I&#39;ve found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or labeling parts.&quot; Unrelated superficially, yes, but on a deeper level, the way we approach communicating is the way we approach many things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. It&#39;s a strong sign of incompetence—to customers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if Wiens deems an employee competent at, say, coding, grammar is still important for their image of competence when representing the company. &quot;Writing isn&#39;t in the official job description of most people in our office,&quot; says Wiens. &quot;Still, we give our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That&#39;s because, especially when it comes to the internet, grammar is credibility: &quot;In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have,&quot; says Wiens. &quot;They are a projection of you in your physical absence. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can&#39;t tell the difference between their, there, and they&#39;re.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;--Cathy Vandewater, Vault.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/i_wont_hire_people_who_use_poo.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;I Won&#39;t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here&#39;s Why.&lt;/a&gt; (Harvard Business Review) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/interviewing/the-6-trickiest-interview-questions-and-how-to-nail-them/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;6 Trickiest Interview Questions and How to Nail Them&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/resumes-cover-letters/tighten-up-6-tips-to-leaner-meaner-resume/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tighten Up: 6 Tips to Leaner, Meaner Resume&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Cathy Vandewater

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