A study by Grammarly examined 100 LinkedIn profiles and found that good grammar improved job prospects:

"Professionals with fewer grammar errors in their profiles achieved higher positions. Those who failed to progress to a director-level position within the first 10 years of their careers made 2.5 times as many grammar mistakes as their director-level colleagues.

"Fewer grammar errors correlate with more promotions. Professionals with one to four promotions over their 10-year careers made 45% more grammar errors than those with six to nine promotions in the same time frame.

"Fewer grammar errors associate with frequent job changes. Those who remained at the same company for more than 10 years made 20% more grammar mistakes than those who held six jobs in the same period. This could be explained in a couple of ways: People with better grammar may be more ambitious in their search for promising career opportunities, or job-hoppers may simply recheck their résumés between jobs."

One-hundred is a small sample size, but the results aren't surprising. In another survey, 11% of employers who checked applicants' social media posts did not hire them because of "poor communication skills." I might assume that included poor grammar.

Although few spelling mistakes were found on LinkedIn profiles, probably because of the spell-check feature, careless and grammatical errors could be a dealbreaker for your future employer.

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Assignment Ideas:

• Review another student's LinkedIn profile. Do you find any errors? If so, how does this affect your opinion of him or her as a job candidate?
• Look at your Facebook page, if you have one. If you were a potential employer reviewing the page, what would be your impressions?
• Consider making changes to these sites and other social media spaces that employers may visit.