I posted a job on Gumtree last night...

[Dave A]

Yep. Look at it this way, if I was a spelling Nazi or a member or the grammar police I wouldn't have clicked on a thread that had 'Gymtree' in the title.

I actually fixed that before reading the replies in the thread
Should I put it back to Gymtree? Or does this reply explain the point you were making?

[AndyD]

I actually fixed that before reading the replies in the thread
Should I put it back to Gymtree? Or does this reply explain the point you were making?

No problemo leave it correctly spelt, it's better for SEO that way. It was a lazy way of making a point but it I couldn't resist it.

Glad you've found a good prospect Adrian let us know how it pans out. Was he an applicant from Gumtree?

[Dave A]

It was a lazy way of making a point but it I couldn't resist it.

Well, kudos for taking up the other point of view. Nothing lazy about that

And they are points well worth chewing on too.

I had quite a few hires during the course of last year which have led me to really rethink the significance of embedded skill levels.

In one instance I hired a person who is a brilliant verbal communicator, is a demon at the level of maths one needs for pricing calculations, has a great attitude, strong empathy - just an exceptional talent in these areas. However, it was clear from her typing test that we do with all prospects for admin positions before we hire that her written and typed communication was ... pretty damn weak, frankly. In fact, near unbelievably so given her skill levels in so many other areas. I was sure this was the result of our wonderful (not) education standards present in so many of our schools, together with a home environment that couldn't provide the tools and exposure she needed, as opposed to a lack of talent in this regard, and that with exposure her written communication levels would improve. So I hired her anyway.

And her written communication has improved, but it has been soooo slow progress.

Despite doing all that I could to bridge the gap (including building up a host of standard phrases to copy and paste to deal with most situations), and despite her going to extraordinary lengths to work on this obvious weakness that were holding her back from realising her true potential, I had underestimated the significance of written communication in the job function. Even though her job was primarily verbal communication, this verbal communication had to be followed up or documented in written communication. It flowed to customer and internally within the organisation.

And the written gaffs just kept coming. Bad ones. Really bad ones.

For easily six months I had to fend off a barrage of calls to have her sacked as incompetent. But she was working so hard, was so determined she was going to make it, was so clearly talented, I just couldn't bring myself to push her out the door.

For the next six months the volume backed off some, but I was still getting pretty regular calls for her head from within the organisation and from without.

We've reached the point where no-one disputes she's an asset to the company. And we now have a horde of customers who want to deal with her rather than anyone else at the office - some of them are even the ones that were calling for her head in the beginning (I'm not sure they even know it is the same person).

In the long run, I was right. She is a special talent for the post in question, and hopefully we'll all reap the benefits of this painful investment for years to come.

But heck, have I ever taken a beating to get to this point.

Anyhow, long story to make a short point - Even with the best will in the world, fundamental embedded skills really do take time to fix / develop. A heck of a lot longer than one might think.
And the price, if it's part of the job function you're placing the candidate in, can be high indeed.

Believe me, I'm not going to put myself through that experience again in a hurry.

And so back to these "job applications" in the OP.

If written communication isn't going to be part of the job function, you could be missing a great talent by paying too much attention to those gaffs and txt spk.
And the second/third language point raised is valid too.
But if well structured written communication is part of the job, from personal experience, don't underestimate its significance as a problem.