Q: I was reading your advice on how to recover from mistakes on The Detroit Free Press online JobsPage. I unfortunately lost my first internship/freelancing job due to a mistake.

My mistake was enormous and appeared front page in the story's headline. I was covering the planned demolition of a hotel belonging to a well-known chain, Sheraton.

I had checked the spelling of the names of my sources and other building names included in the story. Since Sheraton was a name I knew, I didn't think I'd screw it up. Writing it up before deadline in place of Sheraton I typed Sheridan, the name of a local street where I live. I was careless.

I understand the importance of accuracy, so being fired was expected. Well since I w freelancing, technically I wasn't. I need references, yet I highly doubt anyone at that paper will be one for me. They would have gladly before the mistake.

Could you perhaps advise me on what actions to take in my pursuit of a new internship or job?

Many journalism jobs and internships require both clips and references. While I was able to acquire a few good clippings, I'm not sure what to do in regard to my references. I would greatly appreciate any help or advice you could offer.

Out

A: Ouch! That must have hurt!

I know, because I once made a similar mistake, writing a totally erroneous headline that had both the city and the nature of the government body wrong. I recovered.

Let’s not rule out the fact that someone will give you a reference. At least ask.

And be ready to tell the honest story about what you did, how you tried to make amends and how you have changed your work processes to prevent an occurrence.

We would like to achieve perfection, but we know that is not possible. Though this was a big mistake, you are not alone. Editors will be paying close attention to how you are now making sure that cannot happen again because you are close-checking printouts of your stories, building in more time to self-edit -- whatever. Surely you cannot have such a big mistake and not change your procedures somehow. And let’s not rule out the idea that someone will speak up on behalf of your work – before that mistake.

Careers can end for a mistake made out of malice or avarice, but they should not end for an attack of carelessness -- if it is isolated.