But employers expect perfection

I never cease to be flabbergasted by the number of resumes that are rife with plain, old, dumb mistakes. Given today’s increasingly competitive job market, you cannot realistically expect hiring officers will demonstrate divine forgiveness.

The awful truth

The smallest error in your resume is a time bomb that can sabotage the perfect impression you want to convey. Two, or more errors act like explosive charges linked together…they will destroy the bridge you are trying to build to a better job. The following are little incendiary devices assembled from resumes I’ve reviewed over the last six months:

• No telephone, email address, or name (I’m not kidding about the name)
• Employer data was inconsistent and incomplete
• Words were missing from sentences
• “There” was used when “their” was called for; “roll” should have been “role”
• There was a large, bolded heading reading, “Proffessional Experiance”
• Proper nouns weren’t capitalized; common nouns were capitalized
• Verb tenses were incorrect
• Plurals and possessives were mixed up
• Information in tabbed columns did not match up
• Pages broke in the middle of paragraphs or immediately after title headings
• Some statements end with periods, some with semicolons, some with nothing

Since a resume represents the candidate with his (or her) best foot forward, an employer can only conclude that errors on a resume will translate to error prone work. That applicant, however well-qualified, won’t get an interview, because mistakes are costly for every business.

How to make your resume perfect

For our purposes here, the content of your resume, that is, your qualifications, achievements, job descriptions and other data, is irrelevant. The perfection we seek is production of a document that eliminates the five types of errors listed above. To begin the process, PRINT OUT your resume. (It doesn’t matter how eagle-eyed as you think you are, if you skip this step, there is a 99% likelihood you will blow it.)

1. Omissions
• Check that your header has your complete and correct name and contact information.
• If your document runs two pages, make sure your name and page number appear on the second page.
• Read the text thoroughly to be sure you haven’t dropped words that make sentences incoherent.
• Get someone who is critically minded, sharp-eyed and has excellent English skills proofread your resume.
  
  
2. Spelling
   • Use a spell-check utility, as a first step. A spell checker won’t flag an incorrect word, or an incorrectly used word. It won’t know how to spell technical terms and place names. And you might accidently okay a word that isn’t okay,
   • Read every word of the text carefully.
   • Get someone who is critically minded, sharp-eyed and has excellent English skills proofread your resume.
     
     
3. Word choice
   • Even if you have a good vocabulary, look up commonly confused words (like effect and affect) in a print or online dictionary or other reference.
   • Get someone who is critically minded, sharp-eyed and has excellent English skills proofread your resume.
     
     
4. Grammar and punctuation
   • As above, it is important to review rules that may be rusty if you are long out of school. If you don’t have a grammar book at home, go to the library.
   • Get someone who is critically minded, sharp-eyed and has excellent English skills proofread your resume.
     
     
5. Format
   • The design of your resume is a framework that should clearly and logically organize your information for the reader’s eye. Be sure it is neat and easy to read.
   • Take meticulous care to maintain consistency of style. For example, end all the statements with periods, or end all statements without them.
   • Get someone who is critically minded and sharp-eyed to proofread your resume.

Just in case you missed it, you need to find an objective and qualified person to read over your resume. There is a good reason for this. Our brains play tricks that blind us from seeing flaws in our own work. If you are still tempted to go it on your own, ask yourself this question: Do I really want the first objective reader of my resume to be a potential employer?

Consider too, that every organization wants applicants who can offer more than basic job qualifications. When you take the time and care to deliver a perfect resume, you have demonstrated a personal commitment to excellence. This added value will multiply your chances of getting that job.