- Set the resume aside for at least 24 hours before you review it. With a refreshed eye, you may see problems you missed before.
- Review your resume on paper and on the screen. You will see problems on the paper copy that aren’t apparent on the screen and vice versa.
- Avoid online grammar checkers. They are all horrible. Check the grammar yourself. If grammar is not your strong point, ask someone else to check it.
- Use a dictionary as well as an online spell checker. If you misspell “manager” as “manger” or type “principle” when you mean “principal,” the online spell checker will not find the error.
- Use the Internet to check all company names—even the ones you are absolutely sure you know. Companies have a way of modifying their names (think Wal-mart and Walmart).
- Be especially careful when checking your own contact information. You expect it to be correct and may not see errors.
- Look for problems with punctuation such as double periods at the ends of sentences, commas instead of periods or hyphens used as dashes.
- Make sure your format is consistent: all your job headings and bullets should be the same size, font and style; spacing around bullets and headings should be uniform; your right margin should be consistently justified or ragged right.
- Look for keywords that you have identified from ads and job postings. Do they fit smoothly into the description of your skills and accomplishments?
- Is there any place you can be more specific? Look for adverbs and adjectives (quickly, cost-effective, successfully) and see if you can replace them with details (in less than a year, at a savings of $3,000, ranking in the top 10% of all salespeople).
Spelling, grammatical, factual, format and style errors can easily prevent your resume from being chosen by hiring managers and recruiters from among the hundreds they see every day. If you are not sure whether your resume is letter perfect, please contact Robin’s Resumes®. We can help.