As someone who regularly hires marketing and communications talent, I am stunned at the regularity of typo’s, grammatical errors and other sloppy mistakes in resumes and cover letters from these so-called “pro’s.” Today’s short-hand texting must be one of the culprits!
My IT recruiter colleagues confess that the ability to clearly write, organize and proof resumes is not necessarily a common trait of the technical experts they find for clients. At the same time, those silly, avoidable mistakes can still knock a talented developer, business analyst or project manager out of the running before serious consideration of their skills and competencies.
So, as trite as it may sound, make sure that:
- Your resume and cover letter are crisp, clean and grammatically correct,
- You do not rely on an automated Spell Check, and
- If editing and proofing are not your strengths, find a friend who does them well so you give it your best shot!
You simply cannot afford to slip up on this basic screening criterion, particularly in the current environment.
photo by adonis hunter’s ‘stuff’
Related posts:
- 5 Ways to Boost Your Visibility in Online Resume Databases
- Thoughts from a non-cheesy, non “used-car-dealer-like” Recruiter
- IT Career Spotlight – Bernadette Floyd
- Kris’s Video Resume How-to Project
- Video Resume How-to: Selecting a Camera
Tags: Resume Tips, Spell Check
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Good advice, I get caught on this in my daily writing; automated spell check gets the word correct but it is often the wrong word for the sentence.
Comment by Jeffrey Hurley — January 31, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
I couldn’t agree more! I’ve been shocked at the typos in cover letters coming across my desk lately. I understand that we’re all moving fast, but if someone doesn’t take the time to get that small step right, it doesn’t exactly make a good first impression or help push them through to an interview stage. In a marketplace that is getting more competitive for job seekers, I can’t emphasize enough how important this simple task is to do.
Comment by Kara Wallace — February 2, 2009 @ 10:55 am
I strongly agree with the principles of checking articles/e-mail. One misspelled word can make a reader forget what has been written so far and cause the reader to take a poor opinion of the writer. For all documents/articles/e-mails I spell check, and re read to ensure there are are not any problems. If the document/article/e-mail is not urgent I like to leave it over night to be re read in the morning. This helps to ensure the appropriate “tone” has been projected as items that are written quickly can have give a negative “tone”, which may not be appopriate.
It is all to easy to make a mistake Ref: Hudson Privacy Policy.
Cookies can facilitate a user’s ongoing access to and use of a “SIDE”.
Comment by Pete Sharp — February 10, 2009 @ 5:49 am
I TOLD YOU IT WAS EASY TO MAKE A MISTAKE !!!!
I strongly agree with the principles of checking documents/articles/e-mails. One misspelled word can make a reader forget what has been written so far and cause the reader to take a poor opinion of the writer. For all documents/articles/e-mails I spell check, and re read to ensure there are no problems. If the document/article/e-mail is not urgent I like to leave it over night to be re read in the morning. This helps ensure the appropriate “tone” has been projected as items that are written quickly can have give a negative “tone”, which may not be appopriate.
It is all too easy to make a mistake Ref: Hudson Privacy Policy.
Cookies can facilitate a user’s ongoing access to and use of a “SIDE”.
Comment by Pete Sharp — February 10, 2009 @ 5:55 am
While I agree that misspelled words in a resume could be a turn off for some, it’s the job of a recruiter to make the resume look perfect for the hiring manager or client. With the permission of the candidate, I usually reformat the entire resume at which point I own the spelling and any other mistakes the candidate may have made.
On another hand, if you have a brilliant developer who makes a couple of spelling errors, there is no way that those errors will distract me from the level of technical aptitude that I believe this person possesses. When I’m searching for a good candidate, spelling is trumped by solid technical jargon and responsibility descriptions each and every time.
You would not throw out a resume of a candidate from MIT who just finished up at Google because of a spelling mistake, would you?
Comment by Gene — March 10, 2009 @ 9:27 am
I don’t rely on spell checkers but I do leave them on. I just read through the entire document carefully since it’s easy to miss errors especially from your own work.
Comment by Emtek — October 28, 2009 @ 3:06 am