Proofread your resume. It’s crucial for you to land an interview. Now, are we insinuating that a hiring manager will trash your resume if you confuse “their” with “there?” Well, yeah! It’s because even one grammar mistake on your resume shows the hiring manager that you don’t care or are lazy. No one wants to hire someone like that.
Here are some tips to help you proofread effectively.
Never Trust Spellcheck
Nowadays, job seekers make the mistake of trusting their computers to proofread for them. However, spellcheck can only do so much. Most spellcheck programs can’t detect contextual spelling errors, such as manager versus manger. Both are spelled correctly according to spellcheck, but one is correct for the context of your resume. This is why it’s important for you to check your work.
Take a Break
Don’t try to proofread right after you finish typing it up. Give your eyes a break from your resume and come back with a pair of fresh eyes. It’s best if you take a whole day to refresh before proofreading your resume. However, if you need to meet a deadline, take a couple of hours to rest and then proceed to check for errors.
Print it Out
There’s a huge difference between reading something on a computer screen and reading something printed. Printing your resume will help you see your resume in a different light. It also helps to write down edits, so when you go over them to change the document on your computer, you triple check yourself.
Leave Room for Editing
Your resume is supposed to be single spaced, but while you’re in the proofreading stage, make it double spaced. This gives you room to write edits and add additional info, if necessary. You can switch it back to single spaced once you finish editing.
Read it Aloud (Backwards)
Read your resume out loud to see if everything makes sense. The communication pathways from your eyes to your brain are different from those of your ears to your brain. Therefore, you will notice different mistakes if you read it out loud. You’ll also noticed more mistakes if you try reading it backwards. This helps you slow down your pace, so your brain can catch up.
Give it to a Friend
Another set of eyes is important! Have someone look over your resume because they will have a different opinion if something makes sense or not. They will also verify that you fixed all of your errors.