Okay, I know. You’ve probably heard it thousands of times—watch your spelling, watch your grammar. Honestly, I get sick of reading those rules myself—and I’m a writer! But it’s so true, and it’s definitely something none of us should ignore.
There are times when I’ll be kicking back, enjoying a good cup of coffee or treating myself to a bottle of that delicious Thomas Kemper Vanilla Cream soda, totally immersed in a great article. Next thing I know, up pops a blatant typo.
Okay, so I’ll let it go. It throws me a little, but I’ll keep reading. Few seconds later, another one. Eventually, another one pops up.
Here’s what I’m saying—this article can be great, fantastic, but things like typos, especially if they keep appearing, just totally smash into my concentration. One typo, I’ll keep going, but more than that, I start cringing and sadly, losing respect for the article, and maybe even the writer.
You might think that’s a bit picky when it comes to reading articles, but it helps to have that kind of attitude. It makes you something of a perfectionist, which can only help when it comes to creating your own resumes and cover letters.
Hiring managers, while reading your resume, aren’t going to allow for one single typo. Don’t believe me? Well, you can test that theory, but I don’t recommend it. These kinds of errors shout careless. Unprofessional.
Your resume is a critical 1 to 2-page document, presenting you as a candidate for employment. An employer may think, if this individual can’t take the time to proofread something this important, why should I consider hiring this person?
So here’s what you should do to keep these spelling blemishes from appearing all over your resumes & cover letters:
Run a spell check on your resume and cover letter. But beware of spell
checks—don’t totally rely on them. Computer spell checks will pick out words
that aren’t misspelled (to, two, too), or skip over words that don’t belong in a
sentence. So what do you do?
Run your own manual spell check. Look it over, and read it aloud—this will
help you catch more errors a lot faster.
Pass your resume and cover letter along to a friend or two and let them
read it—chances are, they might end up catching something you’ve missed.
By keeping your resume and cover letter totally clear of these spelling errors, you can keep the hiring manager’s attention focused on where it should be—your great, unique achievements and qualifications.
Here’s to your future career success!
