By the time most job seekers have finished writing their resume, they are eager and excited to start submitting the resume.
But taking the extra time to proofread your resume can help find critical mistakes that may prevent you from getting noticed, or called for a job interview.
5 resume proofreading tips for every type of resume
Proofing a resume takes just a little more time, patience and concentration. But after writing, rewriting, critiquing, and perfecting the document most people are tired of looking at their resume and skimp on the proofing portion of resume development. It’s tough for an interviewer to read about your “attention to detail” as they sit and read a resume with typo’s, punctuation, and errors.
However, there are some simple steps one can take to ensure they proof their resume and catch any costly mistakes. Here they are:
1. Print it out and read. Seems simple, but it’s an easy step to forget. Don’t rely on just reading your resume from your computer screen. Print it out, step away from your desk or workspace and read. Use a red pen to highlight any edits and go back and change. 2. View at 200 percent. Take your word document and zoom in – to 200 percent. Looking at it in a larger size presents the copy in a more clear format than by reading it at 100 percent. Do this on a Word document by going to View>Zoom>200 percent. One thing you can really notice is spacing issues or any extra characters that may have been overlooked.
3. Talk it out. When reading the resume, read it out loud. Slowly. This will force you to concentrate on actually reading the entire resume – not skimping over it or skipping words you are already used to seeing because you just completed writing the resume.
4. Take a break from reading the resume. The best way to proof your resume isn’t to read it right after you complete it. Instead, step away from it for at least a few hours, and if possible, even let it sit overnight. By the time most people complete their resume they are just happy to have it done. They glaze over the copy and rely on spell check from doing the real deep proofing work. Let it sit. Print it out. Read again and make edits as needed.
5. Read your resume from bottom to top. Go to the last page of your resume and read it from the bottom to the top. Looking at it this way can give you another view and help provide clarity to each sentence and give one final proof for spelling, grammar, and spacing. You will be amazed how this step can see things you may have missed reading it the traditional way of left to right, top to bottom.
Take the extra time to implement these resume review and proofreading tips and it will pay dividends. Your resume may not be a perfect fit for every job, but a perfect resume can help you be the right fit for your next job.
If you are doing all you can to proofread and perfect your resume but still not getting interviews, Matt Krumrie can help. The best resumes focus on the next step in your career and showcase results and accomplishments focused on how you can make an impact in your next role. If you review your resume and feel that's not happening, hire Matt Krumrie to help you create a resume that gets read, reviewed, and ultimately, gets you interviews.