Tips for Editing and Proofreading Your Resume
Before you send or upload a resume to apply for a job, it’s important to proofread it so it’s perfect. A typo or grammatical error can cost you a job interview.
How to Proofread Effectively
There are a few effective strategies you can use while proofreading. Your first step should be to read your resume slowly from the beginning to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Then, run spell check on your computer and repeat this step (note that spell check is not always 100% accurate and won’t identify words like homonyms which are spelled correctly but misused in your text (such as “there”/”their”/”they’re”).
Finally, read the resume backwards, sentence by sentence. This is a very useful proofreading technique since it forces you to slow down and pay close attention to each phrase and sentence.
Resume Proofreading Checklist
Review this list of common resume mistakes to make sure that your resume is well-written and error free.
Spelling Mistakes
- Don’t use words with which you aren’t familiar.
- Use a dictionary as you write.
- Perform a spell check on your finished resume.
- Carefully read every word in your resume. If you write “from” instead of “form,” your spell check will be unable to detect your mistake.
- Have a friend or two proofread your resume for you.