Do you remember your elementary school teachers ingraining proper spelling and grammar into your young mind? It’s pretty easy to forget those rules, though, isn’t it? “I” before “E” except after “C” (but wait, that’s not even always true…) tends to be one that sticks out, but it can be pretty hard to think of others! And yet, when it comes to your job search, spelling and grammar are as important as ever.
A tired, beleaguered recruiter isn’t going to have patience for an error-filled resume or cover letter. Don’t let sloppy language prevent you from landing your next job.
Your resume and cover letter should be free of errors.
Eliminating spelling and grammar mistakes from your job search documents and correspondence is integral to your success. Here are three tips to ensure your resume and cover letter are in tip-top shape:
1. Keep the tone professional. Don’t use everyday language in your business correspondence, it lacks professionalism and can show laziness. Instead, draft formal correspondence and sound professional throughout all your correspondence and supporting documents.
2. Don’t miss spelling errors. If you’re not a great speller, have someone you trust read all your documents as well. Spelling errors are sloppy and inexcusable. And don’t just rely on your word processing spell check. Guess who made that spell check? A programmer, not a language expert – it’s not perfect! So after you run spell check, give all documents another review before sending. You could also catch words that are technically spelled properly, but are not the correct word (for example, if you misspell “part” as “pant,” it would not be caught by a spell check because it is still a correctly-spelled word).
3. Watch out for a shift in tense. When describing your accomplishments in a cover letter or resume, use the present tense to describe your current position. For any previous positions, use the past tense (after all, you don’t work there anymore).
With these tips, your job correspondence and resume are sure to be perfect. But, if you need additional help with your resume, contact Luttrell Staffing Group Our recruiters are resume experts, and they will help you market your skills and experience to potential employers.