Resume Errors Ruin Job Prospects
Max Messmer

Accountemps recently surveyed 150 senior executives from the nation’s largest 1,000 companies and asked, “How many typos in a resume does it take for you to decide not to consider a job candidate for a position with your company?”

One  ...................................................................       40%
Two  ...................................................................      36%
Three  .................................................................      14%
Four or more  ......................................................       7%
Don’t know/no answer........................................        3%
                                                                                 100%

“If you make errors on your application materials, the assumption is you’ll make mistakes on the job,” said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Job Hunting For Dummies®, 2nd Edition. In his weekly column Resumania, which is syndicated in print by Scripps Howard News Service and can be found online at www.resumania.com, Messmer notes typos are easy to make and spell-check won’t always catch them. To illustrate, Messmer points to real-life resume bloopers found in resumes, applications and cover letters.

Among them:
“Hope to hear from you, shorty.”
“Have a keen eye for derail.”
“Dear Sir or Madman.”
“I’m attacking my resume for you to review.”
“I am a rabid typist.”
“My work ethics are impeachable.”
“Nervous of steel.”
“Following is a grief overview of my skills.”
“GPA: 34.0”
“Graphic designer seeking no-profit career.”

Accountemps offers the following tips for creating error-free resumes:

• Get help. Enlist detail-oriented family members, friends or mentors to proofread your resume and provide honest feedback.
• Take a timeout. Before submitting your resume, take a break and come back to it with a fresh set of eyes. You might catch something you missed the first time.
• Print a copy. It’s easy to overlook typos or formatting mistakes when reading a resume on a monitor, so print it out for review. Read through it slowly and pay close attention to font styles and sizes, in addition to spelling and grammar.
• Try a new perspective. Sometimes readers inadvertently skip over parts they have read previously. Review your resume backward to help avoid this problem.
• Read it aloud. Your ears might catch errors your eyes have overlooked.