Resume is a face of a job seeker. A prospective employer sees your resume before he sees you. And based on it he decides whether he wants to meet you in person. A resume it is your chance to create a right impression and get invited to the interview. Today we will not learn how to compose an appealing resume but will focus on proofreading your resume before you send it out. Quality proofreading requires good grammar skills, because without the knowledge of basic grammar rules you would hardly able to spot and fix mistakes. You can read this article about the most important grammar rules to remember if you wish to refresh your knowledge. You also have another option, instead of browsing through dictionaries and language guides you can just order professional resume proofreading services online. And our editors and proofreaders will do all that work for you making sure your resume gets you to your dream job.

How resume proofreading may cost you a job

Resume is more than just a list of your education achievements and previous work experiences, it carries more than just information, it creates the most important first impression. The hr-officer evaluates not your achievements and experience but first of all general look of your resume: the template you use, the fonts, your grammar and style. Psychologists say that from your resume it is possible to tell what kind of person and worker you are. And of course, nobody wants to lose a chance for a dream job because of the poor grammar or inadequate punctuation in their resume. That’s why you should use proofreading services if this job is really important for you. You may be surprised but prospective employers are very strict about grammar. After all if they hire you, you will represent their company and they don’t want an employee who could make them look bad because of his poor grammar. You can have a lot of experience and excellent skills, but you would not be able to demonstrate all that if your resume fails you. Thus today we will discuss the most common resume errors and share with you some tips on how to proofread your own resume. You can also subscribe to receive Free Professional Writing Advice on our web site and regularly receive tips on how to improve your writing.

Most common mistakes made in resumes

Every HR-manager has a list of the most common grammatical mistakes the job applicants do. And in most of the cases those mistakes cost them a job position. Therefore let’s look at these mistakes and learn from them the best we can in order not to make them in our own resumes.

• Poorly done copy and paste. Human resources specialists from The Ladders project say that it is one of the two most common errors they encounter in their work. The second one is inconsistent use of periods. People often copy and paste phrases or the whole sentences from their old resumes or other places, which is not a problem in itself. The problem is that they overlook the different fonts and font sizes and leave them the same as they were in the original text. As a result such resume looks patchy like a grandma’s quilt and highly unprofessional;
• Homophones confusion. The mixed up homophones is a common mistake in all types of papers. Homophones are the words that sound the same, but have different meaning and spelling. The problem with homophones is that even online spell-check tools cannot spot them. They are correctly spelled words, only used in wrong situations. The most commonly confused homophones in resumes are: there, they’re and their, to and too, then and than, effect and affect, allowed and aloud, fair and fare, coarse and course. Check out this list and learn your homophones before it’s too late;
• Possessives or contractions. If in his resume a candidate will confuse contraction and possessive pronoun he will be immediately discharged without any further consideration. Such mistake creates an impression of a very illiterate and ignorant person. You might know the difference and know the proper use of both, but it is still very easy to overlook such small but significant mistake. That’s why you should better trust the proofreading of your resume to a professional;
• Apostrophe. It is such a little mark but it can reveal your knowledge of grammar and attention to details. Apostrophe is often misplaced by applicants who inadequately form a possessive, plural or contractions. Your resume shouldn’t be flooded by apostrophes since such formal type of writing as in resumes and cover letters doesn’t welcome the use of contractions and possessives with apostrophe. Better use a preposition of, like in assistant of the manager and not the manager’s assistant;
• Inconsistent use of the verb tenses. When you write about your past experience and achievements you must use a past simple. When you refer to your current position it is acceptable to list your duties in the present simple tense or simply using infinitive. But these two are the only exceptions that allow you to use different verb tenses. Don’t get too elaborative using past perfect or present perfect continuous, save those skills for more literary writing, such as our free essays. In your resume stick to present or past simple, and if necessary the infinitive;
• Agreement of subject and verb. It is a careless mistake that can be made in a rush but it can ruin a good impression of your resume. So before you send it out make sure all your subject match the verbs endings according to the person and number. The best way for it is to print out the resume and read it out loud. Our brain perceives the information better when it on the paper in front of you instead of on the screen. And with the help of reading out loud your ears will to spot the errors, which your eyes missed.

Ways to proofread your own resume

Resume editing and proofreading techniques are not much different from those of any other type of text. We discussed some of them in more detail in one of our previous posts about proofreading techniques. The most common of them include:

• Printing out the resume. We read differently from the paper than we do from the computer screen;
• Reading out loud;
• Reading it backwards. This way helps you to focus on each word and letter instead of the whole stream of the text;
• Using online tools. These include online grammar applications and spell-check tools. But remember that such devices cannot spot confused homophones or inconsistent use of verb tenses;
• Getting friends to help. It is good when you have someone on whose grammar knowledge you can rely on. Your friends might give you some good advice. But revise your resume after you trusted it to your friend to avoid awkward situations like this one.

Order resume proofreading service online

Resume is your chance to convince the prospective employer to invite you to an interview. And poorly proofread resume with grammar, punctuation and style errors could steal this chance from you. Don’t underestimate the importance of resume proofreading because it might cost you a job. Royal Editing will be happy to proofread your resume and cover letter, and assist you in getting closer to your dream job. All you need to do is to upload your resume on our website and the experienced editors with make it perfect for a very moderate price.