Do you ever spend hours creating or updating your resume, but you rush when it comes to the final thorough proofread? Maybe you get tired of writing or rewriting it, or you are left with no time for that final review. If so, then this article is for you.

I am going to discuss two pieces of advice for giving that final touch to your resume. First, why it is important to proofread your resume and second how you can do so in simple steps without spending much time.

Let’s begin with why it is really crucial to proofread your resume. Its purpose is to let a potential employer know that you are well-organized and careful about details. Moreover, resumes with too many typos make most recruiters or hiring managers perceive that you have a laid back attitude and, in turn, this would lower your chances of getting more interview calls. So, now you understood why it is important.

Now, let’s move on to the detailed checklist for proofreading to make your resume looks polished.

There are seven boxes to check while proofreading your resume.

1. Make sure your resume is ATS friendly: Let me first quickly tell you what an ATS is. This is an applicant tracking system that is primarily used by the talent acquisition team. It is an automated software to keep track of candidates’ status throughout the hiring process until they onboard. Alright! Now you got a brief idea about an ATS, it’s really important to make your resume ATS compatible by including keywords from the job description of the position that you are planning to apply for. This is because one of the key jobs of ATS is to sort inbound resumes based on the keywords provided by the TA team for every job posting. As most companies use ATS these days, integrating keywords all over the resumes wherever appropriate has become essential.

2. Write a clean and concise resume: Do not make your resume wordy. I would highly recommend writing your professional summary and work experience in bullet points as they are easier to scan versus paragraphs. If you still feel like explaining your professional summary in a paragraph then I would say don’t go over 3-4 sentences and switch to the next paragraph. Also, if you were running over 25-30 words in writing a sentence then split it into smaller sentences. Doing so, would help in better readability and understanding of content.

3. Include white spaces: Always make sure you have at least two lines of white spaces between each section and adequate margins around the content to give the eye a rest, declutter a resume, and take a reader to the next point.

4. Get all the hyperlinks in place: Such as email address, LinkedIn, or any other relevant links. So, when a person clicks on them, they can directly access your desired site.

5. Highlight your tenure with a company in month-year format, such as May 2016 for recognizing readily different duration across the companies.

This brings me to the last two most important points. I have noticed that many individuals don’t pay attention to consistency with grammar check and a period at the end of each sentence. So, the number 6 point is

6. Do a thorough spell check and tense check: Always have spell check on. But you can’t rely on it 100%. So, checking for your industry-related terms and most grammar structure is on you.

Also, don’t get confused with possessive pronouns and contractions.

Such as: their(possessive) vs they’re(they are)

Its (possessive) vs it’s (it is)

And, most importantly, be consistent in using verb tenses while describing a specific job.

Use past tense to describe your previous jobs

Such as, Designed and developed android application for integration within online learning management systems

Stick to simple present tense for your current job

For example: Map and source talents strategically from competition, employee referrals, and professional networks

Another important piece is don’t switch from past or present simple, to continuous to perfect tense while referring all your responsibilities or achievements within a specific job. As I just said, either use simple past for previous companies or use simple present for your current position for consistency.

7. Focus on consistency: Make sure each bullet point ends consistently. Also, check that the common nouns are not capitalized.

Instead of writing:

• Integrated xyz.com with a new Order Management System (Don’t capitalize common nouns)

• Automated Deployments across Multiple Servers using BizTalk Deployment Framework [.] (Don’t use irregular periods in bullet points)

Write

• Integrated xyz.com with a new order management system

• Automated deployments across multiple servers using BizTalk deployment framework

If you check off all the seven proofreading steps, your resume will get noticed and you will get more interview calls.

If you still have any questions regarding resume proofreading, reach out to me at nikita.mehrotra@therecruitmentinsights.com .

I 'd love to help:)

Nikita