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Not properly reviewing your resume is the biggest mistake that many people make before sending it to the potential employer.
Although writing a resume is a time consuming process in the first place, not reviewing your final document with fresh eyes may cause your resume to end up in a recycling bin and all of your effort is then lost. To be sure that your effort is not wasted, take the following three steps to ensure your resume is in the best shape before you send it to any potential employer.
Proofread
1. Proofread the content for grammar and spelling mistakes. This is the most critical step in the resume review process. It is often hard to spot your own composition errors after you've spent hours writing and re-writing parts of your resume.
There are two ways to catch these potential damaging errors: ask someone else to proof your resume, or give yourself some time between writing and reviewing your resume.
If you ask a friend or a family member for help in reviewing your resume, make sure that their spelling and grammar and is to the task; they should be able to review and if necessary edit your resume for content and consistency in style.
Asking others to review your resume, however, should be done with some caution. You know what you are trying to achieve in terms of the content and the value of that content to the employer, others don't have that same knowledge so may unwittingly change the message you are trying to create.
Even after you have asked someone else to review your resume, try stepping away from it for a day or two if you have time. Coming back to it for a final review later gives you some break from the content, and will allow you to recheck it for grammar and spelling errors with fresh eyes. Watch out for wrong words spelt correctly such as 'right' and 'write' as your spell-checker won't pick this up; only human eyes will.
Print & Check
2. Print out and email your resume so that you know what your potential employer will receive after you submit your resume. Make sure to print your resume from the same file that you are emailing to your employer.
Make sure that the margins are set properly and are not cutting off any content.
Look for spaces, and adjust the text in case of any large gaps on the paper.
E-mail your resume to a number of your friends; have them open the file and let you know how it appears on their screen, as well as how it prints out. This gives you the chance to address any formatting issues before your resume reaches the employer thus developing a winning final resume.
Does It Match?
3. Compare your resume carefully against the job requirements, and make sure that all requirements are addressed in either your resume or your cover letter.
Essentially, review what the employer is looking for and make sure that your resume meets all of their needs.
When your potential employer receives your resume, they will look for key terms from their job description in order to match your qualifications to their available position.
If possible, try to use some of the same terminology on your resume as the employer used on the job description or in the advertisement. This will let the employer know that you understand their needs, and make them more interested in you as the ideal candidate for the job. If they are willing, ask one of your friends to review the job description and your resume as well, and give you their impression on how well the two match. My own Premium Career Guides show you how to analyze adverts and job descriptions to ensure you match the employer's terminology.
Poorly written or badly formatted resumes tell your prospective employer that you don’t pay any attention to detail. Taking the extra time reviewing your resume is the surest way of gaining the employer’s attention and getting the job you always wanted.
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