Professionalism often separates effective résumés from those not read. Your résumé needs to communicate attention to detail with correct grammar and punctuation. Employers want individuals who will produce quality work, and errors and inconsistencies imply that you are not interested in doing your best for an organization.

Here’s a trouble-shooting checklist:

Avoid spelling mistakes

• Use a dictionary as you write.
• Perform a spell check on your finished résumé.
• Carefully read every word in your résumé. If you write from instead of form, your spell check will be unable to detect your mistake.
• Have a friend or two proofread your résumé for you.

Avoid punctuation mistakes

• Check for periods at the end of all full sentences.
• Be consistent in your use of abbreviation and punctuation.
• Place relevant periods and commas inside quotation marks.
• Avoid using exclamation points.
• Avoid abbreviating titles or degrees.

Avoid grammatical errors and inconsistencies

• Do not switch tenses within your résumé. The duties you currently perform should be in present tense (i.e. write reports), but ones you may have performed at past jobs should be in past tense (i.e. wrote reports).
• Capitalize all proper nouns.
• When expressing numbers, write out all numbers from one through nine, but use numerals for all numbers 10 and above.
• Make sure your date formats are consistent.

Choose your words carefully

• Do not use unfamiliar words—you may not use them correctly.
• Be on the lookout for the following easily confused words:
  accept (to receive)/except (to exclude)
  all right (correct)/alright (this is not a word)
  affect (to bring about change) / effect (result)
  personal (private)/personnel (staff members)
  role (a character or function) / roll (to revolve)
• Use action words.

Double check

• Dates of all prior employment.
• Your address and phone numbers—are they current and correct?
• The number of returns separating your categories—are they consistent?
• Abbreviate states with two cap letters, i.e., New York = NY. (See USPS abbreviations.)
• Consistency of formatting for headings, body text, indents, etc.

What to leave out

• Salary history or demands
• Personal information
• Lengthy descriptions and long paragraphs that make your résumé look cluttered, dense and time-consuming to read.