Tiny Typos Can Add Up To a Big X On Your Résumé

From the Washington Post _ Aug 23, 2009

By Michelle Singletary

Dear sir or madman . . .

Oops. Make that "madam."

If I had made such a mistake on my cover letter, should that disqualify me for consideration for a job?

Should someone's résumé get tossed in the trash if he or she mistakenly wrote "Graphic designer seeking no-profit career"?

Well, it appears that in this tight job market, those tiny mistakes
could keep you jobless, according to a survey by Accountemps, a
staffing-services firm specializing in accounting and finance.

In interviews with 150 senior executives from the nation's 1,000
largest companies, 40 percent of the respondents said that just one
typo on a résumé would kick a job candidate out of the queue for
consideration. Thirty percent said it would take just two mistakes
before the résumé was discarded.

"The way we see it, there's so much competition out there. There's
no room for error," said Natasha Melgar, branch manager of the
Washington office of the staffing firm Robert Half International. "The
résumé is the first opportunity to present yourself."

With unemployment in some areas in the double digits
and job postings drawing hundreds of applicants, I understand the need
to quickly weed people out. But zero tolerance for one or two résumé
typos is too harsh.

Certainly a résumé or cover letter riddled with errors points to
sloppiness or incompetence, but a minor mistake shouldn't disqualify
you from a job or at least an interview.

In fact, a perfect résumé doesn't guarantee that a company is
getting a great job candidate. In a Robert Half survey, 72 percent of
executives polled said it is common for candidates with promising
résumés to not live up to expectations during an interview.

By the way, Accountemps is a division of Robert Half. In one survey,
the staffing conglomerate found that, overwhelmingly, hiring managers
were intolerant of a few errors. In another, it found managers
admitting that candidates weren't living up to their stellar résumés.

So once you know that many managers are screening you based on
perfection, how do you avoid getting your résumé pushed to the side?
Accountemps offers the following tips for creating error-free résumés:

-- Find another pair of eyes. Get someone to proofread your résumé.
Seriously, don't dismiss this simple tip that you probably know
already. Do I have to repeat again how tough this job market is? Don't
send out a single résumé or cover letter without having someone read it
over for you.

-- Put the résumé down and come back to it later with your own fresh eyes. Take a break and review it when you're less harried.

-- Print a copy. Please don't skip this suggestion. It's so easy to
overlook errors after staring at a computer monitor for a long time. My
husband often uses a ruler and places it below each line he's reading.

-- Read your résumé aloud. I've read my share of these things, and
sometimes I scratch my head wondering what in the world the candidate
was trying to say.

-- Review your résumé from the bottom up. Starting from the back and
moving forward will help avoid skipping over certain sections.

There's a Web site you should visit: http://www.resumania.com.
The term "resumania" was coined by Robert Half, who founded the
staffing company. The company has posted résumé and cover-letter errors
its clients have found and solicits authentic examples from online
visitors. Here are some blunders submitted to the site (some of the Web
postings are blooper legends):

 --  Education:  Studied Public Rations

Work history: "Faxed documents to attorneys over sees."

Objective: "To get an opportunity to proof what I know."

Job duties: "Assist callers and answer heavy phones."

Job history: "Grocery store catchier."

Additional skills: "Computers

and off ice machines."

Experience: "Detailed-oriented saleman."

"If you make errors on your application materials, the assumption is
you'll make mistakes on the job," says Max Messmer, chairman and chief
executive of Robert Half. Messmer regularly comments on résumé and
cover-letter gaffes in his Resumania column.

Tempted to skip reading your résumé aloud? Here's an example from
Resumania of what one candidate wrote under job objective: "To secure
challenging opportunities in which I can see a real value in terms of
rendering a valuable and valued service to people."

I guess this person really values being valuable.

Join me Thursday at noon at washingtonpost.com for a discussion on job hunting. Executives from Robert Half will be available to take your questions.

Some hiring managers may see the humor in trivial typos. But they are still making quick judgments based on what you put on your résumé. Do what you can to give them as little reason as possible to pass you up.

-- By mail: Readers can write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

-- By e-mail: singletarym@washpost.com.

Comments and questions are welcome, but because of the volume of
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