Grammar lessons all job seekers should know

Read and reread everything you write for a job application

These days, human resources departments and hiring managers are flooded with résumé. They have to be narrowed down somehow, and grammatical errors are an easy way to eliminate applicants. In an era of spell check, easily edited documents and instantly shared ‘can you give this a look’ e-mails, typos and grammatical errors on résumé and/or cover letters are pretty much unforgivable. The message sent by typing ‘too’ when it should be ‘to’ can literally be the difference between getting the nod or getting a no.

Here is a proofreading checklist for your résumé and cover letter:

Know your homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, like too, to and two. Using the correct version on your résumé is crucial. The misuse of your with you’re, there with their or they’re, and to with too or two are the most common mistakes. If someone uses one of these incorrectly on a cover letter, he or she can say goodbye to his chances of even landing a decent job. If this is due to a simple typo, that is one thing; however, if the individual does not know the difference between these basic words and has never bothered to take an hour out of his or her life to learn it, he or she is not deserving of landing a decent job.

Use apostrophes properly

Apostrophes are used for few reasons:

• They indicate the possessive: In my last job, I managed the CEO’s calendar.
• They indicate the omission of letters in words (that is, in contractions).
• They indicate the exclusion of numbers in dates: I graduated college in ’05.
• They indicate time or quantity: I must give my current employers two week’s notice.

Be sure to check your résumé for proper use of apostrophes, as well as any erroneous punctuation. Apostrophes do not, for example, indicate the plural form of a singular noun. It is incorrect to say ‘I developed orientation programmes to help new employee’s get acclimated to the company.’

Keen tenses consistent

Building lists correctly is important. If you start your job duties with ‘managing multiple employees,’ do not have your next point as ‘prepared annual reports’ but ‘preparing annual reports.’

Similarly, as a general rule, all activities or accomplishments that you completed in the past should be in the past tense. Activities that you perform now should be in the present tense. This should be kept consistent throughout your résumé.

Proofread and then proofread again

The bottom line is that proofreading your application materials before submitting them is a must. There are enough people with bad grammar pet peeves that there is virtually no position out there where grammar does not matter. Since a basic search-engine inquiry for ‘grammar pet peeves’ nets more than 400,000 returns, it is safe to say that hiring managers are paying close attention to grammar and other résumé and cover-letter errors. Read and reread everything you write for a job application, and if you doubt yourself even slightly, run your submission past someone you trust. — Agencies