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November 09, 2007
Avoiding Common Resume & Cover Letter Mistakes
You’ve heard us say it before, and you’ll hear us say it again: It is not acceptable for there to be any typographical errors on your resume or cover letter. You must be certain to proofread every word of your application documents and, ideally, have someone else (whose grammar skills you trust) read them as well. To help you get started, here are some of the most common errors we see on resumes:
* If you choose to spell out your J.D. degree, remember that it is a Juris Doctor and not a Juris Doctorate.
* Be sure to italicize degree honors such as cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude.
* Underline or italicize the names of publications.
* When listing dates in a month/year format, do not use a comma. The proper format is December 2007, not December, 2007.
* Remember to include only one email address and one telephone number on your resume and cover letter. Do not make an employer guess as to which email or phone number they should use to contact you.
* Do not use technical or company-specific terms on your resume. If you cannot describe your work without using these terms, be sure to provide a brief explanation of their meaning in layman’s terms.
* Do not include an objective line.
* Do not list references and do not include a “references available upon request” line.
Posted by kcc17 at November 9, 2007 11:27 AM