Resume Errors
Resumes have been a popular topic for us this week. Now I just caught up to this post from Anthony Meaney over at Recruiting.com from last week:
Eighty-four percent of executives polled said it takes just one or two typographical errors in a resume to remove a candidate from consideration for a job opening; 47 percent said a single typo could be the deciding factor.
First off, “typo” is a bit nondescript so I would argue some typos are worse offenses than others (“alot” instead of the proper “a lot” is forgivable in my opinion). However, one axiom we live by is that the interview process is the best the candidate will be.
A resume is a formal portfolio of their work. If the candidate cannot take the time and effort to make sure their resume is perfect during an active job search, when will they? If they are in sales, will they present a proposal to a prospect with errors? These are items we consider when sourcing.
(and now I am praying that my spellchecker caught all of my errors in this post)
Posted By Derrick Moe | Hiring,Resumes,Sourcing | | 
Comments(7)
[...] September 21st, 2006 by Chief Executive Restaurant Recruiter Just finished reading a couple of blog entries on how damning typos can be if they are found on your resume. The post on Select Matrix quotes the article Eighty-four percent of executives polled said it takes just one or two typographical errors in a resume to remove a candidate from consideration for a job opening; 47 percent said a single typo could be the deciding factor. [...]
[...] A lot of polls say recruiters will dump a resume in the garbage if there’s one typo. I don’t believe it. First, all typos are not equal. But also, a sales person with a typo is different than a technical writer with a typo. While a technical writer should be detail-oriented, the skills that make a good sales person don’t necessarily make a good proofreader. [...]
[...] recruiters will dump a resume in the garbage if there’s one typo. I don’t believe it. First, all typos are not equal. But also, a sales person with a typo is different than a technical writer with a typo. While a [...]
I have lots of experience with resumes and, of course, no one wants typos. But how they are viewed is situational. A single typo in a sales resume is not usually a deal breaker. If the job required you to work with documents, you may be in trouble. And of couse, no two people who read resumes have the same level of tolerance toward typos.
84% say its a deal breaker? That seems high.
I honestly believe a candidate can be dissmed due to the type of typo, whether the word is commonly spelled wrong or not
Text resumes will be around for a long time. Because everyone can type.
But everyone cannot write a story or a poem.
So, there will also be a demand for expert / professional resume – writers, for a long time to come.
But an ever-increasing number of recruiters feel that graphical / visual / audio resumes have an edge over plain text resumes – prompting emergence of path-breaking job-portals such as
http://www.VisualCV.com
which inspired me to come-up with my own
http://www.CustomizeResume.com
( it is easy to be inspired, but , at the age of 77 , difficult to implement ! )
With regards
hemen parekh
hcp@RecruitGuru.com
Mumbai — India
If you find errors on your resume or cover letter after you’ve already dropped them in the mail or hit the “sent” button it can feel like your hopes have been dashed. Should you contact the employer and explain your mistake or should you sit back and hope they don’t notice the inaccuracies?