Are Writing Mechanics Making or Breaking Your Executive Resume?

Posted by in Career Advice


There are so many essentials to consider when writing an executive resume that sometimes it can be easy to overlook critical elements of the writing process. One often overlooked element is writing mechanics.

Paying attention to writing mechanics can include making sure your sentences are correctly structured, words are not misspelled, word choice is correct, and the document does not contain any obvious grammatical errors. As you can imagine, making too many mistakes on your resume could result in its being tossed. So what are some ways you can avoid making mistakes when developing and finalizing your resume?

Check the Spelling and Grammar

Although spelling and grammar are usually the last items on your things-to-do list when developing your resume, they need to be moved into a priority position before you submit the document. Why? Hiring decision makers have to read resumes all day, and when reading, the last thing they want to do is run across a sentence like this:

"Highly successful in building client relationship that drive margin increases an cost reduction."

While the errors can be viewed as minor, they could easily annoy a person who has to read resumes all day and is interested in seeing only perfection.

Of course, the best way to avoid minor slip-ups is to proofread your resume until you feel certain that it is error-free. Also, you can hand it over to a few friends to have them help you proofread it some more.

Examine Readability and Repetition

In developing your resume, you also want to avoid repeating the same words and phrases over and over again. While you may not be expected to come to the table with an amazing vocabulary, you at least want to showcase some variety in your descriptive phrases and action words so that employers can discern just how dynamic a candidate you are.

Also, it's important to be sure that your resume reads well in terms of sentence structure as well as the overall format. If your sentences are too long and confusing, or if the resume is too dense and lacking in white space, it could be difficult to convince an employer that your document is worth reading.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that the fundamentals of writing are just as important as the qualifications you include in your resume. But if you are able to manage the mechanics of writing and share your amazing qualifications, you will have a better chance of impressing your prospective employers as they read your resume.

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  • Donneator E
    Donneator E
    Excellent ideas I definitley will be taking a closer look at my resume.
  • Alvia L
    Alvia L
    great suggestions and the article makes sence.
  • Claire T
    Claire T
    It makes a lot of sense.   
  • daniel g
    daniel g
    Can you please post for us your readers,a typical example of a winning resume so that we can
    see it here and learn how to write better resumes.  Thanks
  • MICHAEL W
    MICHAEL W
    I approve 100%. As an English major and later a writer of US Army General officer's speeches, I always do my part to keep the English language alive. Edwin Newman would be proud of me.
  • Ann L
    Ann L
    Very good suggestions,  it is so important to look at the basics.  Better is to have a family member look at your resume, maybe someone a different age, to critique the grammar and the level of interest your writing generates.  In the days of political ads, we all like to critique (laugh at) the ads and what is a resume, but an ad?
  • Shawn W
    Shawn W
    Not really ground-breaking information. I've heard these same "Helpful Hints" for the past 5yrs. Never really hear what to put in your resume (w/o a price that is), only what "not to."
  • John H
    John H
    The article does indeed make very valid points!  However, as we most frequently are using a job board like Monster or CareerBuilder, it becomes critical just to get the resume to remain in the structure that you conceived it!  My biggest pet peeve is with the companies, because they could very much alleviate this problem by having an email sent directly with the resume as a PDF attachment...so why don't they?  
  • Dolores C. P
    Dolores C. P
    Hello Jessica.  I am looking for a job now and learning alot about writing resumes. This article seems very informative and very thought provoking to me and makes sense.  I had an english class, but we spent most of the time on the yearbook.  Thanks for making this information available.Best Regards, Dolores

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