Two Resume Writing Errors You Might Miss

If you’re actively pursuing a new career, you have undoubtedly polished your resume to a shine. You used the right kind of paper. You found the right power words. You included the truly pertinent information. You even checked the spelling so many times that you’ve burned the exact words of the resume into your memory! You’ve done everything the resume writing experts recommend.

Now it’s time to send that resume to prospective employers. Or is it?

People overlook a few resume writing errors regularly. Before you put your resume in the mail, check your work for these frequent blunders.

A Shortage of White Space

White space refers to the portion of a piece of printed material that does not contain text. People find it much easier to read a document when it features plenty of white space between sections and ideas.

Job-hunters often try to cram so much information into their resumes that they create a shortage of white space. The document becomes too dense and its readability is destroyed.

Remember, it’s easy for you to read--you wrote it. Someone who isn’t quite as intimately familiar with the résumé’s contents, however, will respond better to a well-spaced page with sufficient white space to keep things “easy on the eyes.”

It may require some tough editing, but it is possible to construct a resume that includes all necessary information while retaining readability. If you neglect white space, a reviewer may not be willing to make the effort to read your entire resume.

A Lack of Parallel Construction

In some ways, a resume is a collection of lists. You offer lists of skills, past jobs, educational experiences, etc. In order to increase readability and make the best possible impression, those lists should feature parallel construction.

Consider an example. You list your past employment as a retail store manager. After the basic information, you write, “Managed twelve employees. Produced 20% annual sales growth. Initiated new inventory control procedure.”

You also list another past job as an automobile salesperson. You note, “At Doe Auto, I sold new luxury automobiles and was named ‘Salesperson of the Year’ three times.”

The two list items aren’t structured in the same way. They might both look good to you on paper individually, but the difference in presentation is uncomfortable for readers.

If you shifted the sales job language to, “Sold new luxury automobiles. Won ‘Salesperson of the Year’ three times,” it would be structurally consistent with the manager position. That’s proper parallel construction and many resume writers fail to maintain it.

Consistency is important in all aspects of the resume. If you capitalize one major section heading, capitalize all of them. If you write in bullet points for one area, do it in all areas. You want to create a clean, consistent look for the entire document.

Before you make your way to the post office, take one more look at that resume. Is there enough white space? Did you use parallel construction throughout the entire document to create a consistent appearance? If you can answer “yes” to both questions and have followed the other suggested resume writing strategies you encountered in your research, you can expect to start scheduling interviews soon!