Resume clients often give me a copy of an outdated resume to serve as a starting point for creating a new, more powerful resume targeted to their current job search. Lately, some preventable writing and proofreading mistakes have been cropping up in those old resumes crop over and over again.
For example, Marine Corps has appeared in more than one resume without the “s” in Corps. The word “corp.” is an abbreviation for “corporation” and the word “corpse” refers to a dead body but the word “corps” refers to a military organization. It is the word you need in a sentence like the following:
Worked closely with the Marine Corps and the Army Corps of Engineers.
A second mistake that appears frequently is putting a period after “LLC” in a company name. You need a period in the abbreviation for corporation (ABC Corp.) and in the abbreviation for incorporated (ABC Inc.) but not for LLC (ABC LLC). By the way, if an abbreviation occurs at the end of a sentence, the same period serves for both the end of the abbreviation and the end of the sentence. You don’t need two periods. The following punctuation is correct:
Promoted to lead HR in 2005 after improving morale at ABC Inc. Was assigned to head HR at ABC Inc. and Foghorn LLC as part of a joint venture.
A third preventable writing mistake involves the word “including.” The correct punctuation is a comma before and no punctuation after the word—but more and more I’m seeing a semi-colon before “including” and a colon after. A colon after “including” is appropriate before a bullet list but generally not in a sentence. The correct punctuation in a sentence is:
Led all marketing efforts, including print, customer-facing, social media, and billboard.
At Robin’s Resumes™, we specifically look for common and uncommon mistakes when writing and proofreading your resume. We approach every resume with a fresh eye so that it represents you in the most professional manner. Contact us today.