On the computer, resumes always look good! When you proofread a resume on the computer, you inevitably miss some of the details—slight misalignments, dropped periods—that become perfectly clear in a print copy. Yet hiring managers and recruiters are very likely to print out a copy of your resume and they will notice those mistakes.
Some Problems with Online Resumes
What you see on the computer is not necessarily what you see on the printed copy of a resume. Colors vary from computer to computer and often look very different when printed in black and white. Many computers do not carry unusual fonts; when the hiring manager or recruiter’s computer is forced to make a substitution, the format goes wildly out of whack. Your eye travels over certain mistakes when looking at a resume on a computer—mistakes that you would catch if you proofread the printed copy.
What to Look for in Printed Resumes
You should print out and proofread the printed copy of your resume to find:
- Missing or floating periods, which are hard to see on the computer (“is that a period or a mark on my computer screen?”)
- Small fonts, which look fine on the computer (blown up to 150%!) but are impossible to read on paper
- Colors that offer good contrast on the computer (for example, very light blue or gray) but fade away on white paper
- Differences in spacing between paragraphs or bullets, especially on different pages
- Unintended changes in the headline format; for example, EXPERIENCE is full caps while Education is upper and lower case
- Extra spaces between words (remember, only one space is needed after a period)
- Information that actually falls outside the margins of the page
- Changes in links that only appear when you print—this is more common than you might think
Conclusion
Some of these items may feel like nitpicking; but when hiring managers and recruiters are overwhelmed with resumes, you do not want to give them an excuse to dismiss your resume because it shows inattention to detail. Moreover, some of these items may prevent hiring managers and recruiters from ever seeing your resume because it gets rejected by the applicant tracking system. You must proofread your resume both on the computer and as a printed copy.
For resumes that have the format and the content that hiring managers and recruiters are looking for, contact Robin’s Resumes® today.