As a three time accredited resumé writer I am also experienced in writing cover letters and job applications particularly for the Australian Public Sector. Having spent the past six years working with clients to produce high quality and accurate documents, I am an advocate for spelling and grammar. Peers often tell me that I am the grammar “connoisseur” and I am a stickler for presenting well crafted and professional documents. While I own up for my errors, sometimes proofreading does not always go according to plan.
I recently spotted this job advertisement. Can you spot the spelling error? This is evidence that Microsoft Office Word does not always correct errors.
If you have not found the error, the following list are typical problems found in advertisements, resumés and letters. The first one comes directly from the job advertisement included in this blog.
- Public vs Pubic
- Publicly vs Publically
- Committee vs Comittee
- Committed v Commited
- Exceed vs Excede
- Independent vs Independant
- Licence vs License
- Occurred vs Occured
- Recognise vs Recognize (US Spelling)
- Separate vs Seperate
- Their vs There
Generally, Microsoft Office will pick up all your errors, and please ensure that you have your language preferences marked as English (Australia), not English (United States).
Editing Tips:
- Read your application from cover to cover in a quiet place to identify any missed problems, poor word choices or sentence structure issues.
- Re-read your application backwards. This can sometimes enable you to pick up errors that your eye may have missed the first time you read the document.
- Spend more time than you think is necessary in proofreading to ensure little things are taking care of and that grammatical errors are not holding you back from being shortlisted.
- Select your most analytical, detail-driven friend and ask them to read it.
It takes human eyes and a voice to scan, read aloud and review application documents. When I edit, I first do a spellcheck online, then I print the document, read and mark changes with a red pen. Next, I update the changes and print it again for a second proofread. Finally, I publish the comment to a PDF version, increase the size to 150% and read the content on the screen. Sometimes it takes four edits to complete an application or resumé. My clients then review their materials.
So now are you up to speed on your grammar and English language? If you need assistance for proofreading, contact Julie to find out more. Happy reading!