Making a Resume: What to Do if You Make a Mistake
photo credit: plindberg via flickr
Mistakes Happen
You spent hours looking over your resume. You used spell check and proofread it. Then you printed it off and mailed or emailed it to your prospective employer.
But after you went through the process of making a resume and sending it off, you noticed an error that you missed before.
Should you re-send the document to the employer with your apologies, or just leave it as is?
The answer to that question is that it depends on how bad the error is.
In the process of making a resume, it’s easy to accidentally mistype something that spell check will not pick up on. This is why it’s so important to thoroughly proofread it several times before you send it out.
But occasionally something will slip through that you didn’t catch when you were proofreading it.
If the error is a small one, like one misuse of a comma or a single misspelled word, then the good news is you can probably just leave it be.
If you didn’t notice it, the employer might not notice it either. Employers usually just scan through resumes and cover letters and don’t scrutinize every bit of punctuation.
But if the error was a large, substantive one, like an incorrect date or company name in your work history, or a mistake in your phone number, it must be fixed.
The best thing to do in this situation is correct the errors and re-send the information to the employer.
Let them know about the error on the previous copy and offer your sincere apologies. Accidents happen, and the best thing you can do is correct them to the best of your ability.
The process of making a resume can be both frustrating and exciting. It’s easy to get so excited about the possibility of being chosen for a job you really want that you overlook errors in what you are sending.
But it’s best to avoid errors by exercising great care, including having others proofread for you.
