Photo by Polina Tankilevitch
Attention to detail turns raw words into professional content. Even the most skilled and creative writer won't consistently produce quality work if the final proofreading stage isn't up to scratch, leaving the resulting CV riddled with errors and inconsistencies.
How to Boost Your Proofreading Effectiveness
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#1 — Take a break Separate writing from proofreading. The first activity is mainly creative, the second analytic, and it's very difficult to switch seamlessly from one mindset to the other. If possible, get away from your desk completely. Take a walk, or enjoy a coffee break elsewhere, so that you can approach proofing with a fresh outlook.
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#2 — Style vs. Mistakes Make a distinction between editing for style and proofreading for mistakes. Ideally, style issues should be handled as part of your final draft, leaving proofreading to deal with technicalities and errors.
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#3 — Visual Reset Change the font face, size, or colour of the text away from your usual writing format. This helps to break out of familiarity and makes errors easier to see.
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#4 — Device Swap Proofread on another device entirely, maybe in another location, for the same reason.
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#5 — Habitual Errors In your first proofing pass, check for any habitual errors you tend to make. Every writer has weak areas in their technique, so make spotting these recurring problems your first task.
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#6 — Specific Focus Concentrate on other aspects one at a time: comma placement, run-on sentences, plural issues, and so on. It's easier to uncover mistakes when you have a specific focus.
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#7 — Read Aloud Reading your text aloud is a tried-and-tested proofreading method. It works well because it not only forces you to take a fresh approach, but if you verbally stumble over a section, it's usually a sign there's a problem with either grammar or readability.
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#8 — Reverse Reading For added effect, try reading your text sentence by sentence in reverse order. This breaks the usual flow of reading and helps you to notice mistakes in your CV rather than subconsciously correcting them as you go.
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#9 — The Final Pass Lastly, when you think you've finished proofreading, take at least one more pass, preferably after a few minutes' break in concentration. You're almost guaranteed to spot one or two lingering issues.
Common CV Blindspots
Too many people rely on Microsoft Word's built-in spell check. We frequently see errors that could have been prevented, such as Martial instead of Marital, Manger instead of Manager, and Liased instead of Liaised.
Additionally, ensure your language is set to UK English rather than US English to avoid "recognized" instead of "recognise" and "color" instead of "colour".
Other areas to watch out for:
- Confusion in the use of "their" and "there"
- Not using a capital letter for "I"
- Putting "i" and "e" the wrong way round (e.g., "freind")
- Missing out letters in the middle of words
Many people find it hard to spot spelling mistakes on their CV when reading text on a screen. It is often a good idea to proofread your CV after printing it out on paper. Successful proofreading adds the final polish that can turn "so-so" writing into professional, compelling content.
Online Proofreading Tools for CV Writing
There are an increasing number of tools available to budding wordsmiths. Here is a roundup of powerful options to help improve the calibre of your content:
- Grammarly: Identifies over 150 text errors and highlights potential plagiarism to ensure your document is unique.
- Proofread Bot: Checks writing style, grammar, spelling, and punctuation through a comprehensive analyser.
- Ginger: A versatile Microsoft Word add-on that focuses on grammar correction and sentence rephrasing.
- Personal Review: While digital tools are powerful, asking a trusted friend, colleague, or family member to read over your CV provides the human context that software can sometimes miss.
CV Not Working?
The employment market is evolving rapidly. A CV that secured interviews years ago might not be effective in today's market.
