Big Book of Job-Hunting Hacks

1. Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document.

• Go to the “View” menu and click on the “Markup” option. This feature can be switched on or off. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show and then make sure that a check mark appears next to each of the following items. If a check mark does not appear next to an item, click the item to select it.

1. Comments

2. Ink Annotations (Word 2003 only)

3. Insertions and Deletions

4. Formatting

5. Reviewers (point to Reviewers and make sure that All Reviewers is selected)

• When on, you will see all the comments and changes. When off, you will see the document in its final form. Note: The default setting may be set to “off.” Therefore, never assume your final Word document does not contain any hidden comments or changes!!!

2. Get rid of all the redlines and comments (you must delete edits and comments separately). Do this in one of two ways:

a. Turn off the View Markup option and convert the final form of the document into a PDF. You can use a program such as Primo PDF.51

b. In the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Reviewing.

• On the Reviewing toolbar, click Next to advance from one revision or comment to the next. Click Accept Change or Reject Change/Delete Comment for each revision or comment. Repeat until all the revisions in the document have been accepted or rejected and all the comments have been deleted.

• To accept all the changes, click the arrow next to Accept Change and then click Accept All Changes in Document. If you know that you want to reject all the changes, click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment and then click Reject All Changes in Document.

• THEN, to remove ALL comments, click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment and then click Delete All Comments in Document.

• If you want to accept SOME changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by right-clicking on them individually. You will get a drop-down menu with choices of what to do.

1. If you accept all changes before reviewing the document and there is a comment in the middle of your document like “(dates?),” then that change will be accepted and become a part of your document! Make sure you respond to all questions and make any revisions needed inside your document before accepting all changes.

2. *ALWAYS* proofread your final document at least three times! As much as The Essay Expert and other editors attempt to ensure that your documents are perfect, final approval is ultimately your responsibility.

3. If you don’t want all your future edits to show up as marked on your document, turn Track Changes off by clicking on it. It’s a toggled function. Click it on, click it off.

4. Finally, when you receive an edited document, whenever possible accept or reject the changes before making your own edits! This practice will make it much easier to look at the NEW edits you have made to the document.

1. Address, phone, and e-mail. Although it’s unlikely you have misspellings in any of these key areas, it can happen, so check them carefully! Perhaps you changed a phone number or e-mail address and forgot to change it on your résumé? Make sure your address, phone, and e-mail are all correct and up-to-date! If you are in a technology field, use a Gmail address or paid account and stay away from Hotmail and Yahoo.

2. Section headings. Have you checked the spelling of the word Achievements (I have seen senior executives’ résumés where the heading is spelled Acheivements)? How about Experience and Activities? Are there any extra letters floating around? Did you correctly spell Extracurricular (I have seen Extracaricular). Not only could errors like these turn off a hiring manager who notices them, but they could prevent an ATS system from recognizing an entire section of your résumé.

3. Job titles. One of the most commonly misspelled words on résumés is “Manager” (often spelled “Manger”). Check your job titles to make sure they are spelled correctly! Also, in all your correspondence, make sure to refer to the exact job title listed in the job announcement. Do not abbreviate! Why take chances?

4. Verbs. “Led” is the past tense of “Lead” (many people mistakenly write “Lead”). Make sure you’ve spelled it correctly. If you are repeating your verbs over and over in your bullets, see what you can do to vary your verbs. Your résumé will truly start to shine. Finally, make sure your past jobs use past tense verbs. Often when someone converts a present job to a past job, some of those verbs remain in the present tense. This applies to ALL verbs in the section, not just the ones that start each bullet.

5. Format. Do all your bullets and dates line up with one another? Do you use the same font and font size throughout your résumé (unless you have an artistic, consistent reason for using two different fonts)? Is your spacing even? Are your headers all formatted the same way? If not, you have some cleaning up to do!

6. Dates. Line up all your dates format-wise and use consistent formatting (don’t write 1/06 to 2/05 in one spot and 3/2008–4/2011 in another; don’t write December 2004 in one spot and Dec. 2006 in another). Check that all dates are accurate, with proper months and years, listed in reverse chronological order.

7. Document Properties and Tracked Changes. If someone else assisted you with your résumé, there might be tracked changes and document properties still lurking. To clean up tracked changes, accept all changes and delete all comments. Want more detailed instructions? Check out Tip #49, or my article “How to Avoid Embarrassing Editing Marks on Your Documents!”⁵² To delete document properties such as Author, go to the File tab, click on Check for Issues and then Inspect document. Follow the prompts, and your document will be cleaned of whatever information you choose.

8. Consistency between cover letter and résumé. Match your cover letter format, including header and font, to your résumé format. Consistency matters to recruiters and hiring managers!

9. Additional instructions. Did you supply all the information and documentation requested by the employer in the job description, in exactly the way it was requested? Following instruction is one of the most important parts to a successful job application!

10. How does it look in PRINT? Yes, I suggest PRINTING out your résumé and reading it on paper. You might be surprised what you find.

11. Style guide. The Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook are two of the most popular guides on how to write in the English language. These guides govern whether to write out numerals to the number ten or use the Arabic numeral 10; whether to use the % sign or “percent”; and whether to put spaces on either side of an em dash (—). When writing a résumé, the most important thing is to be consistent throughout the résumé. Don’t put spaces before and after the em dash in one spot and leave them out in another. Don’t put periods between your B.A. and not between your MA [sic]. Of course, if you’re applying for a job at a publisher, please conform to the style guide used by that publisher. That goes without saying. Other than that, most decision makers will care much more about consistency than about adherence to a particular set of style rules.

Once you are absolutely sure there are no errors in your résumé, go through the checklist in Appendix D one item at a time. Then run it by at least three trusted friends and colleagues to see if they find anything you missed! Once they’ve approved of the résumé, start applying for your dream jobs!

One way to get your résumé distributed widely is through a résumé distribution service. This type of service will send your résumé to hundreds of recruiters who have positions available that match your skill set. If you are interested in taking advantage of a résumé distribution service, contact TEESupport@TheEssayExpert.com, and we will assist you in setting up the distribution. The cost of this service ranges from $275 to $375 depending on industry.

Those 5 Ps apply to every aspect of your job search! How are you living up to them? Are you staying positive? Preparing diligently? Remaining professional and never giving up? I hope so! I want to know how you’re doing! Please send me an e-mail at BrendaB@TheEssayExpert.com to update me on how your résumé has improved and how your job search is going.