In our recent blog explaining how to product a knockout CV, one of the key points we covered was to thoroughly proofread it before sending it out to employers. When you make obvious spelling or grammatically errors it gives an impression to the employer that you have not put proper thought and time into checking your CV. When they are under pressure to whittle candidates down to a shortlist, chances are you will find yourself on the rejected pile - no matter how funny the mistake may be.

The internet is littered with people who have dropped a clanger when contacting a potential employer and all of them were completely avoidable had they taken the time to correctly proofread. Some of our favourites include:

• "Took a career break in 1999 to renovate my horse"
  
• "Hobbies: Enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians"
  
• "Skills: Strong work ethic, attention to detail, team player, self-motivated, attention to detail."
  
• "I am a perfectionist and rarely if if ever forget details"
  
• "Job duties: Answer phones, file papers, respond to customer e-mails, take odors"

Correctly Proofing Your CV

Before you add your name to the list of bloopers, we would recommend that you take the time to thoroughly check through the CV you are about to send out. Here are five top tips to help you root out those errors which could cost you the job of your dreams.

1. Don't Allow Yourself To Be Distracted: It does not matter whether you are proofing a one page CV or a 300 page book - you need to give it your undivided attention. Therefore, turn off the TV, mute your mobile phone and close down social media so you can fully concentrate.
   
2. Wait Until You Are Completely Finished Before Proofing:  If you proof your document and then plan to make further changes to it, you are wasting your time. Even if they are minor changes to a couple of sentences, wait until the very end to proofread. If you do need to make last minute changes, be sure to proof the entire sentence or paragraph - many mistakes will occur earlier or later in the sentence due to a change in context or terminology.
   
3. Don't Confuse Editing With Proofreading: Many people confuse revisions with proofing. Your first read through should identify any revisions you wish to make to content, before checking it again to proof for spelling and grammatical errors.
   
4. Read Your CV Aloud: By reading your CV aloud, it is easier to spot obvious errors when compared to reading it silently. 
   
5. Check The Spelling Of Proper Nouns: The worst typos are often where you have not checked the spelling of the names or the employer or the person you are contacting - after all, there is nothing more embarrassing that spelling someone's name wrong or using the wrong name altogether!

You can find more blogs on how to write your CV and prepare for an interview by visiting the Candidate Resources page.