I can tell that it’s summer and the living should be easier. It seems like everyone wants to take the summer off and loaf and reflect a bit on their next career. This past month, folks have been sending me reams of resumes, asking for comments and suggestions. It’s great to see how many talented and experienced folks are out looking for new challenges and alternative careers. It also helps me keep on my toes re advice to give on improving their resumes.

On the basis of all these look-sees, I realize that we need to get back to basics re why employers ask for resumes in the first place. The first step for many employers is to narrow the field of candidates by looking for some reason–-typos, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes–-to discard them. Errors in a cover letter simply and directly tell potential employers that job hunters are not paying attention to details. So be sure to ask a nitpicking friend to spot–and eliminate–inappropriate information, typos, and misspellings in your resume and cover letter, saving these important documents from the reject pile.

Poor Grammar and Mispelings

No one wants to make grammatical or spelling errors but many applicants nevertheless submit cover letters with small and thoughtless, yet deadly, errors.

Many problems slip through because people have a difficult time seeing the mistakes in their own writing. Once again, ask someone else to proofread the cover letter for you. If that's not possible, read the document aloud, slowly and word by word. Every time you make a correction, read the whole document over again. Writers make many mistakes during the final editing process as they make corrections, particularly with tense and word placements. Spell checks can also be typo insinuations, causing writers to change misspelled words into wrong words, as demonstrated by one recent cover letter writer who boasted, "Referees are available on request."

Clichés put egg on your face

It goes without saying that the best way to sound unremarkable and insincere is to fill your cover letter with clichés. So if that's what you were planning, go back to square one and get busy as a beaver at putting together a collection of original thoughts instead of a collection of those same old employee buzzwords. Even if those buzzwords represent honest information you are trying to relay, remember, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The best way to express your desires is to say how you really feel. True statements run circles around clichéd phrases. So if you come up with the real McCoy, take a bow, because you're moving in the right direction -- faster than a speeding bullet.

• "Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shortly!" Hey, let's not get personal.
• "I'll need $30K to start, full medical, three weeks of vacation, stock options and ideally a European sedan." No corporate jet?
• "Worked long shifts to make myself, and my company, a lot of cheese." Sounds like you're ready for the "rat race."

Pontificating with immoderately labored interpretive phraseologies

(That is, writing overdone sentences)

Sometimes, in an effort to impress, writers go overboard. How many times have you seen someone strain to play it cool, only to crash and burn after misusing an impressive-sounding word? In an attempt to sound intelligent, cover letter writers regularly produce sentences that use big, impressive, but unfamiliar words. The resulting mistakes cause embarrassment for both the reader and writer, and ensure prompt dismissal of your application. (Even if the reader understands your meaning, she may be put off by your pretentiousness). Here’s an example of something I received last month. Let me know if you figure them out!

• "Skills: Excellent memory; strong math aptitude; excellent memory." But how's your math ability?
• "Experience: Professionally watered 22,500 office plants." And never lost count. Impressive.
• "Other activities: Along with the project engineer, I worried a lot." Glad you weren't alone.
• "Typing, driver's license, good with kids and singing off key, bilingual, Ritual mask work, historical dance stylings, and pratfalls."

Egomaniacal tone

A golden rule for cover letter writing: make sure that by the time you've finished your writing, the person most impressed by your letter isn't you. This is an opportunity for you to give employers an idea of who you are, what you've accomplished and how you can contribute to their company. Nobody likes a self-absorbed narcissist, and even fewer people want to work with one. The best way to avoid such errors is to avoid unqualified, grandiose statements and assumptions about how impressed your reader will be with you.

Not good:

• "Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain operation."
• "I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award."

It's the sentiment that counts

When you tell potential employers why you're interested in working for them and their companies, be sincere. Don't bother pouring on a bunch of flattering statements. If you're interested in a position or company, just say why. Here’s one paraphrased example of a recent resume entry:

• "You have the most fabulous company ever and it would be the culmination of my life dream to work with you."
  "I would DIE to work at XYZ."
• "Please call me after 5:30 because I am self-employed and my employer does not know I am looking for another job."

Please keep the inadvertent humor flowing! Next month we’ll talk about the latest trends in preparing electronic resumes. Until then, please enjoy the Glorious 4^th and a lovely July.

In the meantime, I can be reached at jlommel@WorkforceAssociates.com Happy sailing into your new career!

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