Grammar

Content

Being concise is the most important for a resume. Basic objective information is the core of a resume:

• personal information
  • important contact information such as telephone, e-mail must be clear
• education backgrounds
  • if you are a fresh graduate, you can add education background of high school
• professional skills
• awards
• work (internship) experiences

Be cautious to add subjective information:

• self-evaluation
• personal hobbies
• social activities, volunteer experiences, etc., which have no clear relations with the applied position

Be cautious to add objective information that are unrelated with the applied position:

• photos
• birthday
• home address
• nationality
• political identity
• marital and family status

Prohibited contents:

• "My Resume" as the title
• watermarks of logos on resume templates from different sources

Spelling

Spelling errors in a resume are a big no-no in a job search. Too many elementary spelling errors can affect an employer's first impression of an applicant. Most software have a spell checker, so use it appropriately to avoid many primary spelling errors. Of course, don't rely too much on the software's spelling check, it's better to find a trusted friend for a proof-reading.

Proper nouns

In addition to common spelling errors, there are highly frequent spelling errors in proper nouns, because they are more case sensitive. The same combination of letters with different capitalization may have completely different meanings in various fields, so job seekers must be very cautious. For example, iOS (opens in a new tab) with lowercase "i" represents the mobile operating system on an Apple iPhone, while IOS (opens in a new tab) with uppercase "I" is the dedicated system on Cisco routers.

Limited to our background, this guide summarizes some common spelling errors of proper nouns within the IT field.

Syntax

Compared with ordinary writing, there are some special grammar requirements for resume writing.

• generally use the past tense, but If you are describing the present work or education experience, use the present tense
• generally begin an item with a verb in the past tense, omitting the subject
• try to use simple and short sentences that are easy to understand, instead of long and complex clauses
• list education backgrounds and work experiences in flashbacks, and the time format should be accurate to month
• use the standard time format like "2015.05", or format that can be definitely interpreted, such as "June, 2016", instead of year abbreviations like "05/06", which can be interpreted differently in different countries

Here a list of 100 commonly used words in past tense in resume writing: