Certain grammar errors would get my knickers in a twist if I owned knickers! I have some pet peeves and a red pen to boot as a former K-12 teacher.

ARTICLES

• Typically, bullet-pointed text should not go more than one to two lines, so some resume writers might eliminate articles a, an, or the if the text tips over to an extra line. You don’t want the one-word hanging widow or orphan all by itself on a line, so you gotta do what you gotta do and chop the articles.
• On LinkedIn, you can add the articles you chopped from the resume.

COMMAS

• Regarding the folks who write using the Associated Press (AP) Style for newspapers, magazines, and press releases, please note that resumes and LinkedIn do not fall into these categories. Review what an Oxford comma is and use it consistently in your writing. If you don’t, I still carry around my red pen from my K-12 teacher days and will circle them!
• Brush up on comma usage for introductory clauses or phrases, independent clauses, items in a series, non-restrictive clauses, commas to set off appositives, commas to indicate direct address, and commas for direct quotations. In addition, there are comma rules for addresses, dates, numbers, and titles.

EM DASHES, EN DASHES, AND HYPHENS

• You don’t have to worry about these dashes on your  LinkedIn profile, but you do on your resume. Know the differences between these three dashes and how they are used. Picture the little mini me sitting on your shoulder whispering “teacher with the red pen” in your ear. I will be circling all the longer em dashes because I much prefer the look of the en dashes on a resume and like the consistency of the little guys (aka the en dashes).

NUMBERS

• Typically, on career documents, numbers 1-9 are spelled with letters, and you can also include the numeral in parentheses afterward, but numbers ten and over are numerals. (e.g., supervised a team of nine (9) or supervised a team of 12).
• If there is a dollar amount or percentage with the numeral, the letters of the numbers, and only the numerals would be used ($4 or 8% or $6M or $2B).
• Some resume writers prefer to use zeros for the numbers in thousands, millions, or billions or write the word after the number, but I like the shortened versions of K, M, and B because I bold the numbers on a resume. (e.g., $3.5M vs. $3,500,000 vs. $3.5 million and not MM). The accounting and financial people have got their tomatoes out ready for me, but we are talking about career documents and not financial statements, so add the tomatoes to your salad.

PARENTHESES

• You well remember the rotary phone if you are a fellow boomer. It’s a thing of the past and ancient history, so why are you still using them around an area code in phone numbers? Modern technology for the one-tap phone number on a mobile device is the norm. Use dashes or dots between the set of numbers. I’m a “dash girl” myself! [e.g., 610-123-4567 and not (610) 123-4567]

PARALLEL STRUCTURE

• Use parallel structure for a consistent grammar pattern to make sentence structure more readable and provide a balance and common level of importance. For example, you pair a noun with a noun, a phrase with a phrase, and a clause with a clause.

NOT PARALLEL – A good friend is loyal, sensitive, and showing consideration. [two adjectives and a phrase]

PARALLEL – A good friend is loyal, sensitive, and considerate. [three adjectives]

PRONOUNS

• On a resume, you should not be using any pronouns. Write the document in first-person “implied I.”
• On LinkedIn, you can use first-person “implied I” and the pronoun “I,” as it’s your profile. Please do not write it in the third person like a BIO.

VERBS

• Use a verb consistently as the first word in every bullet point in your work experience, and never use “responsible for.”
• Verbs in the present tense should not be written in the third person. (e.g., use “manage” and not “manages,” since you would say “I manage,” and not “I manages”).
• Verbs in the past tense can be used for completed projects at your current job and for all work experiences in the past.
• Under the same work experience, do not use the same verb more than once. (e.g., not managed, managed, managed but managed, led, oversaw). Check out a list of over 300 verbs if you need ideas.

You might get twenty different answers if you ask ten resume and  LinkedIn profile writers to comment on these grammar tips. The aforementioned is my opinion, and I’m sticking with it!

Have you read the previous article, How to Handle Your Resume and  LinkedIn™  Transitioning To or From a W-2 to Entrepreneurship?

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