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5 Things to Do Before You Click Send

You’ve written a cover letter that highlights all your most impressive strengths, you’ve reviewed your resume again and again for typos and errors, and you’re finally ready to contact that employer to apply for a job. But wait! Here are five last-minute checks before you hit ‘send.’

1.  Are your documents in pdf format? Never send an employer a Word copy of your resume or cover letter. They may have a different version of Word that completely destroys your careful formatting. If your career advisor made comments on your resume electronically, or you failed to accept all changes made, the employer may be able to see all of your edits. Sending your documents in pdf format is simple and saves you from potential embarrassment.

2.  Have you spelled the firm’s name and the recipient’s name correctly? This is not something spell check will catch! Go back and double check, and watch for different spellings of common names (e.g. Bryan vs. Brian; Tiffani vs. Tiffany).

3.  Is your contact information correct? Your career advisor may have reviewed your resume multiple times, but she won’t know if you accidentally switched two numbers in your phone number. If your contact information is wrong, the employer won’t be able to reach you and will probably just move on to the next applicant.

4.  Have you named your document appropriately? Remember, the employer will see the name of the documents you’ve attached. Save your resume as Yourname.Resume. Save your cover letter as Yourname.Coverletter. Be sure you are not sending Smith Jones law firm a document saved as “Generic cover letter” or worse, “Cover letter for Peterson Miller.”

5.  Proofread one last time! We know you’ve already reviewed it a million times. Just look it over once more – it’s always worth it.