Take extra care when reviewing content

Errors look bad !

Twitter is full of blog links and other useful information for startups and job seekers.  The writers offer lots of advice and some articles are fun to read.  Startups create content they hope will attract customers and/or investors.  Job seekers prepare their resumes in hopes of finding the next opportunity.  There is a job shortage, investment funds are limited, and many companies have less money.  The combination creates a market more favorable for the consumer, investor, and company seeking employees. 

It is always best to have error free content, but people make mistakes and work product sometimes contains errors.  When the errors show in the final work product, it may send the wrong message.  In the words of a reader that caught a few of my errors,

 “it is extremely important in a tough competitive market to catch errors.  Resumes with inconsistent formatting or typos send the wrong message. I may get 10 resumes for the same job and they all may be equally qualified.  It can be the little things that make the difference when the margin in slim.”

The same holds for seeking investment, marketing products, or conducting any form of business.  Even blogs with errors may create problems by causing a reduction in readers’ confidence levels in the author. 

People make mistakes.  This can occur on occasion by failure to pay proper attention to the details.  Some individuals overlook the mistakes and look at the bigger picture while others have problems looking beyond the mistakes.  While mistakes do take place, finding ways to review the work and ensure it is error free serves to provide a better image to all.  Learning to take the hit for the mistakes and improve in the future is a value that enhances your image to many. 

Errors are irrelevant as far as the level of competition.  Elimination of errors is a task that we all must strive to accomplish. One can always correct work later, but it is much harder to correct bad impressions and you may never recover lost opportunities that arose from errors. For these reasons and more, do your very best to review and eliminate mistakes that will suggest to others you are not the person they want to hire or invest with.  You may not receive the position or the money, but at least it will not be for looking like a poor performer or that you do not care.  You only get one chance to make a first impression.  Check and double check your work, and then have someone else look over it if you can.  Why miss out because of a typo or worse!

 

Taffy Williams is on Twitter by @twilli2861.  Email questions to twilli2861@aol.com. More is available via his company website ,  photo website, or “LIKE” ColonialTDC on Facebook.  You can also find him in the group Startup Group on Linkedin. Other articles are in the Charlotte, NC- small business section of Examiner.com.