While you are cautioned to check your resume for factual errors, sometimes inadvertent errors get introduced. This can happen, especially when someone else is editing or critiquing your resume. The information on your resume is used for more than assessing whether you’re fit for a position. Once you are hired, this information may find its way onto a Web biography, into a company brochure or even on a SEC filing, as Yahoo’s CEO recently discovered to his dismay. Career information accuracy starts with the content you share on your resume.
Your resume will go through several incarnations over the development of your career. As you progress to higher level positions, it may be tempting to leave the proofing and fact checking of your CV, resume or career portfolio to a personal assistant. Do not make this mistake. Personal assistants come and go, but the inadvertent errors they may introduce into important documents such as your resume stick around. These errors can create career havoc for you, calling into question your credibility and your attention to critical details.
Check everything that is published about you and your career. It starts with your resume, but you also need to check the copy on the program that introduces you as a guest speaker and outlines your credentials. Make sure if you are being introduced at a conference or lecture that the host has your facts straight. This may not seem like a big deal until you realize that your lecture was taped and put on the internet with inaccurate details. People often assume that the “facts” they find on the internet are accurate, and they do not bother to do verify those facts on their own. An impeccable reputation is critical to your career success. Make sure that any information that is out there about you, starting with the content on your resume, is accurate.
