“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”—Mark Twain.

Last week, Grammar Girl* as much as gave permission to use the plural “they” as a generic singular personal pronoun. She said, “English doesn’t have a good singular pronoun to use when you don’t know the sex of the person you’re talking about.” That’s true, but a good writer will be able to work around the he/she issues and write a good sentence without using “they” (or “their” or “them”). She went on to say that “multiple credible style guides will back you up” [should you chose the plural pronoun route].

So what do you think? Is good writing important anymore? Should we just write as we speak? Should we bow to the Twitter generation? Is proper writing archaic?

I know I’m not the first to express concern for this “problem.” Yes, our language is continually evolving, but are we too often using that as a cop out? Or should we give it our best shot every day to use the appropriate words and use the proper punctuation?

Resumes come in to my office for review everyday with endless errors—periods inside quotation marks, capitalization for emphasis, and misused words. So the question is, do we care? Should we care? And if so, what are we going to do about it?

Jan Venolia in her book Write Right! says, “By making the reader’s job easier, you show respect. You show consideration. At the same time, you improve the odds of being understood and thus of communicating what you want to communicate.”

That’s why I write resumes. That’s why you want to hire a professional.

* Who is Grammar Girl? Mignon Fogarty provides quick and dirty tips for better writing. http://www.grammar.quickanddirtytips.com

I’ve been getting a lot of calls lately from people who insist they want a generic resume. “I don’t care what kind of job I get. I just need a job” or “I’m going to be applying for all kinds of jubs. Do I have to have a different resume each time I apply?”

Yup. ‘Fraid so. Maybe not a totally rewritten resume, but certaining a targeted focus. Can you imagine how many resumes employers are getting for each job posting? Do you think those employers have the time, the energy or the inclination to read between the lines as they skim over your qualifications? You’ll be lucky if they spend as much as 15 seconds on your resume initially.

Therefore, you’ve got to make that resume prove that you are the answer to all their employee dreams. Make the resume focused on the employer’s needs — not your history.

Sure, this all takes work. What? Did you think the job search process should be easy?

At today’s H.R. forum sponsored by the Resume Writers Council of Arizona, I was energized by the comments of the 3 H.R. professionals who reinforced much of what I’ve been telling my clients for years.

One of the biggest things for them is the lack of research and preparation. Candidates can’t just slap a resume together and expect a recruiter to get excited. Find out what the recruiter is looking for and persuade the reader that you can meet the requirements.

Recruiters are getting 750 resumes over a weekend for ONE JOB! How can you stand out? A professional resume writer knows how to highlight your strengths. Give me a call.

I’ve found in working with my clients that one of the most difficult elements of the resume process is understanding that the resume is NOT a history of their careers. Until I get their thinking turned around, all I get for information is job descriptions. A resume is not about the job; it’s about the candidates performance within the job parameters.

The resume is a sales pitch! You must convince the prospective employer that you will bring value to the organization.