How to consolidate your professional reputation: Part 3

Susan Pierotti, Creative Text Solutions This series on how writing can consolidate your professional reputation will continue with the subject of CVs. In the previous blog we discussed why you need to have good spelling, grammar and punctuation, focusing on punctuation. Let’s now look at spelling. Spelling Not every one is a good speller. There are several reasons for that. You may be dyslexic, you may have had poor eyesight in primary school that wasn’t noticed, you may have had inadequate teaching. Bad spellers include people like Richard Branson and former US presidents. Did you know that Shakespeare spelt his name 23 different ways – and not one of them was ‘Shakespeare’? Some rely on the spellchecker function on their computer. Spellcheckers are valuable aids but have their limitations. Say you want to type the word food but your finger slips and you type good instead. Both words are perfectly spelled so the wiggly red line won’t appear underneath – yet you have misspelled the word food. Being an indifferent speller is not a failing, but negating the need for good spelling, relying on the spellchecker and not seeking out a wiring professional to assist you, is. 4 spelling tips Here are some spelling tips to add value to your CV: 1 Affect/ Effect Affect = influence. The pay freeze affected the workers’ morale. Effect = result. The pay freeze effected a beneficial financial outcome. [caption id="attachment_233" align="alignleft" width="150"] It's wagging its tail[/caption] 2 Its/ It’s Its = belongs to an object. The dog wags its tail. It’s = It is. It’s your dog that wags its tail. This error is so common but its soooo easy to rectify! If you can say the sentence using ‘it is’, then stick in an apostrophe (e.g. It is your dog that wags its tail.).  Otherwise leave it out.   3 They’re/ there/ their They’re = they are. There = opposite of ‘here’. Their = belongs to them. They’re over there on their bikes. 4 Precede and proceed Precede = to come before, a position. The bride processed down the aisle. [caption id="attachment_234" align="alignright" width="150"] The flowergirl precedes, the bride processes[/caption] Proceed = to begin or continue, an action. The bride was preceded by the flowergirl. If it helps, think precedence and procession. Anything that takes precedence is more important and therefore comes first; a procession begins somewhere, passes you and then continues on. If you’re still unsure of your spelling prowess, contact a writing professional to help you. Creative Text Solutions is a writing business for all your writing needs. My job is to make you sound great! Please contact me at info@creativetext.com.au for further information.