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Resumes: Periods on incomplete sentences?
jotate
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This is probably a "6 to one, half dozen to the other" question, but I thought I'd ask some more folks than just the one guy who disagrees with my opinion on it. When writing a resume with several bullet points that are incomplete sentences in that they have no subject, is it inappropriate to end them with a period? My friend says simply that they're not sentences, so they don't get periods. But really, they're incomplete sentences with an inferred subject of myself, so I feel like it's fine, and I actually prefer the structure to just leaving them without ending punctuation.
Samples, in case you're confused about the question:
vs.
Samples, in case you're confused about the question:
- Completed monthly balance reports.
- Facilitated in the acquisition of new clients.
- Alt-tabbed with ferocity in the presence of superiors.
vs.
- Completed monthly balance reports
- Facilitated in the acquisition of new clients
- Alt-tabbed with ferocity in the presence of superiors
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Another consideration I'd taken into it was the length of the bullet points. Some of them took fairly complex form, multiple lines and spanning into being every bit a sentence with the exception of the subject "I" at the start.
My concern stems entirely from whether an HR rep or recruiter would look at a resume out of a stack of 50, looking for something to turn them off very quickly like a typo, see a period at the end of every bullet point and decide that was enough.
Obviously, the argument could be made that you wouldn't want to work at a place that would do such a thing, but individuals are finicky and if Toby Flenderson has taught us anything, it's that HR people can't be trusted.
This. I've thought about this exact thing before. I don't like using a period, but think it looks better, so I do. But you need to be sure you do the same thing for every line whichever way you go.
Periods are not always required, but they are always correct.
Capitalization is not always required (maybe), but using it is always correct.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
Ex)
Sit down!
The subject of the sentence is implied -- 'you' sit down.
However, thats an imperative sentence, and the OP would be using declarative sentences, which do not usually have an implied subject. Your example works with an implied subject because the pronoun is "you" inferring that the speaker is talking directly to somebody.
I'm with the people that say don't use periods. It's not a sentence, so it shouldn't have a period, but as evidenced by the rest of this thread, I don't think you're going to find one "correct" answer.
In some rare cases, questions presented as bullets require their question mark, but it is best to view the question marker as integral to the meaning of the sentence, rather than as a point of punctuation.
I can always go check my copy of the King's English to see what it says, if you like.
Yes resumes don't follow regular punctuation rules, but bullets within resumes still follow standard bullet rules.
So the answer is simple. If the period makes the bullet points easier to read, include it. If it makes it more difficult to read, don't include it. If it doesn't make any difference to the difficulty of reading it, make a decision based on aesthetics.
Really, that's consistency within his wording rather than his punctuation though.
ie, He shouldn't have a list of bullet points where some are complete sentences and some aren't. Mainly because it will read retarded.
Punctuation consistency is of the utmost importance. In the past, I've not hired people base on inconsistencies in punctuation in their resumes. Your resume is a paper version of you that has to do all the talking to a potential employer. Failure properly, and consistently, format any part of it will look bad.
And once again, bulilets should never contain complete sentences in the first place. It defeats the purpose of bullets.
Depending on what you're trying to convey, bullets are completely appropriate to use on more than a sentence.
Not in a resume. If you have more than one sentence, the bullet should be split into two bullets. A cover letter's sole purpose is to extrapolate on any appropriate bullets. The resume is there so that an employer can size up a potential employee quickly.
The most important point is consistency and clarity. So you'll gain more brownie points by keeping the bullets short than you will lose by rubbing the reader up the wrong way in terms of full stops at the end of those sentence fragments.
If in doubt, use full stops to err on the side of caution. Interpretations of grammar are somewhat pragmatic, and different things look right or wrong to different people irrespective of how traditionally correct they are.
Personally I prefer the look of short bullets with no full stops. But I'd advise that you stick to using full stops throughout, and work instead on making the words punchy and efficient.
Never use exclamation points in a resume. Ever.
In the context of a resume, these are not really incomplete sentences. Elsewhere, they would be, but one of the rules of resume-writing is that you should never refer to yourself with personal pronouns, because it would be too repetitive and waste space.
Those sentences are technically complete because they begin with an understood "I." (I) alt-tabbed with ferocity in the presence of superiors. And so on.
So don't worry about complete/incomplete sentences. That's not the issue. It's really about your preferences for periods/no periods in lists, and consistency is also important.
I think you miss-understand me. Consistency in punctuation will follow from consistency in phrasing.
And exclamation marks...frankly, exclamation marks should never be used in any document anywhere, ever except when it is used to punctuate speech.
I should introduce you to my boss. Perfect punctuation (except for overuse of exclamation marks), but terrible grammar and phrasing. He's got a Physics degree he always uses as an excuse.
Edit: god damned necropost