Using periods in your resume seems straightforward, doesn’t it? Don’t you just plunk one at the end of each sentence or line?
No, actually, you don’t. Whether you use a period at the end of a bullet point depends on whether what you’ve expressed is a complete sentence or just a fragment. Or, if you’re writing an abbreviation, sometimes periods are used and sometimes not.
You don’t want to put a period where it doesn’t belong. Having mistakes in your resume is not good form when you are trying to impress your future employer. Instead, read on to learn the rules for periods with complete sentences, fragments, and abbreviations so that your resume can be punctuated perfectly. Then, you’ll know when to use a period (and when not to) for an error-free resume.
Note: This post is the fourth in my “Punctuation Perfection” series, written to help you get your resume into flawless shape. I’ll share common punctuation mistakes and the rules you should be following. From remembering your commas through formatting with pipe marks, adhering to these guidelines will improve your chances of getting an interview.
If you want all the punctuation rules right away, with examples from real resumes, purchase my e-book “Punctuation Perfection for an Error-free Resume: 20+ Rules You Might Be Breaking.” (Coming soon.)
What are periods anyway?
A period is a punctuation mark that ends a complete sentence and is used for some abbreviations. More often than not, you’ll want to put a period at the end of each bullet point in your resume, with the exception of incomplete sentences. Abbreviations often do not require periods, but I will outline a few important rules to know.
Complete Sentences
Most bullet points are complete sentences with a subject, verb, and complete thought and get a period at the end. You might scratch your head at this and think the subject is missing because pronouns are not written in resumes for brevity. The subject, I, is inferred.
For example, there is no I in the following sentence, but it is still complete and requires a period at the end.
Wrote literacy curriculum for beginning reading skills.
You can determine whether your bullet point is a complete sentence by temporarily reinserting the pronoun. The above example then reads like this:
I wrote literacy curriculum for beginning reading skills.
Now, you can clearly see that there is a subject, verb, and complete thought. As a complete sentence, it gets a period at the end. Just make sure you remove the pronouns from your resume before submitting it.
Incomplete Sentences/Fragments
If a bullet point is missing a subject or verb or is not a complete thought (like a list), it’s a fragment (not a complete sentence). Omit a period to be grammatically correct.
For example, the bullet points in this resume’s Professional Associations section have no verbs and will not have a period at the end of each line.
Professional Associations
· Homeless Services Consortium (HSC), Chair (2013), Co-Chair (2012)
· Community Development Block Grant Committee (CDBG), Commissioner (2005–2007)
· Second Chance Workshop, Fair Housing, Screening and Evictions, Presenter (1996–2007)
A list of hard skills would not get periods, like in this example:
- Scrum
- JUnit
- Git
- jQuery
- SQL
- HTML
- HTML + CSS
Since each line is only comprised of a noun without a verb and complete thought, there are no periods after the words in the list.
Regarding quotes, periods go inside the quotation mark in the US, but in the UK, they go outside.
Abbreviations
Sometimes abbreviations get a period, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes periods are optional. This might sound confusing, but the following rules will help.
Here are items that get periods:
· Latin abbreviations (e.g., i.e., etc.)
· Titles before or after a name (Mrs., Dr., Jr.)
They are not needed for:
· State abbreviations (WI, IL, CA)
· Common units of measurement (mph, mp3)
· Government agencies (FBI, CIA)
· International organizations (UNICEF)
These can go either way:
· Academic titles (M.D./MD, Ph.D./PhD)
· Time of day (a.m./am, p.m./pm)
· Time referring to years (B.C.E./BCE)
When using periods in abbreviations, use them after each letter, as in this example for Bachelor of Science:
Incorrect: BS.
Correct: B.S. Or, BS
Paying attention to the periods you use for sentences and abbreviations on your resume will help you to have a document that looks just right.
I hope you found this week’s post on periods helpful for creating an error-free resume. Stay tuned for part two next week, where I discuss rules about semicolons and colons.
P.S. If you don’t want to wait, get all the punctuation rules right away in my e-book “Punctuation Perfection: 20+ Resume Rules You’re Probably Breaking.”
Kristin S. Johnson, CJSS, CCMC, COPNS, CG3C, CBBSC
Job Search Coach and Resume Writer
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