Is proofreading important?

You bet it is. I was at a meeting and one of the participants mentioned that he knew someone who worked in Human Resources at a large well known company. They receive about 1500 resumes per day, and yet they only give ten of them (that's less than 1%) serious consideration. Why? They are able to eliminate most of the submissions because they contain errors, such as typos and misspellings. So how should you proofread? One choice is to swap documents with a friend or colleague and read each others' work. Here are some other suggestions. As the author of this post points out, different strategies work for different people. Some of them are pretty obvious and well known, like limiting distractions while you read, and printing out a hard copy. Some were new to me, like reading the document backwards. Also, remember that we are all victims of certain bad habits, so you probably know which errors you are most likely to make. After all the time you take crafting a document, make sure to polish it up so it can be taken seriously.

Live and In Person!

Do you still meet face to face?Do you still talk on the phone? I hope so. Some things can be done well via Skype, or virtual conferencing, but some things are still best done face to face. Here's an article arguing for why face to face meetings will always have a place. According to a survey by Harvard Business Review, F2F meetings were more effective for building relationships, negotiating, understanding customers, and interviewing for high level positions. I find that some conversations are just a lot easier over the phone than via email.

I really just think this is pretty useful

Look at the subject of this post. It's full of filler words. This article from freelancewriting.com helps identify some words to leave out of your writing. The author makes several important points. For example, if you want to make a quantifiable claim, improve your credibility by using a real number instead of "a lot." Words like "just" and "really" can often be omitted without changing meaning. Good writing should be clear and concise. Convince your reader you can make your claims without qualification, and you'll win over more of your audience.