We just finished the NFL draft. The draft offers drama, excitement and the nail-biting tension of who gets picked and who doesn’t. Fortunes lay in the balance between players. The smallest differences in performance are magnified as the bosses and coaches make their decisions on who will get the coveted shot at being an NFL player.

Now imagine that a coach had a choice between two players. Both players are strong. Both players run fast and can catch the ball. The difference is that one player knows the rules of the game and the other doesn’t.

Which player will get the millions? Is there really any contest?

This story popped into my head recently as the draft ended. I was talking to a fellow professor who will remain nameless. He had attempted to arrange internship opportunities for some students. The students dutifully sent their resumes to the human resources department.

The HR department contacted the professor and, after some uncomfortable moments, said that they could not forward the resumes to the managers hiring for the internships. The resumes had typos and grammar problems and the department’s policy is not to consider such resumes.

Please tell your students that if they expect to play the game, they have to demonstrate they know the rules. That’s true of their resumes, their college entrance essays and the attention to detail they give to any task.