It’s time to activate your resume with some action words. Action words, or verbs, ignite an otherwise dull resume by setting your skills on fire – giving your credentials authority and power. Verbs are important to include on your resume since they show hiring managers what actions you’ve taken in previous jobs.

You’re being hired to DO something – so show what you’ve DONE in the past by preceding your skills and experiences with action verbs!

Finding the right verbs for your resume is also key to standing out above the competition and landing a job interview.
Finding Your 6 Action Verbs

It’s easy to find the right verbs to make your resume rock. Start by taking your desired job description and highlight the 6 verbs that best reflect what you offer a prospective employer. Depending on the job description and your experience, you may find 3 or you may 30. The point is to identify the actions employers value and match them to your qualifications. The idea is to tailor your resume and cover letter to the position.

For example, below is a sample job description for an administrative assistant containing 6 highlighted action verbs.

resumewords_administrativeassistantjob1

If you’ve applied to several jobs within the same area, you may notice the same verbs are repeatedly requested in your job descriptions. So be sure to use these verbs in your resume to capture the attention of hiring managers.

A word of caution though, using too many verbs can lead to buzzword overkill and harm, rather than help your chances of landing a job interview. No hiring manager likes a resume saturated with lots of action and little substance. When I’ve been on hiring teams, I’ve been know to yell, “bingo” when too many matchy words are buzzing in a job application. So choose your action verbs with care by starting with 6 and going from there.

If you’re having difficulty seeing how the verbs in a job description match your skills, try using the Make Your Match Worksheet to help activate your resume.
Using Action Verbs on Your Resume

You’ve found some verbs, now put them into action. The idea is to precede your skills and accomplishments with a verb, and hopefully end each statement with concise facts and figures.

For example, let’s look at a job description for a software developer. I’ve highlighted the 6 verbs that match the applicant’s skills best.

I’ve used a few bad words in my life. S$it, you probably have too. But when the wrong words appear on your resume, it sucks.

These sucky words are not of the four-letter variety. These words are common. They are accepted. They litter the average resume with buzzword badness. Hiring managers can identify sucky words in seconds, leaving your resume work worthless.

So how do you write a wicked resume without the suck? How do you turn the wrong words into right? To help you land the job interview, here’s how to spin the 6 sucky resume words into skills that sizzle.
1. Responsible For

My lips pucker and make sour sucking noises when I read “Responsible For” on a resume. Of course you’re responsible for something. But how many? How long? Who? What? When? Rather than waste the hiring manager’s time reading a vague list of responsibilities, be specific and use quantitative figures to back up your cited skills and accomplishments.

Employers want the numerical facts. Write percentages, dollar amounts, and numbers to best explain your accomplishments. Be specific to get the point across quickly. Prove you have the goods to get hired.

BAD

* Responsible for writing user guides on deadline.

GOOD

* Wrote six user guides for 15,000 users two weeks before deadline.

BAD

* Responsible for production costs.

GOOD

* Reduced production costs by 15 percent over three months.

The resume that avoids vague “responsibilities” and sticks to facts detailing figures, growth, reduced costs, number of people managed, budget size, sales, and revenue earned gets the job interview.
2. Experienced

Are you experienced? Sexy. Rather than cite Jimi Hendrix on your resume, pleeease just say what your experience entails. Saying you’re experienced at something and giving the facts on that experience are two very different approaches.

BAD

* Experience programming in PHP.

GOOD

* Programmed an online shopping cart for a Fortune 500 company in PHP.

Hiring managers want to know what experience, skills, and qualifications you offer. Do tell them without saying, “I am experienced.”
3. Excellent written communication skills

Yes, I realize this isn’t a single word but rather a phrase. This phrase must die. It’s on most resumes. Is it on yours?

BAD

* I have excellent written communication skills.

GOOD

* Wrote jargon-free online help documentation and reduced customer support calls by 50 percent.

If you’ve got writing skills, do say what you write and how you communicate. Are you writing email campaigns, marketing materials, or user documentation? Are you word smithing legal contracts, business plans, or proposing proposals? However you wrap your words, be sure to give the details.
4. Team Player

Are we playing baseball here? Unless you want to be benched with the other unemployed “team players” then get some hard facts behind your job pitch.

BAD

* Team player working well in large and small groups.

GOOD

* Worked with clients, software developers, technical writers, and interface designers to deliver financial reporting software three months before deadline.

If you want to hit a home run then do explicitly say what teams you play on and qualify the teams’ achievements.
5. Detail Oriented

What does detail oriented mean? Give the specifics to the details with which you are oriented. Please, orient your reader to the details.

BAD

* Detail oriented public relations professional.

GOOD

* Wrote custom press releases targeting 25 news agencies across Europe.

If you have the details, do share them with the hiring manager. Give the facts, the numbers, the time lines, the dollar figure, the quantitative data that sells your skills and disorients the competition.
6. Successful

Hopefully you only list the successes on your resume. So if everything is a success, then why write the s-word? Stick to showing your success by giving concrete examples of what you’ve done to be successful! Let your skills, qualifications, and achievements speak for you.

BAD

* Successfully sold the product.

GOOD

* Increased sales of organic chocolate by 32 percent.

When it comes to your successes, please don’t be shy. Boast your best, sing your praises, and sell your skills.
Final Words

There you have it. Six of the suckiest words (or phrases) commonly found on resumes today. By focusing on the facts, detailing the details, and qualifying your qualifications you may just land yourself the job interview.