Successful. Creative. Passionate.
Notice anything about those words? For one thing, they appear on various lists of “overused resume words,” along with many others.
Plenty of the same words pop up year after year, and here’s LinkedIn’s list published earlier this year – with a recommendation to “banish the buzzwords.”
Another thing many if not most overused words have in common? They’re adjectives.
Dynamic. Specialized. Driven.
Those words describe a person, but those words aren’t doing anything – except perhaps giving recruiters and hiring managers heart palpitations.
Rainmaker Resumes has a solution.
Use verbs
I just scanned a few of Rainmaker Resumes’ recent creations, and one thing jumped out at me.
We hammer in the verbs.
In fact, we include a “Key Accomplishments” section in most resumes, and those bullet points begin with verbs.
Here are a few examples of phrases Rainmaker might use:
- EARNED top company ranking for transitioning team to new agile framework
- DROVE profits 25 percent above goal every quarter
- TRAINED 1500 personnel on this subject
- INCREASED readership of online trade magazine 40%
- BUILT division from $0 to $15M with 30% profit
- LAUNCHED new xyz system in response to pdq problem
- GREW account from $200K to $800K over 2 years
One classic piece of advice to writers is “show, don’t tell.” Well, “successful” on your resume tells a recruiter what you think about you. “Drove” profits shows that you are indeed successful, but without using the cliche.
Start with a number in mind
If you can quantify an achievement, you can probably attach a verb to it. And in fact, Rainmaker also recommends quantifying key accomplishments as much as possible.
Say you’re a project manager who pulled off a $2 million building rehabilitation. You are indeed a specialized and results-oriented project manager.
But “specialized” leads the list of words to avoid in 2017, and it doesn’t tell the story. Instead, try this something like this:
- ORCHESTRATED $2 million building rehabilitation on time and under budget
Cheering for verbs
A few years ago, CareerBuilder surveyed hiring managers for best and worst words. Every single word that landed in the “best of” collection is a verb. Here’s the list so you can see for yourself.
Now, go outside and play
It’s summer, and your job hunt might not be on your front burner. Even if it is, you’ll be a better candidate if you take care of you and feel fully engaged.
Run. Bike. Swim.
Nap.
When you’re ready to update your resume, “banish the buzzwords,” and lean on verbs.