Choosing the Right Words for Your Resume

Choosing the Right Words for Your Resume Choosing the Right Words for Your Resume With so little time to stand out, a candidates resume word choice can be aninterview-maker or adeal breaker. Achieved or excelled? Strong or superb? Here, hiring experts break down the dos and donts for each word you write1.Use Action VerbsAccording to Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, recruiters prefer strong action verbs to define specific skills and accomplishments. In a survey of over 2,000 hiring managers, words such as improved, negotiated, and launched were considered standouts on a resume.Search your resume for passive verbs like did and welches and replace them with more specific and engaging terms, like oversaw and represented. For examples, University of Michigans career center provides acomprehensive listof strong resume action verbs.2. Make It Job SpecificDont send out one single resume to all possible employers instead, make your resume specific to eac h position. Eye-tracking software proves that hiring managers spend 20 percent of their time looking for specific keywords in resumes thatmatch the open position. Indeed, some HR departments even use software to search for keywords across resumes and those that dont have the keywords get trashed before a human being even sees them.According to Pierre Drescher, founder of job-databaseThe Creative Loft, its essential to study the job posting and look closely at the kind of words they use to describe the position. This means that choosing the right words for your resume ultimately comes down to the specific position that you are applying for.3. Address Three ThemesZipRecruiter, which boasts a database of over 3 million resumes, recently conducted a study to determine which resumes earned top rankings from hiring recruiters.Three main themes emerged. Tesumes that were fruchtwein sought after online used words that impliedmanagement skills (not necessarily as a manager, but skills such as time management)a proactive approach to working (providing support, or responsible for clients) andproblem-solving skills (data, operation).4. Watch Your AdjectivesThe adjectives you choose to use on your resume should stand out without making it seem like you overused athesaurus. Grammarly, a proofreading company, analyzed 500 active job postings from 100 of the most profitable U.S. companies. According to their studies, the most common adjectives used on corporate listings were strong, energetic, strategic, competitive, creative, and effective. In turn, your resume should mirror these terms without repeating them. Try productive instead of effective, or dynamic for energetic. Check out Grammarlys infographic for resume adjectiveshere.5. Avoid ClichsJust as important as the words to include on your resume are the words to leaveout. To avoid having your resume sent straight to the trash, avoid words that overhype yourself or words that are overused across resumes. For instance, t he word expert is an immediatewarning sign according to recruiting director Debra Gioeli, because no one person knows everything about one topic.Similarly, results-oriented is meaningless without hard data to back up a job seekers experiences. Finally, words like hardworking, loyal, and dependable should be avoided even if they are true because they are consistently overused. An employer might simply skip over the clichs a dangerous habit when every word on a resume should be used to your advantage.Master the art of closing deals and making placements. Take our Recruiter Certification Program today. Were SHRM certified. Learn at your own pace during this 12-week program. Access over 20 courses. Great for those who want to break into recruiting, or recruiters who want to further their career.