Best and worst words for your resume

NOT getting that job interview? You could be littering the wrong words throughout your CV. Use the right ones instead.

Know which words to use and which ones to avoid on your resume to land an interview for y

WHEN writing a resume, be careful with your words.

A new study from CareerBuilder revealed that 68 per cent of hiring managers spend less than two minutes reviewing each resume they receive, while 17 per cent spend less than 30 seconds reading each submission. With so little time to capture interest, a candidate’s word choice can make all the difference. When evaluating how a resume is written, those surveyed said they like seeing some words, while others that are an immediate turn off.

Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, said those in charge of hiring prefer strong action words that define specific experience, skills and accomplishments.

“Subjective terms and cliches are seen as negative because they don’t convey real information,” Haefner said. “For instance, don’t say you are ‘results driven.’ Show the employer your actual results.”

To help job candidates, the surveyed hiring managers identified the resume terms they think are overused or cliche, and which terms are strong additions.

WORST WORDS TO USE:

Some words are weak additions to your CV.

Best of breed

Go-getter

Think outside of the box

Synergy

Go-to person

Thought leadership

Value added

Results driven

Team player

Bottom line

Hard worker

Strategic thinker

Dynamic

Self-motivated

Detail oriented

Proactively

Track record

STRONG WORDS TO USE:

Active words which demonstrate results are looked upon favourably by hiring managers.

Improved

Trained/Mentored

Managed

Created

Resolved

Volunteered

Influenced

Increased/Decreased

Ideas

Negotiated

Launched

Revenue/Profits

Under budget

Won

The study was based on surveys of 2,201 hiring managers and human resource professionals across a range of industries and company sizes.

Originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.

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