Use Action Verbs on Your Resume

Your resume acts as a writing sample to the employer/recruiter. It is the type of work that you would do for the company. This is why I do not believe in writing the resume for people.  It needs to be in your voice. It is okay to ask for assistance, but at the end of the day it needs to be your work. If you get the job and your writing does not reflect the level of writing in your resume, guess what, you are not going to last very long at that job.

So let's do this right!

Use ACTION VERBS - These verbs will better define your activity of the task and can sometimes be industry specific. Using these words presents to the recruiter that you are a person who takes action on the job and develops a level of excitement in the task at hand.

Rules:

• Do NOT use overused expressions.
  • Team Player
    • How were you a team player?  
    • What did you do on the team?  
    • How large was the team?
  • Successful Record
    • Write out details of your successes.
    • Add in statistics.
• Do NOT use adjectives of self-praise.  These terms are all subjective.
  • Talented
  • Visionary
  • Hard Worker

Below is a list of Action Verbs to use on your resume. Now go write!

FREE! Download PDF of Action Verbs 

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Catch up on all the blogs in this series:

• Do I put my FIRST Experience on my Resume?
• Do I put my FIRST Projects on my Resume?
• Use Action Verbs on Your Resume!
• GPA... add it to your resume or not? 

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Written by Ilene Rein
President, Pounding Pavement 101
Partner/Recruiter, Marketing & Sales Resources, Inc.
FIRST Mentor, Judge, Volunteer