Boring Verbs to Resume Power Words
Your resume is boring. My first resume out of college was boring. I didn't like to brag about myself, nor had I done enough yet to have a track record. The person that interviewed me and later hired me was right. It was boring.
Even when I look at my old resumes from the 90's, they lack depth, insight,and wouldn't be able to compete in today's competitive job market(Fortunately, I only needed one resume in the 90's). In order create abuzz worthy, compelling, and competitive resume these days, you have use active, descriptive verbs to describe your contributions to the companies you worked with. Using "Job responsibilities includes..." or"Job duties included..." just allows you to enlist your job description, but it really doesn't tell your accomplishments.
I listed some examples of words that can spice up your resume:
- Rallied not coordinated: Rallied all of the call center supervisors to address successes and failures of the previous day's goals
- Tackled instead of handled: Tackled daily and monthly statistics to track call trends in response to the number of comments received on the website
- Forecasted instead of predicted: Forecasted sales for the month using last years to date sales often resulted increase of $50 to $200
- Employed not utilized: Employed the help of management staff to answer the overflow of calls during peak holiday hours
- Boosted not assisted: Boosted efforts to ensure 100% compliance with schedule changes by monitoring time card "swipe-ins"
The right active verbs are compelling and attention grabbing. Know the difference between using imagery (although not always bad), and adding power to your descriptions. Keep in mind the basic principles in writing a resume. Stick to the facts, highlight your accomplishments,quantify your results, but ignite your resume with lively descriptive words.
Other useful resources:
ReadyResumes.com
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