120 Powerful Resume Words For Your Next Job

One word can indicate and describe many more; use the capability of one word to provide full explanations to crush the size of your resume text but remain rich in information

One of the issues I encounter, as a resume writer, when reviewing amateur job seeker’s resumes are descriptions loaded with subjective, misleading inclusivity, or passive language.  Examples are … performed ‘flawlessly;’ … conducted ‘all’ tasks; or ‘hand-picked’ to be (job title).  Or the resume owner adds filler terms … ‘in order to,’ and unnecessary words – ‘the’ or ‘that’, or ‘subject to all the policies and procedures of…’

One may perform a job to minimum standards, but no one is perfect. You may have completed tasks for which you are responsible, but you haven’t completed ‘all’ the tasks – you are part of a team. You were handpicked, but did you actually do the job?  These phrases and terms are ambiguous and misleading.

Even worse, the job seeker provides minor details about job tasks or talks about what the company does versus what they did.  A resume is supposed to be, first, a synopsis of a job seeker’s most vital achievements in the described position, and second, a teaser for the hiring manager to entice them to bring in the applicant.

Resumes are shorthand descriptions of metrics-based achievements for the company (employer).  Don’t regurgitate the ad words for the posted job. Keep the wording rich. Make one word equate to two, three, or four words.  The following list is power words and action verbs to start a resume bullet. Describe in one word what to hiring managers can interpret as job related achievements. Each of the rich power words should be followed with a brief description linked with a metric to ‘show, not tell.’

Here’s an example of a simple job – waitress – where the resume may initially read: Took food orders, served food, provided sales ticket, operated cash register, bussed tables, cleaned kitchen.  This is boring, and tells the hiring manager you were ‘just a waitress.’ By using power verbs and providing metrics, the hiring manager will be more interested in this candidate. Rewritten example:

• Responsible for up to five tables, per six hour shift, four nights a week, with an average of two parties per table nightly
• Served dinner menu to an average of four guests per table, for an average head count of between 25-30 dinner guests per shift, with sales tickets averaging $240 per table
• Assisted nightly in register close-out, with 100% balanced drawer every shift
• Bussed tables, cleaned table area (sweep, dust), wrap >100 sets of silverware, and clean >100 square feet of kitchen food station within 30 minutes of closing

This richly worded resume demonstrates the job seeker looking for a dinner waitress job has the proven capability to make the manager’s job easier and solve the problem of finding a qualified, and hard working, candidate.  Recruiters love these rich capability descriptions, and get excited about the metrics.

Use these power words and verbs in the next revision of your resume.  Crush the wording down to a minimum and save your white space to talk about how wonderful you are as a worker.  The more examples you can provide, the better.

Dawn Boyer, Ph.D., owner of D. Boyer Consulting – provides resume writing, social media management and training, business development, human resources consulting, and print-on-demand author coaching and consulting. Reach her at: Dawn.Boyer@DBoyerConsulting.com or https://dboyerconsulting.com.