When writing your resume, you will naturally tend to use lots of adjectives, and there are some good ones to be sure. But adjectives, although having a necessary place, can seem forced, artificial, over inflated, or even passive, especially if they're not well used. Too many adjectives, or the wrong choice of adjectives, can make your resume or C.V. seem unprofessional, inexperienced, clumsy and even lazy.
Your resume is a very important document. It sells who you are to the prospective employer; and must compete against many others, including those professionally written and edited. So here are some tips to help give your resume a fighting chance.
Verbs are powerful, have authenticity and energy about them. Verbs engage the reader in a positive manner. That's what you want. You want the personnel manager, office administrator, boss or whoever is tackling the job of employing new staff members, to feel positive when reading your resume or C.V.
The following sample list of verbs can be used as either present tense or past tense. However, present tense can be difficult to maintain and tends to have less impact on the reader. Therefore, try to use past tense wherever possible with the exception of explaining/demonstrating tasks and abilities which you are currently undertaking.
It is also a good idea to choose verbs which are more specific to the industry in which you have experience and/or are seeking a new position. Most of the words in the following list are suitable across industries and can be applied to almost any resume to make it more impactful. Of course your resume still needs to fit together logically, be well written and will need a thorough proofread.
TIP: To give yourself the best possible opportunity and advantage, what you need are verbs and 'I' statements.
LIST OF ACTIVE VERBS (Sample):
Accentuated, accumulated, achieved, acquired, acted, activated, actuated, adapted, addressed, administered, advertised, advised, affected, affiliated, allotted, altered, answered, anticipated, apprised, approved, arranged, arbitrated, ascertained, assessed, assisted, attained.
EXAMPLE:
Neutral: This position involved chairing meetings between clients, the accounting department and advertising executives.
Positive: I regularly scheduled and chaired meetings between clients, the accounting department and advertising executives.
ACTIVE VERBS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH CARE (Sample):
aided, assessed, assisted, calmed, cared, catered, clarified, counselled, cured, detailed, determined, diagnosed, educated, encouraged, expedited, facilitated, helped, maintained, medicated, modified, nursed, quarantined, reassured, referred, rehabilitated, screened, secured, served, stabilised, supported, sustained, trained, treated.
* This is a short excerpt from my Too-Write! eBook: "Using the right words for your resume", which includes a more comprehensive list of active verbs, industry specific verbs, further tips and many useful examples for improving your resume or C.V.
