Forbes recently reported on Career Builder’s best and worst words to use on your resume—The best and worst words to use on your resume. The list was created through a survey of more than 2,200 hiring managers and human resource professionals.
One surprising discovery made through the survey, reported Forbes, was the fact your resume may be getting more time in front of hiring managers. Typically, resumes would only get scanned 6-10 seconds. The survey revealed only 17% of hiring managers said they spend 30 seconds or less, and 68% said they scan a resume for as long as 2 minutes.
So, what does this mean? It means your resume really needs to show what you can do for the employer, not just tell them. You can accomplish this by being specific about your achievements. Instead of saying “Results-driven team player who adds revenue to the bottom line”, say something like “Exceeded budgeted revenue of new product 20% within 2 weeks of launch through collaborative effort with marketing team.”
One thing the article did not address, is what do you do when the job you are applying for has specific requirements like “detail-oriented” or “ability to self-motivate” and you know you’re submitting an application online that will be first be judged by keywords. One solution could be to list attributes to capture the keywords, but follow it with a specific accomplishment. For example, “Detail-oriented: Produced 12 live events in 2-month period, managing everything from reserving venue to following up with leads.”
The lesson to be learned from this, is even though there are words to avoid, there may be exceptions to the norm. And the same goes for the best words. Don’t overuse them because then they may end up on the list of words to avoid.
The worst words to use on your resume:
1. Best of breed
2. Go-getter
3. Think outside of the box
4. Synergy
5. Go-to person
6. Thought leadership
7. Value add
8. Results-driven
9. Team player
10. Bottom-line
11. Hard worker
12. Strategic thinker
13. Dynamic
14. Self-motivate
15. Detail-oriented
16. Proactively
17. Track record
The words hiring managers want to see:
1. Achieved
2. Improved
3. Trained/mentored
4. Managed
5. Created
6. Resolved
7. Volunteered
8. Influenced
9. Increased/decreased
10. Ideas
11. Negotiated
12. Launched
13. Revenue/profits
14. Under budget
15. Won
What words do you see on your resume the most? Which list are they in? Please share in the comments below.
