Resumes represent who you are as a professional and job seeker. Writing an outstanding resume that properly states your objective and describes your skills and experience can be a challenge. The basic components in a typical resume are the objective, which describes the job you are seeking; skills and experience, which explains what kind of job skills you possess and the years and type of experience you have in the industry; and education and certifications, which includes the knowledge and education you have pertaining to the job for which you are applying. These descriptions may vary depending on the kind of job you are seeking. When creating a resume there are certain words you should and should not include. There are specific words that are more descriptive and easier to understand.
Here are examples of some common words that may weaken your resume and other words and phrases you should avoid all together are:
“Responsible for”—this is too general and makes it sound like a duty not a responsibility. Instead list your accomplishments and the skills you used to perform your job.
“Successfully”—this sounds too much like bragging. Give concrete examples of your accomplishments and they should speak for themselves. Don’t use works like effectively and successfully, it sounds too much like you are trying to exaggerate.
“Assist, Contribute and Support”—all of these words are too vague. They raise the question of how? Use these words sparingly and follow up with a detailed description of how you did the tasks.
Never use flowery words or clichés. Keep your wording simple and to the point leaving no room for guessing or interpretation. Instead of “utilize”, say, “use” and instead of “contribute”, say, “add.”
Avoid abbreviation and acronyms. These can cause confusion and look like a word scramble.
Do not use negative words like boring, fired, hate and sexist. Your resume should be positive and these kinds of words can raise a “red flag” and kill your chances of an interview.
Never misspell any word. Make sure you spell check everything. Misspelled words can kill your chances of ever getting an interview.
Knowing the words you should not use can help you correct problem sentences in your resume. Some examples of problem sentences in a resume that should be changed or revises are:
Responsible for data entry, answering incoming calls, greeting customers and assisting office personnel.
Revision: Performed data entry operations, answered incoming calls, greeted customers and helped office personnel with miscellaneous tasks.
Successfully operated cash register, assisted customers with purchases and balanced cash receipts at the end of the day.
Revision: Operated cash register, helped customers with purchases and balanced cash register.
Duties include Internet research, creating and updating information, writing research analysis and keeping database current.
Revision: Researched marketing information on the Internet, updated information as needed, wrote research analysis, and kept database current.
The problem sentences above contained some words that weakened the statement and left questions in the mind of the reader. By substituting other words we made the sentence ready clearly and improved the quality and understanding of the explanation. By using words that are concise and simple you can make your resume easier to read and understand. Using the proper text can make a big difference when it comes to getting the job you want.
