The Golden Verbs Every Resume Must Have
Whether you realize it or not, your resume is the first window of opportunity you have to make a great first impression on a potential employer. According to a recent study by Ladders, recruiters spend just 7.4 seconds on a resume before deciding whether they should call the candidate in for an interview or toss the resume to the pile of rejected ones sitting on their desks.
Employers, especially big corporations, receive large volumes of applications from interested candidates when they announce a job vacancy. Since they do not have the luxury of time to go through each one in detail, they tend to quickly scan through resumes to decide which candidates are worth looking into. So if you want to be offered an interview, you have got to make sure that your resume really stands out.
What Exactly Do Recruiters Look For In A Resume?
We have all received advice—whether it is from friends, career counselors in university, or recruiting experts—on how to write a resume. They taught us to use clear formatting, include a concise objective, add in educational background, highlight accomplishments, and keep the entire document within two pages among other things. While these tips are certainly useful and practical, there is one important piece of information they all tend to miss.
Using power-packed verbs to describe your work experience and accomplishments are just as important as, if not more important than the other must-dos when putting together a resume. Since recruiters spend only about 7 seconds scanning through the document, the words that you include can either help you stand out or blow you out of the water, and there is no better way to keep your recruiter’s eyes glued to your resume than by using action verbs dripping with determination and confidence.
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What Are The Golden Verbs Your Resume Must Have?
When recruiters gloss over resumes, they see phrases beginning with the following verbs over and over again to the point where those verbs eventually lose their meanings:
Assisted
Handled
Led
Managed
Responsible for
Worked
These verbs are, more often than not, too vague and fail to accurately describe work experience and accomplishments.
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Here are a few strong and compelling action verbs with specific meanings that you can use instead to impress recruiters:
Accelerated
Administered
Advanced
Controlled
Counseled
Developed
Devised
Directed
Enforced
Executed
Expanded
Formulated
Implemented
Initiated
Launched
Maximized
Mentored
Operated
Pioneered
Produced
Programmed
Spearheaded
Trained
Transformed
You know better than any anyone about your work experience and accomplishments, which is why it is important to convey your worth using the right language so that recruiters know it too.
As a next step, go over your resume and reword it so it packs a punch. Good luck on your job hunt!
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