This is critical, especially the action verbs that you choose to use. For example, if you accomplished some particular objective, why use a verb like “met” when you could use “achieved” or “exceeded” instead? Also, typically you should start out each sentence with an appropriate verb rather than hide the verb in the middle of the sentence. Consider the following:
- Good management verbs – directed, managed, oversaw, led, supervised, assigned, chaired, founded
- Good administrative verbs – designed, developed, established, negotiated, executed, implemented
- Good accomplishment verbs – achieved, exceeded
- Good adjectives to describe yourself (cover letter, etc) – resourceful, innovative, action-oriented, self-motivated, creative
- Try to avoid (too passive) – participated, facilitated, arranged, influenced, analyzed, responsible for
See the rest of my series on Resume Writing here. I also have a related series for Job Hunting and one for Interviewing.
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