Resume action words

Resume action wordsYou have heard it over and over again ?awell-written resume is a winning resume. Whatdoes that mean? How can you determine whether yourresume is written in a tone and style thatemployers will respond to? Synthesizing youreducational achievements, years of yourprofessional experience, and numerousqualifications you have acquired over the yearsinto one to two pages is not easy to accomplish.Every phrase or statement you write has to

convince your potential employer that you are thebest candidate for the job. To do so, you will needto use action or power word.Action words, or power words, are keywords (verbs)that add strength and positive implication toyour job responsibilities or qualifications.When you submit your resume to your potentialemployer, there are two scenarios that will occur.One, your application will be ran through acomputer software program, which searches yourresume for key terms as indicated by the employer.If your resume contains those key words, yourresume will be pulled aside for further review.Two, a hiring manager, or most often a humanresources associate, will receive a stack orresumes and scan through them quickly to pick outthose that stand out the most, again based oncertain key words. It should now be clear whythese action words are critical to your successin job hunting.

When listing your employment history, each job抯 responsibilities should be listed in bulletpoint form, with each statement starting with anaction word. Using power verbs or phrases willindicate to your employer that you are driven byaction and results, and that you can effectivelyarticulate your professional experience (thus,showcasing your communication skills).Here is a small sample of action words:- created- developed and implemented- managed- delivered- designed- facilitated- negotiated- coordinated- budgeted- acted- communicated- consulted, etc.

This is a very short sampling of action words.Many resources on the Internet contain extensivelistings of action words or phrases. Do someresearch and use only those terms that arerelevant to your field of experience. Your bestbet would be to locate samples of resumes byprofessionals in your industry. Review thoseresumes for ideas on how to list yourresponsibilities. Important note: do not copyexact statements from someone else 抯 resume;while you can do your research, you will want tomake your resume personalized to yourprofessional experience.Don 抰 fall into the trap of using the same actionword over and over. If you have in fact managedmultiple projects, you may want to be a bit morespecific about your role in each. For example,maybe you were the communication liaison in oneproject, while you were the project manager foranother task. Begin the first bullet point with

揷 ommunicated,?and the second bullet point with搈 anaged.?However, be aware of the words that youare using and consider their value in your resume.Do not go overboard with using varying terms,especially those that may change your role or yourresponsibilities.Additionally, you can find key action words in jobdescriptions. Review your resume against a jobdescription and make sure that all requiredqualifications are addressed in your statements.This will also help you identify action words thatthe employer uses, which you can in turn use tocustomize your resume or cover letter to thatspecific job.Always make sure that you are consistent in theway you list all of your responsibilities andqualifications, and make sure that yourstatements exude positive attitude and focus onactions and results. By doing so, you areguaranteed to create a winning resume that will