You really don’t know every day; a hiring manager has to go through how many resumes to select the best fit for the company. In such a situation, if you are not stand out from the competition, then it is quite difficult to get a job. It is obvious that hiring managers pay very less time looking at each candidate’s resume. So it is vital to design your resume in such a way that they can’t take their eyes off at the first view and will be bound to give a call for the interview.
Your resume acts as your representative, which gives them overall impressive ideas about you. So make your resume in a little more creative way. Add the most important information in resume bullet points. Along with this, it is essential to avoid weak and passive verbs because they can undermine the strength and effectiveness of your resume. Rather, you should use powerful, impressive words to describe what makes your resume impressive.
Now let’s read to know what those impressive words are.
Action verbs
Impressive words are powerful and unique, but they are all actually action verbs that express an action. In simple form, action verbs are doing words. On your resume, use action verbs to highlight your skills, experiences, and accomplishments. These verbs clarify your contributions and make the reader feel that you have really done and achieved something in the process. Hence it brings a confident tone to the resume, which ultimately captures the hiring manager’s attention.
List of action verbs or impactful words you can use on your resume for describing various things about yourself.
To showcase accomplishments:
- Achieved
- Attained
- Earned
- Succeeded
- Outperformed
- Demonstrated
- Reached
- Completed
- Showcased
- Surpassed
If you led a project/explain your responsibilities:
- Headed
- Chaired
- Coordinated
- Produced
- Controlled
- Organised
- Operated
- Programmed
- Planned
- Executed
- Supervised
- Delivered
- Initiated
- Guided
- Increased
- Volunteered
- Simplified
- Developed
To express communication skills:
- Briefed
- Composed
- Campaigned
- Documented
- Instructed
- Presented
- Promoted
- Convinced
- Collaborated
- Conveyed
- Counseled
If you have managed a team:
- Advised
- Arranged
- Aligned
- Cultivated
- Directed
- Inspired
- Mentored
- Motivated
- Regulated
- Mentored
- Shaped
- Mobilised
- Guided
- Enabled
- Ensured
- Enforced
- Forecasted
To mention creative experience:
- Customized
- Designed
- Edited
- Conceptualized
- Communicated
- Influenced
- Researched
- Modelled
- Drafted
- Inspired
- Illustrated
- Diagramed
- Transformed
- Strategised
- Transformed
If you have sales experience:
- Boosted
- Acquired
- Improved
- Expanded
- Maximised
- Converted
- Conserved
- Gained
- Negotiated
- Generated
- Yielded
- Outsapced
- Won
- Accelerated
For experience with finance:
- Audited
- Collected
- Calculated
- Classified
- Investigated
- Maintained
- Minimised
- Secured
- Lowered
- Equalised
- Halted
- Evaluated
- Dispensed
If you have technical experience:
- Architected
- Coded
- Detected
- Diagnosed
- Devised
- Formulated
- Discovered
- Installed
- Enhanced
- Launched
- Modified
- Programmed
- Networked
- Engineered
- Advanced
- Upgraded
- Tested
- Updated
- Troubleshoot
Tips to use action verbs in your resume
- Use relevant action verbs along with quantifiable results
Choose and write action words in combination with quantifiable results to show them what you did and what effect it had. This will then make your action verbs more impactful because they can easily understand your contribution to the final result.
- Make sure to write crisp and clear sentences using action verbs.
- Only write bulleted sentences.
- Make action verbs stand out.
- Use action words with relevance to the job description.
Examples of bulleted sentences with action verbs
- Contributed healthy content to the company with a focus on maximizing Call-To-Action.
- Managed and supervised a team as a project manager to ensure quality and on-time task completion.
