Writing action packed resume with Action Verbs.

Run away from these 10 resume action words

Before we begin, this can’t be overstated enough, the focus should be on demonstrating your merits. Instead of trying to sound smart with sesquipedalian words, using simple words to substantiate the expertise you accumulated in your career by solving something, improving something or changing something that benefited the employer. Now, if you do that by carefully selecting even the simplest success verb to write your resume bullet points, it would work like black magic! The library of our vast action words will effortlessly make yours better as you tell your story.

The statements in your resume should be in its simplest form. And the way to do it is to keep it clear, concise and compelling, so, as they read between the lines, it starts to paint a persuasive picture about your merit. Thus, you end up convincing the employer about how well you match with the job and soon the interview call comes ringing.

They get hit by a horse tranquilizer every time they see one of these words. So, try to avoid these overused tropes, they’ve been used and abused so many times, it lost its originality. Treat these words as enemy of the state!

Success verbs for a successful resume

See, we use action verbs to write high impact resume bullet points. Resume bullet points makes up nearly 80% of our resume. So, you better take attention on how to write one with clarity that is compelling, clear and convincing. Writing action packed bullet points requires you to be mindful of the following. Let’s make some firework in your resume.

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Be very picky with words

Always use formal language and be very selective with your words. So, your sentence sounds polished when its finished. Please don’t use informal words like fussy, picky, snazzy, spammy or loaded etcetera, it’s not the place or time to crack a funny Facebook post, sharing a laugh with 500 friends. Exception applies however, if you’re in professions that allows expressing personality such as graphics designer, copywriter, barista or bartenders etc.

How to handle esoteric terms and acronym in your resume

Don’t choose words that stretches someone else’s vocabulary, or construct very complex sentences, this isn’t recommended, unless of course, you’re a civil engineer and it requires using technical terms, though it should be recommended to avoid acronym, unless you know the term will be used up more than once. To save up precious space in your resume, spell them completely the first time, for example, write Social Media Marketing (SMM), but when you use it onwards, you can just use the acronym SMM. Also, avoid abbreviated words.

Use numbers like your life depends on it

Number is the magic punch in a resume that delivers a knockout blow. Use numerical figures to demonstrate your success for a particular task. In an ocean of words numbers are like pearls. They truly pop out of the page. For example, “Managed a team of six strong sales team to generate record results”, instead say “Led a team of 6 strong salesman to deploy marketing strategies which generated record quarterly revenue of $2.7 million”

Resume bullet point formula

How to write resume bullet points that hits bullseye big time? Well, that’s why we have here for you a cracking cheat code! Let’s get to the good part, shall we? The formula that reveals how to write a powerful bullet point that score like a checkmate. The aim is to turn tasks into actionized achievements. Employ the AAA method (APPLY-ACTION-ACHIEVE)

1. Apply action words from our list and keywords from the job description.
2. What action did you take?
3. What did it achieve for the company? Quantify it.

Now let’s put it into action, shall we?

Action verbs list

This is only an excerpt from our action words booklet. Here we’ll attempt to cover some of those words. It should be noted they are not a substitute or a synonym, our comprehensive action verbs PDF will give you a great range of ideas to get your choices flowing freely like a finely aged wine.

You’re in a position of finance or accounting, and looking for a better word for analyzed.

You’re in a position of data scientist or journalist, and looking for a better word for data collection.

You’re in a position of HR or an office cleric, and looking for a better word for checked.

You’re in a procurement or hold a managerial position, and looking for a better word for outcome.

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