Choose Words Carefully for Resumes
Eliminate Empty-Worded Phrases, Create Meaningful Statements
Recruiters and resume experts everywhere repeatedly express the importance of including achievements in a resume. That's why it's important to create descriptive phrases.
Often when job seekers develop their resume they choose words that reflect the skills required by the job posting – words like organization, communication, project management, interpersonal and other skills.
On the one hand, it makes sense to include the skills requested in order to meet the posted job requirements. On the other hand, by mimicking these required attributes without further embellishing or personalizing them, candidates do themselves a disservice by creating empty-worded and vague phrases that leave the recruiter wondering what the job seeker is really all about.
With that in mind, here are three steps to help candidates create a more memorable image with their resume.
Review Job Postings for Best Skills
The entire purpose behind submitting a resume is to communicate in writing exactly what type of experience the candidate has AND how that fits with the employer’s current needs.
Vague claims of being “organized,” “detail-oriented” or a “team player” leave recruiters and hiring managers wondering exactly how. In their minds they are thinking, “Prove it.”
It is important to review job postings to determine what skill sets the company is seeking in candidates; however, it is then necessary to translate this information into demonstrable, vivid sentences that communicate the candidate’s past contributions and how they match up with these attributes.
Identify How Best Skills and Work Experience Intertwine
While job seekers should start by reviewing the job posting for important terms and skills that the employer is looking for in candidates, they then need to review their own background and work experience to see how these terms apply personally to them.
If the ad requests someone who can "handle complex analysis," job seekers need to consider when this occurred in their career. Or if it’s a “team player” the hiring manager requests, candidates need to make a list of every team they have been on and the results.
Candidates should select the best skills from the job posting and then brainstorm to identify all the times in their career they did something that would illustrate these traits.
Develop Action-Oriented, Specific Sentences that Paint a Picture
Visualization is crucial.
When job seekers indicate on their resume that they have “experience working in a fast-paced environment” a thousand different images can capture exactly what this means, so it is up to the individual to further explain the type of work experience and environment. That means be specific.
Instead capture the activity this way: “Responded to an average of 90 calls daily with a 98 percent first-call-resolution rate” or “Processed 125 applications per week with a zero default rate.”
Remember: a picture is worth a thousand words. So paint a picture for the recruiter and hiring manager. One they will be able to see with their own eyes.
