Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EnhanceYourResume Included)
So letstake a step back in time and take you on a little trip down
memory lane to a favorite game we all used to play in school.
Then youd take that list of seemingly random words and use them
to fill in the blanks in an otherwise normal story..but because you
had no idea what the words were being used for, youd end up with
wacky stories about things like the time you babysat 200 purple
watermelons, or that time you went to the zoo to see the
dancing pizzas with your crazy rainbow Mohawk wearing
uncle?
The great thing about these games was it got you thinking of words
in fun and new ways and the more you played, the more
outrageous youd try to make them. If youd just gone straight to
the story and filled it out normally it was pretty much guaranteed
that youd end up with a fairly boring, run of the mill tale.
Now, were not suggesting you start filling out your resumes and
cover letters using this exact technique, but what we want you to
do is start thinking outside the normal box and expanding your
vocabulary using our favorite type of words, action verbs!
UsingActionVerbstoEnhanceYour
Resume&CoverLetter
Verbs are words that help to describe an action, such as ran, threw,
jumped, just to name a few. Go ahead, take out your resume and
cover letter and take a good look at it.
I bet its peppered with words like led and organized. You might
even have a spearheaded, or delegated in there.
How many times did you use verbs in your conversation with the
hiring manager? Did you tell them you led your team or that you
improved a method? These are great verbs, but theyre also really
really
Tired.
Instead of using boring old verbs, try using cover letter and
resumeaction verbs(also known as resume action words) instead.
WhatAreActionVerbs?
What are action verbs? Well, theyre basically verbs on steroids!
Theyre words that arent used as often as the old tried and true
verbs we see in resume after resume and rather than simply
describing an action, theyre a dynamic and powerful way to
describe an otherwise normal activity.
Confused?
Dont be. Here, well play another game to make this a little easier
to understand.
Every time they come across an old and tired verb, the group takes
a shot. Verbs that are particularly overused are verbs like
motivated (take a shot), innovated (take a shot), managed (take a
shot) and organized (take a shot).
Now, go back and look at your resume and cover letter again. How
many shots would our tipsy hiring manager barflies take just
looking at yours alone? Ouch.
Luckily its easy to go through and replace these tired old verbs with
action verbs that will help shake up the status quo (and give our
tipsy barfly hiring managers a break from their drunken shot fest).
ImplementingYourActionWordsCorrectly
Before we go any furthera few words of warning: you have to make
sure youre using words that are appropriate, not just flashy.
You always want to set yourself apart from the rest of the
applicants as long as its for the right reasons.
So how do you know which action verbs to use and which ones to
save for your story writing class?
TheBestScenariosForUsingActionVerbs
Go through these scenarios and action verbs lists and see where
you can kick your own resume and cover letters up a notchand
then take those some powerful action verb phrases in with you
when you sit down face to face for your interview!
Scenario:Youreamanager.
Tired verbs: led, motivated, managed, enforced, organized
Scenario:Youworkdirectlywithclients.
Tired verbs: talked, supported, dealt
Scenario:Youreacorporatetime/moneysaver.
Tired verbs: saved, improved
Scenario:Youreaninnovator.
Tired verbs: improved, streamlined, organized
Action verbs: Clarified, integrated, modified, overhauled,
redesigned, restructured, transformed, adapted, debugged,
regulated, restored, fabricated, remodeled
Scenario:Youreacommunicator.
Tired verbs: wrote, spoke, relayed
PuttingitAllTogether
See where were going with this?
So, take that old resume and that old cover letter and give thema
good once over, being careful to identify the tired verbs youve
been using.
Pull out those tired and worn verbs and kick it up with a few well
placed action verbs!
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