Top 200 Most Powerful Resume Words (With Examples)

When you write a resume to sell your talents, every word counts. Overuse of clichés, meaningless phrases or unnecessary words can lead your resume to being trashed, even if you’re a great candidate for the job!

The worst and the best words to use

According to Forbes.com, top 3 words recruiters hate to see in your resume are: ‘best of breed’, ‘go-getter’ and ‘think outside the box’. But these are not only resume killers. Think about the action words you start the bullet points with. Most people overuse ‘responsible for’, ‘managed’ and ‘developed’ so much that the recruiter finds it impossible to get their point and reach their talents, achievements and potential.

As you see, when it comes to your resume, quality writing is everything. Poor writing along with excessive use of cookie-cutter phrases won’t gain you an interview.

Don’t know how to quality rewrite your resume and which words to use? Check our list of powerful resume words. These are the motivating, inspiring words making the reader interested and involved into what you’re writing – and hiring managers will be happy to see them on a resume. And, accordingly, they will maximize the punch your resume gives quite fast.

200 Powerful resume words

Absorbed Accelerated Accomplished Achieved Addressed Administered Advanced Advertised Analyzed Announced Appointed Appraised Approved Arbitrated Arranged Articulated Assembled Assessed Assigned Attained Attracted Authored Balanced Bargained Beneficial Benefited Bolstered Boosted Budgeted Calculated Chaired Clarified Closed Collaborated Committed Communicated Comply Composed Condensed Conducted Conferred Considered Consolidated Consulted Contacted Contributed Controlled Converted Conveyed Convinced Coordinated Corresponded Created Critiqued Decided Defined Delegated  Demonstrated Designed Detected Devoted Distinguished Diversified Earned Efficient Emphasized Encourage

Enforced Enhanced Enriched Established Evaluate Examined Exceeded Excelled Executed Explored Facilitated Financed Forecasted Formulated Fulfilled Gained Gathered Generated Granted Guided Handled Headed Helped Hired Hosted Ideas Identified  Implemented Improved Incorporated Increased/Decreased Influenced Initiated Innovated Inspected Instituted Integrated Interpreted Investigated Justified Launched Lectured Led Listed Located Lobbied Logged Maintained Marketed Maximized Measured Mentored Merged Modernized Motivated Multiplied Negotiated Observed Obtained Operated Organized Originated Overhauled Planned Presented Prioritized

Produced Programmed Projected Promoted Provided Qualified Quantified Quoted Reacted Recommended Recovered Rectified Refined Reinstated Rejected Represented Resolved Restructured Retained Revamp Revenue/Profits Revised Safeguarded Saved Scheduled Screened Secured Segmented Selected Simplified Skilled Spearheaded Specified Standardized Streamlined Strengthened Structured Suggested Superseded Supervised  Supported Sustained Targeted Taught Tested Trained Trained Trained/Mentored Transcended Translated Triumphed Troubleshot Tutored Uncovered Under Budget Unified United Updated Upgraded Utilized Validated Valued Viewed Volunteered Won Worldwide Wrote

How to rewrite your resume using powerful resume words

Now, when you’ve got a list of working, high-impact resume words, it’s time to incorporate them in your resume. Here are a few example of how to turn weak statements into strong using words from the list.

Instead of:

Led sales team and increased sales

Try the following:

Supervised a sales team of 5 and boost sales by 25% annually

Instead of:

Trained staff and hired new team members

Write as goes below:

Authored and implemented a new training program and

Streamlined the hiring process which resulted in 14% revenue growth

Another poor example:

Responsible for negotiations with vendors

And good one:

Negotiated 3% discount for the next shipment with vendors

If your resume says:

Developed marketing strategy for the new company product

Make it sound like this:

Marketed new product through Facebook and increased sales by 22%

Why words matter?

As you see, simply putting the wrong action verb (or phrasal verb) at the beginning of your bullet points, you can dramatically reduce your chance for an interview call. So, if you caught yourself using weak verbs or overusing something like “managed”, it’s high time you reworked your resume. Now, as you have the list of strong resume words, let me show you how exactly these words will make your resume better.

• They show your real impact on business
  it’s much easier to say that you were ‘responsible for’ something. Still, these words demonstrate where you succeeded – and this is exactly what the HR manager wants to know.
• They let you stand out from the crowd
  not many candidates use variety of action verbs. No doubt that those who do are one step ahead and deserve far more attention
• They demonstrate your intelligence

While the HR hasn’t seen you in person, the resume sheet is your face. When your resume demonstrates a perfect writing style, the HR manager thinks about you as a worthy candidate.

It’s time to get started!

The word list above will help you take your resume to the next level. You can also consult All resume tips in one to fix other issues your resume might have.

Hesitant about how to make your resume better? Contact our resume writing specialist to ask for a free critique of your old resume to find out which aspects of your resume should be improved. It’s quick – usually takes less than 24 hours – and totally free of charge!

Resume buzzwords  vs. power words

Uniqueness is becoming extremely valuable today. Routine tasks are mostly implemented by automated programs while one-of-a-kind solutions belong to talented humans. The same is about resumes. When it deals with top-rated companies and the highest positions, a job seeker needs a well-thought-out resume without cliches and buzzwords. It should be a unique story presenting his/her specific skills and achievements in accordance with the chosen job description.

The role of a tailored resume

Even a brilliant resume sample or a perfect cover letter template should not be used blindly. Firstly, experienced recruiters already know all of them. Secondly, such templates do not fully describe your professional capacity. Instead, try to pick the most suitable resume power words in accordance with your professional field, job, and career goals.

Resumes and cover letters where every word is weighed contribute to your career success:

• they are evidence of your serious intentions and respect for the chosen company;
• such documents give informative explanations of why you are a prospective employer;
• well-chosen words make your resume stand out among others.

Resume action verbs, well-considered adjectives, and other good words make your resume meaningful and efficient. It is a powerful instrument to reach a hiring manager of your dream company.

The best resume verbs

The truth is that the same words can be perceived differently in various professional fields. So always attentively consider the context of your job postings, the way your company describes the position, its culture and philosophy. We do not recommend using a perfect CV template without consideration of your individual situation.

The most popular action verbs:

• Craft
• Energize
• Command
• Build
• Deploy
• Influence
• Intensify
• Navigate
• Pilot
• Stimulate
• Transform

How to use resume power verbs?

Add power verbs to your resume summary

This part of your resume conveys the essence of the whole document. So let it sound convincing.

Show value to your future employer, give facts

Some words can seem annoying if they are ambiguous. Please, avoid empty words and prove your suggestions with figures and facts. For instance:

• “a hard worker” — add your efficiency indicators;
• “a team player” — explain your contribution to business development;
• “a self-starter” — list your achievements while working without supervision;
• “think outside the box, responsible” — mention results that you gained due to these skills;
• “creative, synergized, go-to” — attach a professional portfolio proving your talents;
• “expert, innovative, specialized” — list specific hard skills (knowledge of applications, languages).

Need a good resume?

If you still cannot pick the most suitable action words and power adjectives for your resume, we are here to help you with that. Our experts will compose an awesome CV, create a convincing cover letter, make a brilliant LinkedIn profile for you, etc. We know how to draw your recruiter's attention and make you stand out among other candidates. Our team guarantees:

• compliance with the requirements of the chosen job posting;
• the right resume format and design;
• an informative text on your talents, skills, achievements at past jobs.

The job application process is easier if you use our services. Do not waste time searching for a perfect resume template or ideal resume action words. We’ll write a cover letter, create a resume, as well as deliver other career documents. Apart from them, we are also glad to share tips on our career blog. Check out similar articles and other entertaining content on our website. Plus, we are good at preparing answers to a potential job interview. The power word is decisive not only for documents but for your dialogue with a future employer too.

Trust our writers — order our writing services to get a new job offer faster!