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 be trashed, even if you're a great candidate for the job! This article presents a lit of power words for resume that are suitable for the description of a candidate's personal qualities and job duties. You should incorporate such works in work history and key responsibilities.
The worst and thebest words to use
According to Forbes.com, the 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. Resume action verbs and power words, on the contrary, empower you to make your resume stand out. The way you communicated your work experience can have a huge difference in the perception of your qualifications and accomplishments by a potential employer. Every phrase should consist of power words.
Don't know how to quality rewrite your resume and which words to use? Check our list of powerful resume words to put on a resume for job seekers. These are the motivating, inspiring resume keyword examples that make the reader interested and involved in 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.
Resume power words and action words
- Absorbed
- Accelerated
- Accomplished
- 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
- Comply
- Composed
- Condensed
- Conducted
- Conferred
- Considered
- Consolidated
- Consulted
- Contacted
- Contributed
- Controlled
- Converted
- Conveyed
- Convinced
- Coordinated
- Corresponded
- Critiqued
- Decided
- Defined
- Delegated
- Demonstrated
- Designed
- Detected
- Devoted
- Distinguished
- Diversified
- Earned
- Efficient
- Emphasized
- Encourage
- Enforced
- Enriched
- Established
- Evaluate
- Examined
- Exceeded
- Excelled
- Executed
- Explored
- Financed
- Forecasted
- Formulated
- Fulfilled
- Gained
- Gathered
- Generated
- Granted
- Handled
- Headed
- Helped
- Hired
- Hosted
- Ideas
- Identified
- Implemented
- Incorporated
- Increased/Decreased
- Influenced
- Innovated
- Inspected
- Instituted
- Integrated
- Interpreted
- Investigated
- Justified
- Lectured
- Led
- Listed
- Located
- Lobbied
- Logged
- Maintained
- Marketed
- Maximized
- Measured
- Merged
- Motivated
- Multiplied
- Negotiated
- Observed
- Obtained
- Operated
- Organized
- Originated
- Overhauled
- Planned
- Presented
- Prioritized
- Produced
- Programmed
- Projected
- Provided
- Qualified
- Quantified
- Quoted
- Reacted
- Recommended
- Recovered
- Rectified
- Refined
- Reinstated
- Rejected
- Represented
- Restructured
- Retained
- Revamp
- Revenue/Profits
- Revised
- Safeguarded
- Saved
- Scheduled
- Screened
- Secured
- Segmented
- Selected
- Simplified
- Skilled
- Specified
- Standardized
- Strengthened
- Structured
- Suggested
- Superseded
- Supported
- Sustained
- Targeted
- Taught
- Tested
- Trained
- Trained/Mentored
- Transcended
- Translated
- Triumphed
- Tutored
- Uncovered
- Under Budget
- Unified
- United
- Updated
- Upgraded
- Utilized
- Validated
- Valued
- Viewed
- 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 into your resume. Here are a few examples of how to turn weak statements into strong ones using words from the list. Use these resume action verbs and power to describe your experience, research, and participation in a project, for example.
Instead of:
Led sales team and increased sales
Try the following:
Supervised a sales team of 5 and boosted 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 a 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 products through Facebook and increased sales by 22%
Why do 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, that 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 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 true 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 the 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 its 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, and 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.
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Recommended reading:
- Amazing Resume Words For Leadership
- Must-Have Words For Winning Resume
- 20 Words That Can Destroy Your Resume
- Powerful Self-Descriptive Words For Resume
- 185 Powerful Verbs And 45 Adverbs To Make Your Resume Awesom
- 10 Things to Add to Your Resume to Make It Outstanding
- 70+ Powerful Resume Words For Experience
- Powerful Self-Descriptive Words For Resume
- Amazing Resume Words For Leadership