Dear McCrabby,
My resume says I'm a "team-player" with "strong experience" in many disciplines. My cover letter talks about my "leadership" and "business ethics."
A resume writer told me, last week, that those are worthless descriptions in a resume or cover letter. I tried to argue, but since I haven't gotten an interview in six months, I thought I should check it out.
I've always thought resume writers are like plumbers; the current one will tell you how bad the last one screwed up your plumbing, but he'll fix it for you... for a price.
What do you think?
Strong, ethical and driven, in Denver
________________________
Dear Denver Driver
McCrabby thinks you should be careful in criticizing resume writers; they serve a purpose and can help you improve your product, and your brand. However, the analogy is not without merit.
The suggestion you received should have been a little more exact: and here is direct -- use action words more than descriptive words. Use verbs. And, you do that because those action words, those verbs, should allow you to have numbers attached to them, showing results.
For example, you may have been "effective" in your last job, but if you can note that you "saved" the company $3 million or that you "developed" a new sales tool that "increased" revenue by 24 per cent, you make a bigger impact.If someone can respond to your claims with a "So what??" then you are not using the verbs -- adjectives don't cut it. Here are some samples of descriptive words that can get ignored, simply because they don't say anything that quantifies anything; hiring managers will snooze:
- Strong
- Effective
- Team-oriented
- Ethical
- Experienced
- Driven
- Excellent
- Likeable
- Outstanding
- Motivated
If your words cannot be substantiated, why use them?
So Denver, get active in the words on our resume and cover letter. If you need help or want some feedback, send it over and McCrabby will give you his input, because it can be very "effective." It is much better to let the hiring manager make his/her own assessment. If you can provide details of what you have accomplished, the hiring manager will figure out if you're "creative," "hard-working," "effective," or " brilliant." If you "enhanced" territory coverage to "improve" sales by 20 per cent, you did something, and he'll know you're "effective."
Are you a team player? Who isn't, in the interview? Do you work hard? He doesn't expect you to say something less than that. These adjectives convey traits that employers consider standard for anybody who wants to be hired. Don't take up precious resume space with this type of superfluous adjectives.
So, with all that said, here are a few action words that might pique a hiring manager's interest:
- Built
- Created
- Improved
- Organized
- Won
- Reduced
- Sold
- Initiated
- Developed
- Accomplished
Good luck on your job search. And, two other points:
- If you want to read some satire, our most-read series is listed here (Click Dear Hiring Mgr)
- If you haven't checked out our new website, please take a look (Click Human Transitions)
Thank you.
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