Is Your Resume Responsible?
From Guest Contributor Jessica Holbrook
After reviewing over 150 resumes in a three day time span, I decided that there is a serious epidemic out there. A plague so harmful it is costing millions of people thousands of dollars every month. It is called the responsibility virus, and it is infecting millions of resumes all across the nation.
Think I’m kidding? Take a look at your resume. Does it include any of the following statements?
Responsible for XYZ…Held responsibility for….Ability to….Adept at…. Duties included….
Well, does your resume have any of those phrases? If you answered yes, I’m sorry, but you’ve been infected and it is costing you weeks in your job search and hundreds of dollars in salary while you are unemployed. If your resume does not include these phrases, shout for joy – you’re immune. Just make sure you don’t catch it anytime in the future. Protect your resume from these harmful phrases at all costs!
I have heard more hiring managers and recruiters then I can count say how much they loathe those words. **FLASHING LIGHTS AND SIRENS**: avoid those choice words. All you are really doing is shooting yourself in the foot before you ever really get a chance to start. Using those phrases are harmful for several reasons:
(1) They are boring. I don’t know many people who leaped from their chair to call to a candidate who used the words “responsible for” or “duties included” on a resume.
(2) They are inferred. When listing accomplishments and information on your resume, if you did it, it is inferred that you were responsible for doing it or it is/was one of your job responsibilities. No need to state the obvious.
(3) They lack power and the all important WOW factor. For that matter, they lack substance, as well.
There are more concise ways to say you did something. Here are a few other choice words you might try:
Pioneered, Spearheaded, Implemented, Launched, Championed, Marshaled, Initiated, or Developed.
These are just a few of the many colorful, powerful, and concise alternatives to catching the responsible virus on your resume. It is amazing how one small change can have a huge impact on your resume.
Go through your resume and cover letter and look for all instances of the words responsible for, duties included, ability to, and adept at — then replace them with appropriate strong action verb choices like those listed above. I think you’ll be surprised at the feedback you’ll receive.
Jessica Holbrook is a former Executive Hiring Manager for Fortune 500 companies and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast. She creates powerful, customized, and targeted resumes that are guaranteed to get her clients interviews. For a free resume analysis visit http://www.greatresumesfast.com or for a free phone consultation call 1.877.875.7706.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Very interesting – and I agree although people, myself included have been told/advised to show that we were responsible, the one “in charge” – the “owner” of things on things we’ve worked on.
I’d be interested in the author’s take on the use of the word “managed” becuase to me it had the same conotations – if you worked on something there are parts of the project/effort that you owned or managed or were responsible for. Not really sure how Pioneered, Spearheaded, Implemented, Launched, Championed, Marshaled, Initiated, or Developed have any different meaning – they just haven’t been used to the point of overkill.
Go to http://www.wordle.com to create a “tag cloud” version of your resume. Paste in a plain text version of your resume and see what words are emphasized, repeated, etc. This will give you a great idea of which words you use the most and least and how changing your resume re-emphasizes the right words.
Please don’t forget to advise job seekers on the *proper* use of keywords supported contextually!
All in all a very informative and accurate piece of information. As a recruiter, I can agree 100% with your analysis.