10 Resume Words to Avoid: Improve Your Job Application

10 Words to Be Avoided in Resumes

 As we all are going through a tough time, the unemployment and job search during the Coronavirus pandemic has shifted online entirely. This has led us to understand and appreciate online job search, be it for our first job or shift to a better one. Now that we have come to terms with online job search and hunting for job opportunities during Covid, we have to understand and ensure that the resume uploaded by us on Naukri has the right verbiage and aligned to the keyword-based search through ATS (Automatic Tracking Systems). Amongst all the tools for a job search, preparation of right resume is an important one.

Following are the 10 words we suggest to avoid while writing a professional resume:

First-person pronouns (I, Me, Our, We): We advise to avoid usage of first person pronouns in the resume because resume is a professional document and not a diary. Everything we mention in the resume should either be started with an action verb (e.g. managed, spearheaded, conducted) in the correct and consistent tense or with a phrase like “Expertise in” / “Experienced in”.

Confident: Mentioning in resume that you are confident draws the interviewer’s attention to judge you on the said aspect and notice your confidence levels. Mentioning such personality traits should be avoided in the resume. As we know, actions speak louder than words.

Ardent: This is a very commonly used phrase in resumes. It literally means very enthusiastic or passionate. Again, it is used in sentences where it does not fit well “e.g. Ardent at managing projects with high budgets and stringent timelines”. It’s not possible to be enthusiastic all the time under stress situations and makes your appear overly energetic in the resume.

Good: This is the most over-used word in any resume. We have come across several resumes where this phrase is mentioned, e.g. “achieved good ratings in all promotions”. Recruiters would rather like to read the specific ratings you received and performance delivered. Good is vague.

Handled / Handling: This is an action word, which has multiple implications and meanings. It is misused in sentences e.g. handling the team and ensuring that work is done on time. You cannot handle a team. It is wrong. You lead a team, motivate a team, direct a team, so on. Handling easily replaces so many action verbs and does not portray the actual work that was done.

Responsible for: This is the most used phrase across the Job Description / Job Responsibility section. Applicants tend to mention this in from of every statement. It literally means that you will be held accountable for various tasks. Using it at places like “Responsible for managing inventory within limits” depicts that it is your individual – whole and sole responsibility – that is not the case. The entire hierarchy is together responsible for the same. You can use the correct action verb to depict how you are contributing to that objective.

Overseeing: This is another action verb misused in the resume which creates an impression that you have no role in the execution and you are only monitoring the tasks being performed by the team. However, a good leader is always the one who contributes to each and every activity of the employees. Demonstrating: This action verb means that you are delivering a demo and it is incorrectly used at places where you want to imply that you delivered a presentation or achieved something, e.g., “Demonstrated success in”. We should avoid conveying any such idea.

Motivated: This is another personality trait that if used alone does not give a clear idea of a person’s source of motivation. In case you use “Internally motivated” or “Motivated to learn new skills”, it is fine.

Hard working: Hard working is fine, but mentioning what you achieved through that hard work (accomplishments) is even better. Every other resume talks about this trait, but how many of them are validated through results?

To sum up, while developing an effective resume, you have to keep in mind 3 things: 

·       The document should be presentable in a professional way and should not sound like a personal diary or an essay.

·       Your resume talks about your specific personality traits and not generic ones.

·       You have used the correct action verbs which mean the same as you want to convey.