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Some Resume Action Verbs to Avoid

By Lynne DeVenny

When I stumbled across "500 Positive Resume Action Verbs That Get Job Interviews," I got kind of excited, because I usually review several resumes every week (thanks, y'all, for asking for my input, I try to combine tact with brutal honesty). I frequently suggest that legal job seekers use a functional skills format to sell the capabilities they have to prospective employers.

I thought I had hit pay dirt with this extensive handy-dandy list, but upon closer inspection, I would seriously avoid using some of these verbs, including (but not limited to):

• Amplified. What? The volume on your computer?
• Blazed. It's a little over-the-top, you pyromaniac.
• Conceived. File under "what's the worst thing that ever happened to you at work?"
• Correlated. So you rule the copy machine.
• Enabled. So much left to the imagination about your co-dependent relationship with your last boss.
• Hypothesized. Forget it, unless you're Einstein.
• Instigated. I've seen this verb misused on resumes and in cover letters. Properly used, it means you were the office gossip and backstabber.
• Justified. Tell me again why your lunch breaks always run over by 30 or more minutes?
• Liased. Wut?
• Orchestrated. This only applies to those who mastermind bank heists.
• Pinpointed. You figured out who was stealing your secret stash of spare staples from your cubicle.
• Ran. I like this one. It implies you quickly fled from all real responsibility.
• Reputed. This doesn't mean what you think it does, unless you're taking credit for someone's else's work.
• Simulated. Fancy word for faking it.
• Sparked. See blazed above.
• Steered. Yeah, I've driven my boss to the airport a few times, too.
• Systematized. This one makes me giggle. I'm pretty sure it's a synonym for filing.
• Tackled. So you took down a co-worker before she could microwave your Hot Pocket that she stole from the firm fridge. No biggie.
• Transcribed. This means you worked for Luddites who still use audiocassettes to dictate.
• Validated. Eh, we'd all like to feel that every single day at work.

Source:  JobMob

Full post as published by Practical Paralegalism on March 23, 2011 (boomark / email).