By Joe McKinley, Reader's Digest
The goal of your resume isn’t to politely ask for a job—it’s to make hiring managers pray that you walk through their door. In order to make that happen, Monster.com career expert Vicki Salemi shares that buzzwords can energize your resumé and get you that first meeting. “You can stand out with hiring managers by speaking the company’s language,” Salemi says. “Review the company’s job description before you apply online, revise your resumé, and do a quick search and replace to speak their language so words truly pop.”
Different jobs will have different requirements, but here are Salemi’s picks for your resumé’s 12 must-have words and what they signify to recruiters.
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Different jobs will have different requirements, but here are Salemi’s picks for your resumé’s 12 must-have words and what they signify to recruiters.
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Led
“This shows you have leadership skills, whether you led a team, a process—or all of the above! It’s important to flex this skill set on your resume.”
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Launched
“You take initiative! You had an idea and followed through to completion. You can leverage this bullet as a talking point during the interview.”
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Quantify
“I don’t mean the word ‘quantify,’ I mean that the narrative you’re telling about your career progression should always include numbers. Did you manage a team? Terrific! How many people did you manage? How often did you meet?”
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Achieved / Accomplished
“Show your success! If you’ve earned a prestigious accolade within your company, highlight this on your resume. This will help you stand out from peers in the candidate pool.”
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Trained
“Explain leadership initiatives and get specific with numbers. Who did you train? How many people did you train? Did you create a training manual for new hires in your department? Was it online as well as hands-on mentoring?”
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Resolved
“This shows you know how to independently and proactively work through a problem. If there are numbers attached, such as figuring out how to trim a department’s spending without reducing headcount, or you resolved ongoing conflicts with an internal department, mention it on your resume succinctly and then be prepared to illustrate it with anecdotes during the interview.”
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Improved
“How has your presence on the team improved the company? And this isn’t just limited to productivity and/or profitability—boosting morale counts, too!”
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Initiated
“This demonstrates confidence and the ability to think and move forward with your ideas.”
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Implemented
“As a follow-up to what you initiated, this shows you follow through and get stuff done.”
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Reconciled
“Demonstrates analytical skills. Whether you reconciled bills or resolved a conflict between team members, this is a coveted skill.”
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Partnered
“Who have you collaborated with—or thought outside-the-box with—to work well together? Highlight this.”
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Advised
“This shows a sense of leadership and can be combined with other keywords above. For instance, if you created a training manual for new hires, you probably advised them and served as a subject and/or process matter expert within your group.”
Finally, make sure not to hit send too quickly, she warns. “Use spell check! No matter how sparkling your resume appears, if there are typos or grammatical errors, it’s game over.”
