Most people's attempt to “stand out” with their resume action words fail. Why? Because they end up plugging in the same information everyone else is!
Candidates are all using the same buzzwords and catchphrases like “results oriented team player” or “passionate growth marketer” that they copied and pasted in a weak attempt to be seen.
Recruiters have been seeing this for years now, to the point where resumes that don't include these vague buzzwords are actually the ones that stand out.
If you want to make a great first impression that lands you the job interview, you're going to have to do more than just use some fancy resume action words. You need to understand the science behind weaving those actions words into your resume bullets in a way that immediately grab's the hiring manager's attention and conveys your value.
This post has 175+ examples of resume action words you can use to improve your bullets. But it's also going to walk you through the methodology behind writing great resume bullets so your action words actually get results instead of turning into another frame in that gif at the beginning on the post.
How do I know this works? Because I applied this strategy to my resume which landed me job offers at Google, Microsoft, & Twitter despite having no traditional experience or connections at those companies. It's also helped people in my audience (just like you) go one to land jobs at Google, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, Amazon, Apple, and more!
By the end of this article, you'll have an exact framework for writing highly effective bullets that pop off your resume and grab the recruiter's attention. You can easily skip to any section using these links, but I'd recommend you start from the top down:
When you're ready to incorporate these action words into your resume, check out my guide on writing resumes that will actually get you hired.
Most people think that resumes are a summary of their job history, and those people would be very wrong. Resumes are actually marketing “brochures” focused on selling a single product: YOU!
Let's take a quick step back.
In the world of online marketing and advertising, headlines are absolutely critical. Why?
According to a recent study at Columbia University and the French National Institute, 59% of posts shared on social media have never actually been clicked. Another study by the Media Insight Project found that roughly six in 10 people acknowledge that they have done nothing more than read news headlines in the past week.
A marketer's post could be amazing, but if they don't have a great headline, it doesn't matter. Nobody's reading beyond that.
Now you may be thinking, how is this at all relevant to my resume?
When something as specific as a headline becomes this important, people begin to study it. Marketers at places like CoSchedule, Neil Patel, and Buzz Sumo have combed through hundreds of millions of data points to discovery exactly what language, format, and tactics lead to the most catchy headline (and thus, more traffic and more money).
The great news for you is that the science behind catching someone's attention doesn't just apply to headlines, it works just as well for resume bullets too!
Before we dive into the examples of resume action words and phrases, let me break down the data behind highly effective resume bullets and how they're written. If you understand that (instead of simply copying and pasting) your bullets will be much more effective and your chances of scoring an interview will increase substantially.
When it comes to bang for your buck, the word balance of your resume bullet matters most. Most every word or phrase you're going to use will fall into one of four buckets:
Combining the marketing data mentioned above with the split tests I've run with the job seekers in my audience, resume bullets that grab the most eyeballs (and land the most interviews) are broken down like this:
While marketing headlines tend to be short and sweet, resume bullets need to be a little bit longer to accurately convey your value. Sticking with the balance above will help ensure that you're not swimming in the same boring buzzwords that appear on everyone else's resume.
To help you understand exactly how to leverage each word category, let's break them down with some examples:
Industry-specific words and phrases add substance to your bullet and prove out your skills. They include the names of tools/platforms, jargon, skills, or other language that specifically relates to the industry you're targeting.
I work in digital advertising so I'll share some examples of what that looks like in my industry:
Adding a good mix of these will also increase your chances of matching with terms the Applicant Tracking Software is looking for and getting your resume into the hands of a real person. Because of that, you should aim to have industry-specific terms make up around 45% of your bullet's word balance.
Common words are the ones you use every day. Their purpose is to fill the gaps between your action words and industry terms in a way that make sense for the reader.
Common words should make up about 25% of your total bullet, but you can include more if it improves readability (as long as you're not sacrificing value from excluding additional industry terms or skills). Aim to use these in your bullet the same way you'd use them if you were speaking.
Here are a few examples of common words:
Now we're getting to the good stuff! Emotional words catch your reader's attention and pull them in. This is what keeps reading and get them excited about your experience. Overusing emotional words can make your bullets sound cheesy and unprofessional though, so you only want to use a few of them in each bullet.
Here are some examples of emotional words:
| Mad | Exclusive | Popular | Authentic | Need |
| Improved | Challenge | Interesting | Truth | Attractive |
| Beautiful | Rational | Innovative | Growth | Promising |
| Reveal | Exciting | Surging | Unique | Love |
| Informative | Quality | Obstinate | Suprising | Wonderful |
| Scarcity | Energy | Rare | Simplify | Insider |
| Annoyed | Reassured | Worried | Valued | Uncertain |
| Troubled | Amazed | Bold | Uncomfortable | Able |
| Sensitive | Rejuvenated | Pressured | Reluctant | Competitive |
| Open Minded | Quickly | Misunderstood | Special | Angry |
Like emotional words, action words are attention grabbing and authoritative. They will hammer home the value you bring to the table with an air of confidence that the hiring manager can't ignore. Action words are best used as a punchline so aim for one to two per bullet!
Here are some examples of action words for your resume:
| Free | Sale | Guaranteed | Sure Fire | Proven |
| Revenue | Colossal | Powerful | Suddenly | Launched |
| Unlimited | Best | Ultimate | Innovative | Sensational |
| Superior | Tremendous | Monumental | Revolutionary | Captivate |
| Unforgettable | Life-Changing | Shocking | Transform | Ignite |
| Super Charge | Alarmed | Devastating | Exposed | Deal-Breaker |
| Fight | Deceptive | Impenetrable | Essential | Critical |
| Immediately | Instantly | Create | Relentless | Never |
| Convert | Massive | Money | Win | Overnight |
| Steal | Skyrocket | Doubled/Tripled | Shot | Brilliant |
| Comprehensive | Definitive | Legitimate | Psychological | Validate |
| Unconventional | Achieve | Catapult | Eliminated | Overhaul |
Finally, measurable metrics are the icing on the cake. Anyone can say they saw a “gigantic increase” or they “rejuvenated the business,” but what exactly does that mean?
Was your “gigantic increase” a 50% increase from five memos sent per month to 10? Or was it closing a deal worth $250,000 that shot you 164% above your quota?
Was your “rejuvenation” slightly increased morale because you secured funds for a few cases of beer at the next happy hour, or did you create a three month plan for developing deep relationships with four separate teams at your client, leading to a stronger relationship and avoiding a canceled contract worth $80,000/month?
Using power words is an awesome way to make your resume stand out, but pairing them with measurable metrics is what's going to get you hired because it conveys the exact value you bring to the table.
If you're not sure what measurable metrics you can provide, ask yourself these two questions:
If you're not sure about either of those, schedule some time to chat with your manager to get clear on how you're measured. Chances are good that hiring managers at other companies are using the same criteria for their employees.
Let's take a look at examples of great resume bullets that leverage the balance outlined in the previous section.
Our first example focuses on a customer support representative who reworked her company's ticket triage process to reduce their backlog:
This bullet is a nice length (16 words) and its word balance comes out to:
Our next example is a marketer who leverage customer data to refine targeting on the company's digital advertising, increasing sales and lowering cost-per-lead:
This bullet is 18 words long and balances out to:
Both of these examples match our word balance almost perfectly. See how the right information pops off the page and the overall bullet is quick and easy to read? That's what we're going for.
When I was a job seeker, I could never find a was to distill the resume advice I saw online into real results.
People would tell me to use “keywords” or make my bullets more “results-focused.” But I had no idea what any of that meant or how to do it correctly. It felt abstract and hard to quantify.
That's when I decided to come up with the formula I mentioned above.
But I wanted to make it even easier for you to get better at writing resume bullets! That's why I built out a free resume bullet analyzer tool called ResyBullet.io.
ResyBullet will actually score your resume bullets and give you a breakdown of how to improve them:
As you make tweaks to your bullets, ResyBullet will also keep track of your history so you can see the changes you've made and the score it resulted in.
That way you can track your progress and get a better understanding of what types of language and formulas work for you:
Best part is, you can use this tool for free! You can check it out at ResyBullet.io.
Now that we've covered off on defining each category that makes up your resume bullet along with a tool to help you improve, I wanted to give you a library of examples that you could pull from to make things easy:
Examples of Resume Action Words For Different Skills
Now that you know how to leverage the right word balance, let's walk through some examples of action words you can use for different skills, jobs, and accomplishments to supercharge your resume.
If you're a people manager, it's easy to say “managed a team…” or “led a team…” but that's what everyone else has on their resume too. If you want to stand out, try swapping in these action words:
If you're in a “skill position” like sales, marketing, support, etc. then your performance is likely judged on specific metrics. Instead of saying “I helped increase…” or “I drove…” try using these action words to amplify the impact of your results:
On the flip side of skyrocketing sales, many roles specialize in “reduction” — eliminating issues, decreasing expenses, etc. If that's you, consider using these action words when writing your bullets:
Projects are one of the best ways to convey value in your resume because they let you show off the skills you used as well as the results you saw. Instead of saying “Led an initiative where…” try using these action words to emphasize your accomplishments:
It's one thing to execute on tasks that someone handed to you, but companies love to hear about candidates who took the initiative to dream up and plan a project or initiative that led to major results. It could be an idea for a new product, a plan to increase customer retention, or a new design to better connect the brand to its customers. Whatever it might be, if you dreamt it, designed it, and planned it, use these action words to describe it on your resume:
Pretty much every company has processes that need to be improved, or things that simply need a complete restructure. If you came in and improved something, made a positive change, or simple changed the way things were done, these are the action words to help you describe it:
Now you know the general formula for writing effective bullets and you've got 175+ resume action words to help convey your value. That's a great place to start, but there's still more meat on this bone.
If you really want to take your resume writing to the next level, here are two more data-backed tips that will set you head and shoulders above the competition for your dream job:
About 5 years ago a site called Upworthy practically invented “virality.” They were the first company to leverage “click bait” headlines and, while click bait is pretty much dead, their advice on creating amazing bullets and headlines is still widely used today.
In their report on The Science of Virality they recommended writing 25 headline variations for each article. Why? Because anyone can come up with one, or five, but once you hit the double digit mark the easy ones are gone. That means you have to get creative, and when you're forced to think outside of the box, that's where some of the best results are born.
Check out the 25 headline brainstorm that Garret wrote for a post on the death of Facebook:
See how the final third of his headlines are the most unique, creative, and attention grabbing? That's the idea!
In your case, writing 25 unique resume bullets will be hard so I challenge you to try for 15. Use different phrasing and test out different resume action words. You'll be surprised at how much better and more creative your resume looks in the end.
Since this process can be time consuming, I'd recommending doing it for every bullet in your resume objective, as well as the first bullet of your last two jobs.
The days of walking into your company's local HQ and handing them a folder with your resume are over. Resumes are pretty much 100% digital in today's job market, which affords us plenty of opportunities to go above and beyond.
When you're submitting your resume, a PDF version will allow you to include clickable links. While everyone else is competing on their 8.5×11″ pieces of paper, you can send your hiring manager to an amazing resource, case study, or blog post that illustrates just how awesome you are as a candidate.
For example, one student of mine was applying at Giphy and created a fully animated deck to convey 5 unique ideas for monetization:
This is an awesome value-add that she could link to in her resume. One of the most effective ways to make this happen is to use your resume action words plus your measurable metrics as the link text (you can even call out “click here to learn more”). For example:
This will give your hiring managers a chance to see the “real you” on your terms. Just make sure to remove the “click here” and the link for any physical resumes you bring into their office. You can always print out a version of your value-add deliverable to bring in as well.
If you've made it this far down the post, congrats! You're now armed with all the knowledge you need to write some killer resume bullets. Now your immediate homework is to:
Austin is the founder of Cultivated Culture where he helps people land jobs without connections, without traditional experience, and without applying online. His strategies have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, & Fast Company and has helped people just like you land jobs at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, & more.
Thanks for this kind gesture, Austin. You’re amazingly different. I grasped great insight from this your post.
I’m so happy to hear that it was helpful Bayode! akshay says: All your tips are so so helpful.You’ve been a belssing on linkedin. Learnt a lot from your posts. Awesome! I’m so happy to hear that Akshay! Melanie says: All I can say is this is 100% the best advice I have seen You rock Melanie, I’m so happy to hear the advice has been valuable! Michael says:Pass the marshmallows, Austin. I’ve been camped out on this page while tailoring a resume for Amazon. Appreciate your dedication.
Hahah I love it Michael, I’ll bring the graham crackers!Thank you so much for sharing such amazing and comprehensive content! (I truly appreciate how generous you are with your knowledge!) It has definitely made the resume rebuilding process less daunting!
Akila says: This gives me confidence of getting hired for the REAL me than just words. Rosie says:This is gold! Thank you, Austin, for your post on LinkedIn. I’m currently looking for an online job and this would help me create a desirable resume ever.
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