Imagine that you're a hiring manager sifting through stacks of incoming résumés—all using the same (or nearly the same) language. Beyond the sheer boredom of having to read them, the repetitive phrasing comes across as a résumé that has been built with a template and without any distinguishing characteristics that would make an individual stand out. With this being the norm, when one particular résumé stands out as different, it's a big impact. So, the question then becomes: How can I make my résumé stand out from the rest?
Oprah Winfrey's advice on résumé building is the perfect answer to this question: The challenge of life, I have found, is to build a résumé that doesn't simply tell a story about what you want to be, but it's a story about who you want to be.
Keep that advice in mind as we go over 100+ power words to include in your résumé to set yours apart from the rest.
Company values
A company's primary goal in hiring is to find a capable, talented individual that can reflect the company's values in his or her work. The most obvious way to let them know you're that individual is to take awhile to look over the company's mission statement and vision—both of which are most often found on a company's website. Let's look at an example and pull some power words from it that could be included in your résumé:
Christine H. is looking for a job with Boys & Girls Clubs of America and goes to their website to find the company values and mission statement. In doing so, she finds the following information:
Mission
To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.
Vision
Provide a world-class Club Experience that assures success is within reach of every young person who enters our doors, with all members on track to graduate from high school with a plan for the future, demonstrating good character and citizenship, and living a healthy lifestyle.
Now, to pull some power words from these statements, Christine might choose:
- enable
- reach their full potential
- caring
- responsible
- plan for the future
- good character
- citizenship
- healthy lifestyle
From this list of power words, pulled straight from the target employer's website, Christine can now craft her objective statement, summary, and even past job details with these words included. For example, if she has teaching experience, instead of writing something like this as a detail on her job description:
Helped students with social skills and peer interaction
She could rather write:
Discussed and emphasized citizenship roles and caring for their peers
Instead of using a typical objective statement such as:
Recent graduate seeking a job with an employer that is making a difference in the world.
She could write a summary statement that has far more impact, using the power words pulled from the company's mission statement:
Caring and forward-thinking teacher seeking a job that allows me to enable young people to become the best version of themselves and practice a healthy, responsible lifestyle.
The result of changing her summary statement to reflect some of the power words noted in the company's mission statement is an automatic connection between the teacher she wants to be (remember Oprah's advice) and the teacher they are seeking.
Same idea, better words
While these example sentences communicate the same idea, by choosing power words from the company's mission statement, she has immediately set herself apart from the rest of the applicants and shown that she has a unique ability to meet the vision that Boys & Girls Clubs of America has for its work. In doing so, she's showing that she's an ideal candidate for the position.
The same thing can be done with the job description itself. Look over the language used in the job description and pull out some of the key power words. Use these words in your summary and former job details (if they fit) and allow them to be the focus on your résumé. Obviously, you need to make sure you can back up your statements with experience. If there is a power word you have noted that you can't tie directly with your past course work or experience, it's best to leave it out and find one that will easily correlate to your employment or educational history.
Atypical action verbs
Beyond using language from the company's mission statement and job description as power words in your résumé, unique action verbs will stand out more than the more commonly used ones such as "worked," "oversaw," "managed," "performed" or "did". If your job description bullet points contain these overused words, go through the list of atypical action verbs below to see if another might fit and offer a more powerful word choice.
Here are some atypical résumé action verbs to consider in place of repeating the tired, overused ones that are used in everyone else's résumé:
- Achieved
- Acquired
- Activated
- Amended
- Analyzed
- Appraised
- Arbitrated
- Ascertained
- Assessed
- Attained
- Authored
- Balanced
- Boosted
- Bolstered
- Brainstormed
- Built
- Centralized
- Charted
- Coached
- Commissioned
- Compiled
- Conceptualized
- Consolidated
- Constructed
- Convinced
- Critiqued
- Deciphered
- Deliberated
- Determined
- Diagnosed
- Directed
- Drafted
- Educated
- Elicited
- Empowered
- Encouraged
- Enriched
- Evaluated
- Examined
- Expanded
- Facilitated
- Forecasted
- Formulated
- Fostered
- Founded
- Guided
- Illustrated
- Implemented
- Influenced
- Informed
- Initiated
- Innovated
- Inspired
- Integrated
- Interpreted
- Introduced
- Investigated
- Justified
- Lectured
- Linked
- Mediated
- Mobilized
- Modernized
- Monitored
- Motivated
- Multiplied
- Orchestrated
- Organized
- Oriented
- Partnered
- Persuaded
- Pioneered
- Polished
- Procured
- Projected
- Promoted
- Queried
- Reconciled
- Recruited
- Refined
- Rehabilitated
- Rejuvenated
- Revamped
- Sanctioned
- Scrutinized
- Shaped
- Spearheaded
- Streamlined
- Strengthened
- Stimulated
- Sustained
- Synthesized
- Tailored
- Traced
- Transformed
- Transmitted
- Updated
- Upgraded
- Validated
- Visualized
Let's look at the difference these words can make on a typical résumé. Before using power words, Christine's job experience bullet points read like this:
- Performed duties such as grading and lesson planning
- Contacted parents relating to their child's progress
- Taught students soft skills for the workplace
- Worked with fellow teachers on curriculum development goals
After replacing the typical verbs with atypical action verbs, her job experience bullet points now read like this:
- Created lesson plans and evaluated grades to determine student progress
- Facilitated open communication with parents as stakeholders in their child's educational progress
- Empowered students with soft skills that would enrich their career search
- Collaborated with peers to integrate curriculum goals into teaching practice
Immediately, you'll notice how the tasks using power words and atypical action verbs seem more important, with more personal involvement on Christine's part. While both examples show the same tasks, the second one will stand out to a potential employer who is seeking someone who can empower, collaborate and create. These words have much more impact than "performed," "contacted," "taught," and "worked."
Popular skills
The modern workplace often looks vastly different than workplaces just 20 years ago. While some skills have remained in demand—such as communication skills, organization skills, etc.—others have grown in demand only recently. For example, 10 years ago, employers didn't care whether you have social media literacy, unless you were working specifically in that field. Now, it's a factor many employers consider in their new hires, especially since the effect of social media has intensified in the past decade.
This article on career-building website Monster.com lists the top seven skills employers are currently looking for, in general, in new-hires:
- Problem solving
- Data analytics
- Social media literacy
- Creativity
- Resilience
- Good business sense
- Willingness to learn
These skills are power words in their own way, and including them on your résumé will help boost your chances of being hired and distinguish you from the pack. Obviously, employers from different sectors will list other skills that are needed to fulfill the job role. However, having the core basic skills and including them on your résumé is a power play that will get you noticed, regardless of the sector to which you're applying.
Final thoughts
It's important to understand that you can use every power word possible on your résumé, but if you submit it with grammar, syntax, or spelling mistakes, that power is lost. One risk you might run into in using atypical action verbs is spelling them incorrectly, so whatever words you use, make sure you've checked and then rechecked again to ensure accuracy.
Also, be careful to avoid throwing in power words without knowing their meaning. This could result in using a word out of context, which will make it seem like you don't know what you're doing, and are simply using "big" words for the sake of using them. This will come across to your potential employer as dishonest and unprofessional, so whatever words you use—understand their connotation and definition fully before doing so.
