Using Action Verbs

Ready! Set! Action! Well sort of. Writing a compelling resume that convinces a recruiter or hiring manager that you’re the best fit for their open position takes more than just listing your job responsibilities. Remember, recruiters review hundreds of resumes daily, and the average recruiter scans a resume in approximately 7 seconds. If you want to stand out, you have to up your game. Show some Action. A strong action verb does just that-it shows action, it is not passive.

What Are Action Words

Resume action words pack a powerful punch. Using action verbs demonstrates your specific contributions and can increase your chances of being noticed by recruiters and hiring managers. These power words add a confident tone to your resume while articulating the specific tasks you perform in your role.
To take it even further, using action verbs in conjunction with quantifiable results, creates an even more impactful resume as it not only demonstrates what you did, but also the result of that action.

Deciding on the Best Skills for Your Resume

Example 1: “Responsible for creating marketing strategies for company brand”.
Instead: “Created social media and marketing strategies for company brand that grew client base by 65%”.
Example 2: “In charge of negotiations for assigned client group”.
Instead: Negotiated and saved an at-risk client and successfully signed a 5-year deal that generated $2M”.

Starting a sentence with “responsible for” or “in charge of” when describing your work should be avoided at all costs. Recruiters have seen enough resumes with those phrases, and it doesn’t make you stand out. It just comes across as dull and boring.

With all of that being said, choosing the appropriate action verb could be challenging. We’ve compiled a list of 140+ action verbs to consider when writing your resume.

Create Your Resume the EASY Way with a Template from

EASY RESUME TEMPLATES

Easy Resume Templates is committed to helping job seekers receive as much assistance as possible as they navigate the job search process.  With our Team of Certified Resume Writers, Recruiters, and other HR professionals, we aim to provide expert knowledge, tips, and tools to help job seekers optimize their resumes and cover letters to not only get the interview, but land that job. Our team has significant years of experience within their specific fields and share their wisdom and knowledge to make the resume writing process easy and seamless. Let us help you land that job.
Our resumes are designed to make the resume writing process easy. With our wide selection of resume templates for just about anyone in any industry, at any career level, you will find a resume that makes sense for you.
When you use one of our templates, you are confident that you’re using a template that was created by experts to perform well with any ATS system. The templates are customizable and easy to use, and will allow you to create your resume in no time. You’ll be one step closer to getting your dream job.