25 words that hurt your resume Words don't tell potential employers as much as deeds By Laura Morsch

CareerBuilder.com

Editor's Note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com. RELATED SEARCH JOBS Enter Keyword(s): Enter City Select a State - ALL - Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Dist of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Select Job Type Accounting Admin & Clerical Automotive Banking Biotech Broadcast - Journalism Business Development Construction Consultant Customer Service Design Distribution - Shipping Education Engineering Entry Level - New Grad Executive Facilities Finance General Business General Labor Government Grocery Healthcare Hotel - Hospitality Human Resources Information Technology Installation - Maint - Repair Insurance Inventory Legal Legal Admin Management Manufacturing Marketing Nurse Other Pharmaceutical Professional Services Purchasing - Procurement QA - Quality Control Research Restaurant - Food Service Retail Sales Science Skilled Labor - Trades Strategy - Planning Supply Chain Telecommunications Training Transportation Warehouse More Options Enter Keyword(s):Enter City FOR MORE INFORMATION Material drawn from: "The Elements of Resume Style," by Scott Bennett. For more information, go to the author's Web site at http://www.click4careercoaching.com/ YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.



Or, visit Follow the news that matters to you.alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions. So, you're experienced? Before you advertise this in your resume, be sure you can prove it. Often, when job seekers try to sell themselves to potential employers, they load their resumes with vague claims that are transparent to hiring managers, according to Scott Bennett, author of "The Elements of Resume Style" (AMACOM). By contrast, the most successful job seekers avoid these vague phrases on their resumes in favor of accomplishments. Instead of making empty claims to demonstrate your work ethic, use brief, specific examples to demonstrate your skills. In other words, show, don't tell. Bennett offers these examples: Instead of... "Experience working in fast-paced environment" Try... "Registered 120+ third-shift emergency patients per night" Instead of... "Excellent written communication skills" Try... "Wrote jargon-free User Guide for 11,000 users" Instead of... "Team player with cross-functional awareness" Try... "Collaborated with clients, A/R and Sales to increase speed of receivables and prevent interruption of service to clients." Instead of... "Demonstrated success in analyzing client needs" Try... "Created and implemented comprehensive needs assessment mechanism to help forecast demand for services and staffing." The worst offenders It's good to be hard-working and ambitious, right? The hiring manager won't be convinced if you can't provide solid examples to back up your claims. Bennett suggests being extra-careful before putting these nice-sounding but empty words in your resume. Aggressive Ambitious Competent Creative Detail-oriented Determined Efficient Experienced Flexible Goal-oriented Hard-working Independent Innovative Knowledgeable Logical Motivated Meticulous People person Professional Reliable Resourceful Self-motivated Successful Team player Well-organized

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