5 Tips for a Great Resume
Action Verbs for Resume Writing

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

5 Tips for a Great Resume
These tips should get you started writing a great resume; they will also give you some ideas about what employers are looking for, and what you can do to improve your chances of landing that job.

1. General Tips
2. What's Your Objective?
3. Think Fast!
4. Dress Yourself Up
5. Make it Lively

1. General Tips

• Always think about what you have to offer the employer and how they will benefit from hiring you.
• Proofread carefully to catch all typos and grammatical errors, and have someone else proofread it for you, too.
• Never refer to salary requirements or past salaries in your resume.
• Use different resumes for different jobs. You'll want to tailor a resume to fit each job you're applying for, particularly if you're applying for a number of different kinds of positions. Make sure the resume you're using is well-suited to the job in view.

2. What's Your Objective? Any successful advertisement communicates its objective instantly. If you're selling milk, you don't want to confuse things by putting a can of soda in the ad. Similarly, you have to stay focused when developing your resume, and the best way to do this is to decide on the objective before you start. You'll use this objective to select content for your resume, and to guide the way you present yourself in interviews and while networking. Every time you put something on your resume, think about how it fits in with your objective, or how you could rephrase it to make a better point.

3. Think Fast!
Employers may or may not allow much time to review each resume and you want them to notice yours. Here are some ways to attract their attention:

• Put the most interesting, important, relevant facts about yourself first, and make them stand out.
• Highlight key points using boldface type, italics, and underlines, and layout.
• Quantify your experience. Instead of saying "increased sales in my territory," say "increased sales in my territory by 150% over a 6-month period.
• Use bulleted, incomplete sentences that the employer can read quickly. For instance, turn "I managed a large sales team for over a decade" into: "Managed 30-person sales-force for 12 years."
• Use keywords taken directly from the job description. If the ad in the paper mentioned "team player" and "good written and verbal skills," use these terms to describe yourself.
• Use accepted terminolgy and acronyms to convey your familiarity with the industry. Just make sure you don't overdo it, making your resume difficult to read.
• Use commonly known section headers that the employer can scan quickly. For instance: Objective, Education, Experience, Skills, Honors, References, etc.

4. Dress Yourself Up

• Your resume should celebrate your accomplishments, so make sure everything you say about yourself sounds positive.
• Make sure your resume is as organized, logical, and concise as you'd like the employer to think you are.
• Be personal, yet professional. You want the employer to get a sense of who you are and what makes you special. That said, don't make the mistake of using personal pronouns or making reference to inappropriate personal information (your religion, marital status, age, political views, etc.)
• If you include personal traits, make sure they're all positive and all relevant to employment (dependable, organized, etc.).
• Be honest. It's okay to be creative, but lying or exaggerating can really come back to haunt you.

5. Make it Lively
Make sure the language you use is lively and engaging. You don't want to put the employer to sleep! One of the best ways to spice up your writing style is to use Action Verbs.

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Action Verbs for Resume Writing

A-B
accelerated acclimated accompanied accomplished achieved acquired acted activated actuated adapted added addressed adhered adjusted administered admitted adopted advanced advertised advised advocated aided aired affected allocated altered amended amplified analyzed answered anticipated appointed appraised approached approved arbitrated arranged ascertained asked assembled assigned assumed assessed assisted attained attracted audited augmented authorized automated awarded balanced bargained borrowed bought broadened budgeted built

C
calculated canvassed capitalized captured carried out cast catalogued centralized challenged chaired changed channeled charted checked chose circulated clarified classified cleared closed cold-called collaborated collected combined commissioned committed communicated compared compiled complied completed composed computed conceived concluded condensed conducted conferred consolidated constructed consulted contracted contrasted contributed controlled converted convinced coordinated corrected corresponded counseled counted created critiqued cultivated cut

D
debugged decided decentralized decreased deferred defined delegated delivered demonstrated depreciated described designated designed determined developed devised devoted diagrammed directed disclosed discounted discovered dispatched displayed distinguished distributed diversified divested documented doubled drafted

E
earned eased edited effected elected eliminated employed enabled encouraged endorsed enforced engaged engineered enhanced enlarged enriched entered entertained established estimated evaluated examined exceeded exchanged executed exempted exercised expanded expedited explained exposed extended extracted extrapolated

F-H
facilitated familiarized fashioned fielded figured financed fit focused forecasted formalized formed formulated fortified found founded framed fulfilled functioned furnished gained gathered gauged gave generated governed graded granted greeted grouped guided handled headed hired hosted

I
identified illustrated illuminated implemented improved improvised inaugurated increased induced influenced informed initiated inquired inspected inspired installed instilled instituted instructed insured interfaced interpreted interviewed introduced invented inventoried invested investigated invited involved isolated issued

J-M
joined judged launched lectured led lightened liquidated litigated lobbied localized located maintained managed mapped marketed maximized measured mediated merged met minimized modeled moderated modernized modified monitored motivated moved multiplied

N-O
named narrated negotiated noticed nurtured observed obtained offered offset opened operated orchestrated ordered organized oriented originated overhauled oversaw

P
paid participated passed patterned perceived performed permitted persuaded phased out pinpointed pioneered placed planned polled prepared presented preserved presided prevented priced printed prioritized probed processed procured produced profiled programmed projected promoted prompted proposed proved provided publicized published purchased pursued

Q-R
quantified quoted raised ranked rated reacted read received recommended reconciled recorded recovered recruited rectified redesigned reduced referred refined regained regulated rehabilitated reinforced reinstated related remedied remodeled renegotiated reorganized replaced repaired reported represented requested researched resolved responded restored restructured resulted retained retrieved revamped revealed reversed reviewed revised revitalized rewarded routed

S
safeguarded salvaged saved scheduled screened secured segmented selected sent separated served serviced settled shaped shortened showed shrank signed simplified sold solved spearheaded specified speculated spoke spread stabilized staffed staged standardized steered stimulated strategized streamlined strengthened stressed structured studied submitted substantiated substituted suggested summarized superseded supervised supplied supported surpassed surveyed synchronized synthesized systematized

T-W
tabulated tailored targeted taught terminated tested testified tightened took traced traded trained transacted transferred transformed translated transported traveled treated tripled uncovered undertook unified united updated upgraded used validated valued verified viewed visited weighed welcomed widened witnessed won worked wrote

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Online Resume Resources

The Resume Tutor
This online tutorial walks you through the steps of creating a resume, giving you hints, examples, and excellent advice. Follow all the steps, and you'll have a completed a high-quality resume in about 3 hours. BE AWARE THAT YOU MUST SAVE ANYTHING YOU DO ON THIS WEBSITE TO YOUR OWN HARD DRIVE.

College Grad's Quickstart Resume Templates
This site contains over 140 resume templates that you can download for free. The site lets you pick a template related to your career of choice. Then you use the template to organize all of your information, and voila-- you have a finished resume with minimal hassle!

Career Mosaic's Resume Writing Center
A great, well organized website with comprehensive, easy-to-use information about resume writing.

ProvenResumes.com
Features free online resume writing workshops and lots of tips and information.

The Damn Good Resume
This site is the online companion to Yana Parker's series of resume writing books. Contains helpful tips and tricks.

Monster.com's Resume Section
Contains sample resumes and cover letters, and a wealth of links, tips, and related topics.

The Rogue's Gallery of 25 Awful Resume Mistakes
This article tells you 25 things you should absolutely NEVER do with your resume. Check here before you put the stamp on that envelope!

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