Every bullet point mentioned in a resume starts with a action verb. They are important is because it helps the reader understand what was your role in the achievement listed. e.g. Designed a retention initiative for Consultants for McKinsey and arrested subsequent attrition from 31% to 23%. The action verb "Designed" demonstrates thought leadership.
Any recruiter or hiring manager wants to understand if you caused the achievement or were part of the achievement.
The trouble with action verbs in a resume is that they should be non-repetitive and should sound professional at the same time
Same action verb used multiple times in a resume does not reflect well on the candidate
Hence we have put together a list of action verbs which you can refer to when creating a resume
To help you, we have collated a list of action verbs which you can use to augment your resume. Instead of providing you with a laundry list of action verbs, we have bucketed them into eight categories i.e.
Depending on the category you are interested in, you can go down and looks for relevant resume action verbs.
activated, assembled, built, calculated, computed, constructed, converted, customised, debugged, deciphered, dedicated, deliberated, delivered, designed, detected, devaluated, devised, dispersed, displayed, elevated, endorsed, enforced, engineered, enhanced, enriched, excelled, exercised, exhibited, fabricated, familiarised, finalised, formed, installed, maintained, navigated, operated, participated, programmed, remodelled, repaired, resolved, retrieved, screened, serviced, solved, supplied, trained, upgraded
administered, analysed, centralised, certified, chaired, changed, commissioned, committed, concluded, condensed, confirmed, consented, contracted, consolidated, consulted, correlated, cultivated, delegated, determined, developed, employed, evaluated, executed, formulated, founded, fulfilled, headed, hired, managed, maintained, organised, oversaw, planned, prioritised, produced, proposed, recommended, recruited, regulated, reviewed, revitalised, scheduled, supervised
composed, conceived, conducted, created, designed, developed, directed, drafted, established, executed, fashioned, founded, illustrated, improvised, instituted, integrated, introduced, invented, marketed, modernised, originated, performed, pioneered, planned, redesigned, remodelled, renovated, replaced, revitalised, shaped, sketched, started, stimulated, strategised, transformed
approved, arranged, catalogued, classified, collaborated, collected, compiled, consolidated, distributed, enlisted, executed, expedited, extracted, generated, identified, implemented, inspected, integrated, monitored, operated, organised, prepared, prioritised, processed, purchased, recorded, reorganised, retrieved, revised, scheduled, screened, streamlined, targeted, updated, validated
administered, allocated, analysed, appraised, audited, balanced, budgeted, calculated, controlled, developed, estimated, financed, forecasted, managed, marketed, minimised, monitored, multiplied, planned, procured, projected, provided, purchased, raised, rated, reconciled, refined, reformed, regarded, researched, reserved, revived, satisfied, scrutinised, secured, settled, staffed, strengthened, submitted, substantiated, suggested, supplemented, sustained, tailored, transferred
addressed, arranged, authored, communicated, composed, contacted, convinced, corresponded, developed, directed, drafted, edited, formulated, influenced, informed, interpreted, interviewed, lectured, marketed, mediated, moderated, motivated, negotiated, networked, persuaded, presented, promoted, publicised, published, reconciled, recruited, referred, reported, translated
acquired, amplified, analysed, approximated, ascertained, authorised, boosted, calculated, charted, collected, compared, conducted, diagnosed, designed, determined, evaluated, examined, extracted, formulated, guaranteed, identified, indexed, inferred, innovated, inspected, instituted, interested, interpreted, interviewed, investigated, involved, issued, judged, justified, lead, linked, minimised, modified, organised, processed, reviewed, researched, studied, summarised, surveyed, tested
Adapted, advised, applied, appraised, assessed, assigned, categorised, clarified, coached, communicated, cooperated, coordinated, corrected, defined, demonstrated, designated, developed, directed, elaborated, elicited, enabled, evaluated, explained, facilitated, guided, identified, implemented, incorporated, indicated, initiated, instructed, interacted, integrated, investigated, modified, motivated, observed, organised, postulated, praised, reinforced, rewarded, simplified, structured, synthesised, taught, trained, tutored
The best way to use the above list is to get the first draft of the resume ready and then fine tune it with the list. Share this with someone who is applying for opportunities.
