Resume can be one
of the most critical factors when it comes to deciding your fate in
an organization or a career objective. You are in for trouble if your
resume does not stand out of the crowd and it looks like another copy
of the hundreds piled up previously for trash. There are a lot of
words that are overused in a resume which have the employers cringing
away.
According
to LinkedIn, there are a lot of words that have been overused
globally. They issue annual
buzzwords to support their claim. If your resume includes any of
the following words, you need to stop today:
- Motivated
You wouldn’t be applying for the job if you weren’t motivated.
Motivated is a psychological term which drives you to do something.
Even if you are driven for the need of money, you are still
motivated; there is no need to mention it in the resume.
- Passionate
Passionate generally means something you deeply care about.
Now,“passionate” has become the most overused word globally. If
you mention in your resume that you have been passionate about
something since childhood, your employer will not believe you. You
might have been interested but passionate is hard to believe.
- Creative
If you are working in a firm and you come up with completely original
ideas that do not exist anywhere, you might be considered creative.
However, if you just pick up an idea just because no one else has
thought of it, you’re resourceful, not creative.
- Driven
Driven is just another term for motivated. Employers see a lot of
“results-driven” on the resumes these days. Driven only describes
how you are running after something without a genuine purpose, and
they do not need that anymore. Give them something they are looking
for to leave a strong impact on the recruiting team.
- Extensive Experience
Do you know what counts as an extensive experience? Multiple degrees
and more than ten years reserved to a single organization. Just
because you have been working on something for less than five years,
you might have some experience but not extensive enough. So, unless
you have what it really takes to claim having an “extensive
experience”, avoid using these words altogether.
- Responsible
This word has been so overused, there are several
articles written about avoiding it altogether. “Responsible”
only shows the task that you were handed to finish. It does not
discuss how you did it and if you achieved something out of it. The
employers would rather see some factual details than your
responsibilities.
- Track Record
Once again, using “track-record” in resume is vague. Your
employer does not see what record you obtained; all they see is a
phrase. Try to use “maintained a consistent record of 45% sales”
or similar instead.
- Organizational
The word organizational means related to an organization. While no
one knows why people use it so frequently in their resume, it is a
word that is completely irrelevant. Try replacing it with “organized”
instead.
- Expert
Even experts do not call themselves “expert” when it comes to
describing themselves. Nobody is an expert; we’re all learners.
Instead of calling yourself expert, you can call yourself highly
qualified. The word “expert” only shows that you believe you have
learned everything there was to learn, which cannot possibly be true
or practical.
While it is impossible to remove the words discussed above completely
from your resume, you need to strategically place them so that your
employer does not view your resume negatively. Your goal of the
resume should be to include as many facts and reduce as much
ambiguity as possible.
Author Bio:
Alison works as a
at Dissertation cube where she provides dissertation
writing help to students. In spare time she writes blogs for
students starting their career and for those who are still in jobs.
Find her on Google+.
