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Top 100 Most Powerful Resume Words

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In today's job market, your resume is the most important document you have to get your job application in the hands of the hiring manager. If you can't get your resume past the ATS, it doesn't matter how much experience or how good your cover letter is. That's why you need to be strategic and intentional about the words you include in your resume.


The Importance Of Powerful Resume Words

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When a hiring manager is seeing the same old resume time and time again (which includes the cliché words and phrases such as "highly dedicated individual" or "great team player") you are guaranteeing that your resume will be tossed. Not only is it probably not optimized with the right keywords, but by taking up space with subjective statements, you're missing out on the chance to quantify your experience, skills, and accomplishments on your resume.

Poorly chosen words and clichéd phrases can destroy the interest of the reader. Powerful words, when chosen correctly, can have the opposite effect of motivating and inspiring the reader.

Here are the most powerful resume words you should use to stand out from the competition and increase your chances of getting hired...

Top 100 Powerful Resume Words

Woman on laptop uses powerful words on her resume

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  1. Advanced
  2. Assigned
  3. Assessed
  4. Absorbed
  5. Accelerated
  6. Attained
  7. Attracted
  8. Announced
  9. Appraised
  10. Budgeted
  11. Bolstered
  12. Balanced
  13. Boosted
  14. Bargained
  15. Benefited
  16. Beneficial
  17. Comply
  18. Critiqued
  19. Closed
  20. Collaborated
  21. Designed
  22. Delegated
  23. Demonstrated
  24. Developed
  25. Detected
  26. Efficient
  27. Enhanced
  28. Excelled
  29. Exceeded
  30. Enriched
  31. Fulfilled
  32. Financed
  33. Forecasted
  34. Formulated
  35. Generated
  36. Guided
  37. Granted
  38. Helped
  39. Hosted
  40. Implemented
  41. Investigated
  42. Increased
  43. Initiated
  44. Influenced
  45. Integrated
  46. Innovated
  47. Instituted
  48. Justified
  49. Listed
  50. Logged
  51. Maintained
  52. Mentored
  53. Measured
  54. Multiplied
  55. Negotiated
  56. Observed
  57. Operated
  58. Obtained
  59. Promoted
  60. Presented
  61. Programmed
  62. Provided
  63. Projected
  64. Qualified
  65. Quantified
  66. Quoted
  67. Recommended
  68. Refine
  69. Revamp
  70. Reacted
  71. Retained
  72. Recovered
  73. Reinstated
  74. Rejected
  75. Sustained
  76. Skilled
  77. Saved
  78. Scheduled
  79. Supported
  80. Secured
  81. Simplified
  82. Screened
  83. Segmented
  84. Streamlined
  85. Strengthened
  86. Triumphed
  87. Troubleshot
  88. Taught
  89. Tutored
  90. Translated
  91. Trained
  92. Uncovered
  93. United
  94. Unified
  95. Updated
  96. Upgraded
  97. Validated
  98. Viewed
  99. Worldwide
  100. Witnessed

The next time you're writing your resume, be sure to include some of the powerful words above. Your job search depends on it!

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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