Hey guys,
Just a quick post I thought might be helpful. This was run on LinkedIn yesterday. These are the terms you should avoid on your resumé because they're so overused. Here's the Top 10:
- Extensive Experience
- Innovative
- Motivated
- Results-Oriented
- Dynamic
- Proven Track Record
- Team Player
- Fast-Paced
- Problem Solver
- Entrepreneurial
Here's the whole article:
http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/12/14/2010-top10-pr…
Hope that helps.
Eddie
The reason everyone uses these terms on their resumes is because they sound great - clearly an employer would want to hire a motivated, results-oriented, entrepreneurial team player with extensive experience.
The problem is that simply describing yourself in these ways doesn't carry any water at all and generally makes you look like you're overselling. What you really want to do is show, don't tell. Illustrate these attributes throughout your resume in your bullet points. What did you do that shows you're a team player? Do you have an example of a company you started Mr. Entrepreneurial? Tell me about a time you solved a problem. Prove to me that your old boss would vouch for how motivated and innovative you are.
All of these buzzwords are overused because we all know they're exactly what employers are looking for. Trouble is, everyone can smell your bullshit a mile away. You can't just talk the talk, you need to have the resume to show you walked the walk.
Thanks.. nicely encapsulates what a 2nd year mm m&a analyst said to me... i'll sb that. I got rid of all that stuff from my cv and cl over the past 3 months because thankfully i didn't waste all my time in college and ended up doing some pretty good things.
I did the same, though it was a grueling endeavor. I honestly had no idea how much of a retard I looked like with that stuff on my resume until recently.
The only one of those words that I have on my resume/cover letter now is "motivated;" and its in the last sentence of the cover letter.
Now that I read this, Im thinking of changing it, lol.
Listen to the Captain. SB for you. That means RESULTS oriented bullets.
This applies to the cover letter too, right? I know for the resume Wharton has a great list of action verbs that can make your resume sound a lot better. (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/resumes.html)
Fuck me. I have like 4-5 on there. Guess I should change that since I haven't updated my CV for 3 years.
Question: At what point do you remove an old job?
Although I don’t hire, and probably never will, my opinion is as follows:
Results-Oriented – this drives me crazy. Everyone says they are results oriented, yet they forget to include actual numbers and measurable results following a completed project. In other words, most people just go through the motions.
Team Player – I wish I could remember how many people have said this and yet, when it comes to completing a task outside their job description, their answer is “not my job”. The whole point of being a team player is that you don’t build the Great Wall of China around your dopy job descripto, that you are aware of the big picture and what needs to get done so we can all go home before 2AM.
If you are results oriented, specify the results. If you are a team player, specify how you elevated the team.
Always felt they were cheesy and overused.
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