65 Powerful Words to Take Your Resume to the Next Level

Do you consider yourself a hard worker? A team player? A people person? Whatever you do, don’t tell that to the person reading your resume. Why not? Because if they hear about one more of those, they’re going to tear the resume into itty-bitty shreds.

As good as certain terms might seem, they’ve been on a few billion too many resumes to mean anything to potential bosses. When you’re updating your resume, make your accomplishments stand out by using words that are powerful and descriptive rather than stale and clichéd. Resume power words are important.

And it’s not just about the specific word: it’s also about paying attention to the company’s buzzwords and focusing on skills related to the job. Read on to get the nitty-gritty on those important steps, or jump straight to the suave and sexy synonyms that will make your resume words pop and let you ditch the duds like “dedicated,” “leader,” and “manage.”

Capitalize on Company Keywords

First things first: whether you’re applying to be a CEO or an intern, tailor your resume and your cover letter to the company you’re applying to.

This is important not just to get the attention of the person reading your resume, but also to ensure that a person does read your resume. Some companies automate the hiring process with applicant tracking systems, which screen for resumes that use specific keywords—and if you don’t have the keywords, you don’t get the interview.

But whether the company uses an applicant tracking system or has a human reading resumes, including words related to the company’s mission shows that you did your homework and would be a good fit for the team. Here are a few examples:

• If you’re applying for a job involving writing, don’t just write “wrote.” Use words like published, reported, investigated. If possible, include page views, social shares, or the circulation of your pieces.
• If you’re applying for a job in education or one that involves helping people, use words like mentored, trained, cultivated, or facilitated.
• If you’re applying for a job in finance or business, use words like enhanced, expanded, developed, yielded. Any specific numbers on gains or savings you’ve produced for previous employers will also give you a boost.
• If you’re applying for a job at a startup, use words like innovated, disrupted, spearheaded.
• If you’re applying to a job involving customer service (whether in a store or UX research), use words like reached, served, communicated, aided, and experience.

That doesn’t cover every job out there, but it shows how you can shape your resume based on what you’re applying to. In general, it’s a good rule of thumb to read the company description or the “About us” page on their website and go from there. Use some of their words—without copying language verbatim—and you’re more likely to get your foot in the door.

Showcase Resume Power Words Related to the Job

Obviously, you wouldn’t throw in the phrase “user experience” if you’re applying to be a teacher. It’s also important to focus on skills that you’ll be using if you get the job you’re applying for. In other words, no matter how great a camp counselor you were in high school, that probably won’t seem relevant when you’re applying to business school.

Look very closely at the job description of your desired position for hints about what they want. For example, a list of responsibilities on a job description might include a line like this: “Analyze, create, and document business and system processes through the use of templates and process flows.”

In your resume, take a similar work experience you’ve had and tweak it to mirror, but not exactly match, the language in the job description. For example: “At previous company, created template for documenting analytic process and streamlining business flow.” Takes the language, tweaks it, and makes you look like you’ll fit right in.

Resume Power Synonyms to Make Your Accomplishments Pop

Based on the specific achievements and accomplishments you want to highlight, here are lists of power words that will make your resume stand out from the crowd. Trust us: these look impressive whether you’re applying for your first job or trying to land a CEO gig.

“I wrote stuff, created something, or did things”

If you’re at an entry-level position or are shooting for something new, you may not have accomplishments like “headed company” or “raised $2 million.” But you can still showcase what you’ve done in a way that will highlight your ability to rise to bigger challenges.

• Produced (articles, reports, spreadsheets)
• Coordinated (your own project, a group effort)
• Created (a process, program, venture)
• Founded (a student club or organization)
• Organized (an event or group)
• Fundraised (money, and how much)
• Designed (a website, poster, method)
• Analyzed (a spreadsheet, lab project, data set)

“I led or managed a team”

Here are some ways to communicate that you were in charge of a group of people and wore your leadership mantle well. Whether it was a student group or a company of thousands, these words will make you look the part.

• Headed
• Oversaw
• Steered
• Coordinated
• Orchestrated
• Oversaw
• Directed
• Cultivated
• Facilitated
• Guided
• Mentored
• Mobilized
• Supervised

“I came up with or was in charge of a project”

Regardless of the position you’re applying for, you likely want to demonstrate that you can think critically and come up with solutions to the types of problems your potential company might face. These are great words to show that you’re a responsible leader and a thoughtful problem solver.

• Developed
• Engineered
• Implemented
• Established
• Formalized
• Initiated
• Instituted
• Launched
• Spearheaded
• Organized

“I made something better”

Maybe you improved a process, or you helped increase your company’s sales, revenue, or efficiency. These words are an improvement on “improve.” And remember to back up your claims with numbers if you can. Words can take you far, but it’s hard to beat an applicant who gives evidence with hard facts.

• Accelerated (a process)
• Boosted (sales, efficiency, experience)
• Amplified (output, readership, response rate)
• Delivered (results—and be specific)
• Expanded (audience)
• Generated (revenue)
• Stimulated (sales, innovation)
• Sustained (growth)
• Transformed (a system, structure, method)
• Expedited (a process, a set of outcomes)
• Maximized (success—but again, be specific)

“I fixed something”

Here are ways to say that you came up with an idea and implemented changes. As you can see, there’s nothing like a “re” word to show that you took something good and made it great.

• Customized
• Overhauled
• Strengthened
• Updated
• Upgraded
• Refined
• Redesigned
• Replaced
• Restructured
• Revamped

“I saved my company money”

You found waste, and figured out a way to get rid of it. In other words:

• Conserved (money—how much?)
• Reduced (expenditures)
• Deducted (overhead)
• Yielded (savings)
• Diagnosed (a problem—how big?)

“I dealt with difficult people”

Here’s where tactfulness really comes in. Whether you were herding kindergarteners or managing relationships with finicky clients, this is an area to emphasize your impact without sounding bitter about the tough folks you had to face

• Navigated (a situation)
• Negotiated (a solution)
• United (disparate individuals or groups)
• Arbitrated (an issue)
• Resolved (a problem)
• Consulted (a company)
• Forged (a relationship)
• Secured (a deal)

Where are the synonyms for “hard worker” and “team player,” you ask? If you picked the right power words to showcase your skills in a meaningful and evocative way, those qualities will come across all on their own.

So, now you’ve got all the words down, but are you still thirsting for more tips on what a good resume looks like? Check out Grammarly’s resume template, tips for streamlining your resume, specifics on resume writing for writers, and why you shouldn’t skip proofreading your resume.

Is Using “As Soon As Possible” Rude?

Your co-worker just sent you a message on Slack:

Bossy McBosserpants

I need the report as soon as possible

What runs through your head? Along with potential anxiety about a looming deadline (looks like you’re eating lunch at your desk again) you may feel annoyance. After all, that demand sounded pretty darn pushy.

via GIPHY

Requests that include “as soon as possible” (or the ubiquitous acronym ASAP) can come across as rude. In fact, Forbes named emails with ASAP in the subject header among the five rudest. The acronym got its start in 1955 as U.S. Army slang, which may be why we sometimes associate it with the mental image of a drill sergeant barking orders.

Whether we view ASAP as rude or demanding depends on intangible factors like the context in which it’s used and your relationship with the person you’re communicating with. Here are a few pros and cons.

The Pros of Using ASAP

• It’s a handy code for people you work with frequently. ASAP can be a communication shortcut when it’s known that all parties have the same definition. If both the requester and the “requestee” understand that ASAP means “whenever you get around to it,” for instance, there’s less chance for misunderstandings.
• With the right context, it’s a good way to convey urgency. ASAP can serve as a motivator. It works well in titles when you want to show that something can happen quickly (and that quickly is a good thing). E.g., Here’s how to lose 10 pounds ASAP!

The Cons of Using ASAP

• It does nothing to help the recipient prioritize. Does your request need to be tended to by the end of the day, the end of the week, or whenever the recipient gets a little spare time? “As soon as possible” doesn’t convey any sort of time frame.
• It sounds harsh. “Get those supply requisitions to me ASAP, private! That’s an order!” Do you really want to come across as though you’re asking the person on the receiving end to drop whatever they’re doing and work on your problem?
• When overused, it becomes meaningless. When everything needs to be delivered ASAP, nothing is. In fact, ASAP can signify a lack of planning—you don’t really know when you need your request attended to, so you’re leaving it for someone else (namely, the person you made the request of) to sort out.
• It’s easily misinterpreted. Let’s say you used “as soon as possible” to express that you needed something from a colleague as soon as they could get around to it. If your colleague interpreted your request as an immediate need, he might have set aside other important tasks to tend to it. He’s likely to feel frustrated when he learns that the need wasn’t top priority.

Alternatives to ASAP

There are a few other ways to express need without resorting to the gruffness or ambiguity of “as soon as possible”. Consider these alternatives:

• As soon as possible, or _____. Use this to say that something’s urgent, but can wait until a specific deadline if necessary. “As soon as possible, or no later than end-of-day Friday.”
• Promptly. This one can serve as a nudge by suggesting the recipient has been less than prompt. (Be careful, though. It may come across as passive aggressive.)
• At your earliest convenience. You need it, but you’re willing to wait until the other person has a chance to tend to it.
• Whenever you’re able. Use this soft approach when you really don’t care when your request is tended to.

The best alternative: be specific

When you weigh the pros and cons, there are few good reasons to ask for anything ASAP, and some compelling reasons not to. The best alternative is a simple one—be specific. By taking the time to figure out your priorities, you’ll be helping your colleagues plan their own.

Let’s compare:

Bossy McBosserpants

I need the report as soon as possible

Vs.

Helpful McHelpfulson

Our team’s goal is to finish this project by the end of the month. Could you get the report to me by noon tomorrow?

Which request would you rather receive?

Principle vs. Principal

• A principle is a rule, a law, a guideline, or a fact.
• A principal is the headmaster of a school or a person who’s in charge of certain things in a company.
• Principal is also an adjective that means original, first, or most important.

Words with shared roots often end up with similar meanings in modern use. Principle and principal are two such words. Both of them entered English through Old French. Both have Latin roots—principium, which means “source” is the root of principle, and principalis, Latin for “first,” is the root of principal. If we were to dig a little bit deeper, we would see that the Latin roots can be traced to the same word—princeps, princip, which means “first”, or “chief.” Principle and principal are also pronounced the same way (PRIN-suh-pul), but that only adds to the confusion because the two words have different meanings.

Principle Definition and Examples

Principle is a word that’s always used as a noun, and it has a couple of meanings:

A fundamental truth upon which systems of beliefs and morals are formed:

I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

A guiding rule that explains how something works:

When we asked Bill Nye the Science Guy if he thinks we are living in a computer-generated simulation, he turned to some basic scientific principles to justify his answer. —Big Think

The program consists of a year of monthly classroom-style lectures and workshops that put to use legal skills and enhance attorneys’ business principles. —The Charlotte Observer

A scientific rule or law:

Water, following the principle of gravity, will run downhill thus forming new channels. —Northern California News

Principal Definition and Examples

Principal can be used both as an adjective and a noun. When used as an adjective, principal has two main meanings.

The first in order of importance:

The company pointed me to the words of Andrew Chatham, a principal engineer. —CNet

Red Sox principal owner John Henry also owns England’s Liverpool Football Club, a Premier League team. —Boston Herald

The originally invested amount of money:

Hit hard by the retrospective tax, Cairn Energy Plc of the UK has offered to pay 15 per cent of the Rs 10,247-crore principal amount in return for the government lifting its freeze on the 9.8 per cent shares it holds in its erstwhile subsidiary, Cairn India. —Business Standard

When used as a noun, principal also has a couple of meanings.

The head of an educational institution:

The principal of the troubled Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn said on Thursday that he is leaving the post. —The Wall Street Journal

In the business world, a principal is the person who owns a company, is a partner in a company, or is the person or entity who engages another person or entity to act as an agent:

Quantum Financial Principal Claire Mackay says changes to concessional caps mean “people need to be thinking about their super earlier.” —NEWS.com.au

The most important or highest ranked members of a troupe, a ballet company, or the headliners of an event:

With this year’s “Nutcracker,” Alexander says, the school hopes to “encourage our students that you don’t need to be 27 or the principal of a company to do those (second-act) roles. —Chicago Tribune

Entitled vs. Titled

You can say that a book is entitled “so and so,” but to say that it’s titled might be a more elegant and middle-of-the-road solution.

It doesn’t take a large leap of imagination to see how this blog might be read by someone who is working on his or her first book. To those of you who are working on novels, we wish the best of luck, offer some advice, and present you with a conundrum—will you title your book, or will you entitle it? Because, depending on who you ask, you might be able to do either, or you might just be able to title it. This warrants a deeper look.

Title the Verb and How to Use It

Title can be a noun and a verb. For the purposes of the entitled vs. titled debate, the verb is more interesting to us. To title something means to give it a name:

Nurturing another great love, last month Odom released his self-titled debut album of jazz and Broadway classics on S-Curve Records. —Forbes

The bestselling writer, who resigned from his New Yorker gig and lost his whiz-kid reputation in 2012 when the public learned that his book “Imagine” included made-up quotes attributed to Bob Dylan, is out with a new work titled “A Book About Love.” —The Washington Post

Titled can also be an adjective that describes people who have high social status or rank:

The community leaders and titled chiefs from different towns in the state backed Ogah at a meeting at Ogah’s Campaign Office in Umuahia. —Punch

Entitle and How to Use It

But it’s not the verb title that people find strange when talking about naming books or papers or works of art. Entitle is the verb that some deem objectionable for use in the context of giving names, even though this is one of the meanings the verb can have:

The book, entitled Stand Up China 2017 – China’s Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, was published this week in Taiwan. —The Guardian

The book entitled ZIKA: The Emerging Epidemic is set to be published on July 6, 2016, just a month before the August Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. —Science World Report

The thing about entitle that rubs some people the wrong way is the other meaning the verb might have—“to give the right”:

A Fair Work Ombudsman spokeswoman said the national minimum wage would have entitled him to $16.87 per hour, equating to about $641 per 38-hour week. —Herald Sun

Hamilton was ahead on a line that entitled him to turn in, the stewards concluded. —The Guardian

This is the main definition of entitled when it’s used as an adjective. When we call people entitled, we are saying that they believe they have a right or privilege they don’t actually have:

You may have seen it, or felt it—that phenomenon that seems to have taken over kids in recent years and turned them into entitled, me-centric beings? —Today

Clearly, the reputation of entitle as a verb that means “to give a name” is damaged by the other meaning of entitle—“to give a right.” And the adjective entitled isn’t helping either. So, while you technically are entitled to use the verb entitle in both its senses, a case can be made that title would be a better choice for the sense the two verbs share.

Two-minute Grammar: The Bare-bones Basics of Prepositions

“Vampires! Zombies! Werewolves!” “Where?!” “Behind you!”

Thank goodness for prepositions. Imagine not knowing where the danger lay!

Prepositions tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. When monsters are sneaking up on you, it is good to have these special words to tell us where those monsters are. Are they behind us or in front of us; are they near or far; will they be arriving in three seconds or at midnight?

Prepositions are helpful words that define direction, time, location, and spatial relationships. They tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. For example:

“The book is on the table beside you.” (On and beside are prepositions of location.)

Prepositions can also be used to contrast ideas.

“We went for a walk despite the rain.” (Despite is the preposition showing contrast.)

Here are some commonly used prepositions: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without

Some common phrases used to require prepositions, but language has evolved to the point where they are now superfluous and sound silly. For example:

“Could you get that box off of the table?” can simply be written as: “Could you get that box off the table?”

“The winner was awarded with a gold medal.” can simply be written as: “The winner was awarded a gold medal.”

Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any rules that will help you determine if you should use the proposition or not. The best thing to do is read the sentence aloud or read it to a friend and ask if the preposition sounds awkward, strange, or unnecessary.

Finally, is it ever ok to end a sentence with a preposition? Yes, and this blog post explains why.