3 Salary Negotiation Scripts You Can Use for Any Job

Ask any job seeker or employee about salary negotiations and one of the most popular responses is, “I would negotiate but I don’t know what to say.” Having the right words to say, or write, during a salary negotiation is vital. Communication can make or break discussions and impact your ability to get paid fairly.

First things first, determine your current worth in the job market. Use Know Your Worth to receive a custom salary estimate based on your title, company, location and experience. Once you have the information, it’s time to advocate for yourself.

Josh Doody, author of Fearless Salary Negotiation, knows how challenging it can be to learn to financially advocate for oneself. He took his first job without negotiating his salary. Once he got hip to the dance, he doubled that salary.

We teamed with Doody to equip job seekers and employees with the knowledge they need to tackle tricky salary negotiation conversations.

Situation #1: Prying During the Prescreen

How should you respond when you’re asked about salary right off the bat? You want to demonstrate that you’re enthusiastic and cooperative, but you don’t want to tip your hand. Doody explains: “It’s a salary negotiation tactic disguised as a gatekeeper-type interview question.”

Suggested Script:

Recruiter: What’s your current salary?

You: “I’m not really comfortable sharing that information. I would prefer to focus on the value I can add to this company and not what I’m paid at my current job.”

If the interview team doesn’t know your salary, they can’t use it as their starting point. Doody writes, “that’s probably going to mean a higher initial offer for you.”

Recruiter: What’s your expected salary?

You: “I want this move to be a big step forward for me in terms of both responsibility and compensation.”

Doody points out, “sharing your current salary or your expected salary is not in your best interest. . . They’re interviewing you because you’re a qualified candidate, and they need a qualified candidate. . . They would also like to get a good deal. They’re not going to stop interviewing you just because you don’t make it easier for them to get a good deal on you.”

If they pass because you won’t acquiesce, that’s a red flag. Doody says, “then they’re extremely motivated to get a bargain… That’s bad news for you even if you get the job.”

One last thing: resist the temptation to try reading the interviewer’s mind. If you underestimate what they’re willing to pay, you’re leaving money on the table. If the real answer is that they would compensate someone like you up to $75,000 dollars, and you guess they would pay a salary of only $65,000, you very literally may have just cost yourself $10,000.

If you overestimate and tell them your salary expectation is $85,000, you may set off red flags that cause them to rethink the interview process altogether. This is pretty rare, but you could disqualify yourself by being “too expensive” for them. If your expected salary is well above their budgeted pay range, they may just move on to other candidates with lower salary expectations.

The bottom line is you probably aren’t going to guess what their salary structure looks like, and if you try to guess you may cost yourself a lot of money.

Situation #2: Savvy Counter Offering

After you’ve secured an offer, Doody recommends using this formula:

“The counter offer calculator accounts for four factors—the base salary of your job offer, your minimum acceptable salary (“walk away” number), how badly the company needs you to accept the job offer, and how badly you need the job.”

Use “firm and neutral” language like this:

Suggested Script

“Tom offered $50,000 and I would be more comfortable if we could settle on $56,000. I feel that amount reflects the importance and expectations of the position for ACME Corp’s business, and my qualifications and experience as they relate to this particular position.”

Or, if you had a competing offer:

“Thank you so much for the offer. As I mentioned during my interview process, I am speaking with a couple of other companies. If you’re able to move the pay to [insert your number], I’d be eager to accept.”

Doody explains that email is the perfect medium for this message. This way, the hiring manager can share it in a format that clearly makes your case to each person with whom it’s shared. Your case won’t get the same treatment if it’s restated recollections of a conversation.

The hiring manager will likely come back with a figure between your base salary and your counter offer. For Doody, the distance between these figures represents your “salary negotiation window.” He recommends compartmentalizing this window into increments. In the example above, the window is $6,000, so he recommends devising a response for each possible offer. If, for example, the offer is $55,000 or above, Doody says it’s a taker.

“If the company comes back with $53,000, then you say ‘If you can do $54,000, I’m on board!’ If they stick with $53,000, then you would say, ‘I understand the best you can do is $53,000 and you can’t come up to $54,000. If you can do $53,000 and offer an extra week of paid vacation each year, then I’m on board.’”

Decide which benefits, like vacation time or flexible working hours, are most important so that you can apply them to bolster the deal. Rank those benefits in your mind and use those in your bargaining.

1. Extra vacation time 2. Work from home 3. Signing bonus

If they do not accept your second-priority benefit, you move on to your third-priority benefit. Regardless of whether they accept your final response, then you’re finished; don’t get nit-picky or greedy. You have maximized your base salary and maximized your benefits as well.

Situation #3: Raises & Promotions

Doody explains: “Your primary reason for requesting a raise is that the salary you’re being paid doesn’t reflect your current value to the company. That salary was set sometime in the past, so your argument is that you are more valuable now than you were.” You have a fair justification. Now you need the right plan.

Start by mentioning, via email, to your manager that you’d like to discuss compensation in your next private meeting. After that conversation, Doody advises preparing a strategically constructed, easily sharable salary increase letter.

Suggested Email Script:

“As we discussed, it has been [amount of time] since [my last significant salary adjustment OR since I was hired], and I would like to revisit my salary now that I’m contributing much more to the company. I’ve been researching salaries for [job title] in [industry] industry, and it looks like the mid-point is around [mid-point from your research]. So I would like to request a raise to [target salary].”

The letter should also highlight your accomplishments and accolades. Doody notes that if your proposal isn’t accepted on the first try, you can work with your manager to create an action plan.

“I would love to work with you to put together a clear action plan and timeline so we can continue this discussion and monitor my progress as I work toward my goal.”

Always remember, your talent is precious, and you deserve to be compensated for it. Learning to foster conversations about compensation is a vital skill that yields rewards.

A version of this post originally appeared on Glassdoor’s blog.

When Should I Spell Out Numbers?

It is generally best to write out numbers from zero to one hundred in nontechnical writing. In scientific and technical writing, the prevailing style is to write out numbers under ten. While there are exceptions to these rules, your predominant concern should be expressing numbers consistently.

Numbers can disrupt readability in a paragraph, so for most writing purposes, it is best to flex those fingers and type out numbers less than 101 as fully spelled words.

Sophie said there are ninety-nine reasons why she adores Justin Bieber, not ten.

According to census records, there were 53,364 people over the age of one hundred in the U.S. in 2010.

When writing out numbers between forty and forty-nine, be sure to remember that forty has no u in it (this is a common spelling error).

The rules demonstrated in the examples above are simply rules of thumb and there are exceptions to them. For example, round numbers such as hundreds, thousands, or hundred thousands should be written out in full. Numbers that are not conveniently round will read better written as numerals.

It was said that there were five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men.

This year’s parade brought in 123,675 attendees.

When a number begins a sentence, that number should always be spelled out. That said, writers often choose to restructure their sentences when the numbers become cumbersome for the reader.

5 finalists will qualify for the next round of the competition.

Five finalists will qualify for the next round of the competition.

Seventeen seventy-six was the year America became a nation.

In 1776, America became a nation.

Spelling Out Numbers in Technical, Scientific, and Complex Writing

Scientific and technical journals, and even news reports, often adhere to the rule that only numbers less than ten should be written out in full, except when fractions or decimals are involved. This can be a sensible approach to ensuring the readability of texts that refer to numbers and figures frequently.

The color blue was preferred by five out of 11 experiment participants.

Did you know the average snail moves at 0.029 miles per hour?

Fractional quantities of larger numbers, such as those in the millions and billions, are most easily read when abbreviated as decimals in combination with the word “million” or “billion” where possible. Whole millions and billions (and in American usage, trillions) can be expressed as a whole number plus the word “million,” “billion,” etc.

The Milky Way is approximately 13.6 billion years old.

Canada has a population of nearly 36 million.

When using abbreviations for units of measurement in your writing, always express numbers as numerals. Similarly, when writing about money, use numerals in connection with the dollar sign or other currency symbols. Infrequent references to money read best when written out as spelled-out numbers plus the word for the currency involved.

One inch is equal to 2.54 cm.

The weight of an average hippopotamus is 1,500 kg.

Patients expressed a desire to take the medication occasionally, but were hesitant to pay the fifty-dollar fee.

The actual cost of the medication to patients is $51.75.

Deciding whether to write out numbers in full can be tricky, but the key is to use the correct style for your audience and to use it consistently.

10 Grammarly Blog Posts from 2017 That You Need to See

There’s a lot of writing on the Internet, our blog included.

For the past 12 months, we’ve offered writing tips, advice for job- and promotion-seeking members of the workforce, quizzes to test your lust for language, and much, much more.

Out of the hundreds of posts authored on this here blog, we’ve picked out ten of our staff’s favorite posts. They represent the breadth of content you can find on our blog and our in our weekly newsletter. They also show the value of mistake-free writing and the value Grammarly can provide however you’re looking to improve your writing and communication skills.

And now, (drumroll please), let’s take a look at ten posts we hope you didn’t miss. And if you did, it’s OK, we forgive you, but you should check them out now because it’s December and this is a great time to recap the year.

1 Bear With Me or Bare With Me?

Worth your time because … There are so many confusing phrases in our English language. If it’s not whom or who, or even affect vs. effect, we can all stand to know the absolute difference between these common phrases that are constantly confused. Our “Grammar Tips” section also you covered for any grammar deep-dive you feel like taking during the holidays.

Text to remember … “Here’s an easy way to differentiate bear from bare. You learned that bear as a verb means “to endure.” In its noun form, bear refers to a large furry animal. Combining these two definitions into a silly sentence will help you remember that the correct phrase is “bear with me,” not “bare with me.” A patient bear will always bear with you, but an impatient bear just might devour you!”

2 5 Other Ways to Write “I Hope You Are Doing Well” in Your Email

Worth your time because … We all write emails. Lots of them. Raise your hand if you’re guilty of using a throwaway line like “I hope you are doing well” to introduce your email. Yup, my hand is up, too. We don’t have to live this way anymore. Our blog offers valuable thoughts on how to diversify your standard email icebreaker.

Text to remember … “Anyone who gets a lot of email is familiar with the stock “I hope you are doing well.” It’s the business email equivalent of small talk that begins with “How are you?” We all know that etiquette requires us to answer with “I’m fine. How are you?” Although this back-and-forth exchange is a rather meaningless part of face-to-face conversation, it’s become socially mandated. In email, however, “hope you’re well” comes across as extraneous at best and insincere at worst.”

3 10 Things You Should Avoid Saying in a Job Interview

Worth your time because … Landing a job interview is an accomplishment. Be proud! But also, you should know that it’s easy to ruin your candidacy with a flippant comment. Our “Workplace” posts provide quality advice on how to approach all angles of the job-search process, including things to avoid saying at your next job interview.

Text to remember … “Could the things you’re saying during job interviews be costing you offers? Knowing the right things to say requires practice and a little finesse. But accidentally saying the wrong thing is all too easy to do. Interviews are stressful, and it can be challenging to keep a cool head when your palms are sweating and your heart is beating double-time.”

4 11 Tips to Clean Up Your Dirty, Wordy Writing

Worth your time because … Brevity is your friend in writing. Don’t waste time getting to a very very important point with some kind of worthless phrases and words that like seemingly delay your reader from really and truly understanding the point you’re trying to make. Wasteful words can appear in anyone’s document or text. This post aims to rid the world of a few added phrases.

Text to remember … “Weasel words are qualifiers that make you sound unsure of yourself, like you’re trying to create wiggle room. Don’t get us wrong: in some cases, you need these words. But if you want to convey an idea or make an argument, remove words that make your readers think of slimy politicians trying to avoid stating something directly. Maybe it can make a difference. No, really: it makes a difference.”

5 How Game of Thrones Characters Would Approach a Writing Assignment

Worth your time because … You don’t have to be a GoT fan to enjoy lifestyle-inspired writing tips. Well, in this case, you have to know a few things about the famous HBO show to get the gist of what we’re getting at. Even so, making connections between famous authors and significant moments in pop culture happens often on our blog.

Text to remember … “Jon Snow begins his journey as an underappreciated bastard of House Stark and hesitatingly rises to lead the Night’s Watch. Eventually, he is elected Lord of Winterfell. Jon Snow, guided by a sense of duty and loyalty to his team rather than by ambition, seeks counsel and consensus almost to a fault. This tendency to rely on his support network and the wisdom of his council helps him to lead well, however. This is exemplified in both his election as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and Lord of Winterfell, when supporters speak on his behalf. Improve your writing the same way by regularly seeking feedback from respected peers.”

6 How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps

Worth your time because … Many of our readers visit the G blog for grammar tips, career advice, and—what else?—actionable tips on how to become a better writer. This post features fifteen ways to vastly improve your skills every time you put pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard.

Text to remember … “Becoming a better writer takes practice, and you’re already practicing. No, seriously—you write a lot. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, you put thoughts into text more often than you realize. At the very least, you write emails—a lot of emails—post on social media, make updates to your résumé and LinkedIn profile, and message your friends. If your job requires it, you also create things like reports, presentations, newsletters . . . it’s a long list.”

7 Why Mistake-free Writing on Your Phone Is So Valuable

Worth your time because … You might be reading this blog on your phone right now. If you’re not, you have surely read something and written something very important on your mobile device at one time or another. So improve your writing on the go with this post. Now you know.

Text to remember … “Remember when phones were used exclusively for making phone calls? (Hard to believe, right?) Now we use our smartphones for all sorts of fun things . . . like sending text messages, answering emails, posting on Facebook, commenting on our favorite cat videos, and even finding true love. While the freedom and flexibility of using a mobile device is awesome—the frustration that comes from typing on a tiny touch screen is not so great.”

8 5 Basic Proofreading Habits for a More Productive 2017

Worth your time because … Re-writing is writing. The same goes for editing or proofreading. However you want to call it, the truth is that behind every great piece of writing is someone with a keen eye for details. Sharpen your skills with these five, dare we say, basic, proofin’ tips.

Text to remember … “If you can, walk away and do something else for a little while. Then come back and read it again. The more time that passes between writing and proofreading, the better you’ll be at spotting mistakes your brain skipped over the first time through.”

9 “Do You Write Like an Introvert?” Quiz

Worth your time because … Grammarly’s quizzes can test your knowledge in a number of capacities. Are your grammar skills legit? Can you interview like a pro? Or in this case, do you write like an introvert or extrovert? There’s only one way to know. Test yourself.

Text to remember … “Have you ever wondered how introverted or extroverted your work style is? This short quiz will help you understand whether your writing personality tends toward introversion or extroversion.”

10 We Studied 750 Top LinkedIn Profiles. Here’s How to Write Yours Better.

Worth your time because … LinkedIn profiles are quite common these days. Knowing how to create a strong presence on LI will do wonders for your networking and job pursuits. We gained a ton of amazing insights from analyzing 750 profiles from Fortune 500 companies.

Text to remember … “Filling out your profile summary matters, but only 42 percent of the entry-level employees we analyzed seemed to bother. Managers and directors both did so a bit more often—closer to half in our study. We suspect people overlook the profile summary because they’re often busy describing their work experience further down their profile—or waiting until they’re actually looking for a new job to make a proper introduction atop their page. In fact, regardless of their experience level, people proved more likely to fill out the work experience section. Especially among managers, 65 percent did so, cranking out a robust 192 words on average for each job they described.”

Did we miss your favorite blog post of the year? Let us know why you loved it in the comments section of this post. Thanks for reading!

These 6 Writing Apps Will Make You a Better Writer

We’ve come a long way, writers. Once, improving our writing skills meant writing (and later typing) our drafts, doing our best to revise and proofread, and then subjecting them to an editor’s red pen. Today, we have tools to not only help us create content, but also to organize, proofread, and polish it.

These apps and online tools will help any writer perfect her craft.

Content Creation Tools

Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and other word processors are fantastic tools. But if you want to supercharge your writing, a content tool built specifically for scribes could be the way to go. And, as a rule, they’re priced with the starving artist in mind.

1Scrivener

If you hang around with writers, specifically anyone who’s working on a novel or other long-form type of writing, you’ve probably at least heard mention of Scrivener. Although its robust features have a bit of a learning curve, it’s a must-have tool for anyone who needs to make use of outlining, storyboarding, research organization and note taking. It’s billed as a “complete writing studio,” and it fits that bill well.

When your magnum opus is complete, Scrivener allows you to organize your document into a finished manuscript that exports to many popular file formats including Microsoft Word, RTF, PDF, and HTML, as well as to self-publishing tools like ePub or Kindle (which requires Kindle’s free tool, KindleGen.)

Scrivener’s user interface is a bit dated, but that doesn’t affect its functionality. A full-screen editing mode allows for distraction-free writing.

Platforms: iOS, Mac, Windows

Price: Free trial, $40 USD to purchase

2Ulysses

Ulysses takes many of Scrivener’s features and makes them portable for the roaming writer. With iCloud, your library syncs between all connected devices, which means that no matter where you go, you can continue where you left off.

Similar to Scrivener, Ulysses simplifies exporting to Word and other file formats as well as self-publishing platforms. But there’s a bonus for bloggers—it exports to WordPress and Medium.

If you like a sleek, modern interface with distraction-free capabilities, Ulysses just might be the writing tool for you. Alas, Windows users, it’s for Apple only.

Platforms: Mac, iOS

Price: $44.99 USD (Mac), $24.99 USD (iOS)

3Draft

Draft is a web app with some unique features. Beyond its streamlined word processing capabilities, it makes the version control features in word processors like Google Docs friendlier to creative writers or anyone who generates multiple drafts of a single document. Any changes collaborators make can be approved line-by-line, similar to Google Docs’ “Suggesting” mode. (There’s even an “Ask a Professional” feature that allows you to ask others for advice on your writing, though I haven’t tested this.) Draft also allows you to mark major revisions of your work so that you can review them and see how your document has changed over time.

Hemingway Mode is a unique feature. Turn it on when you want to “write first, edit later.” This setting forces you to keep moving forward by stripping away your ability to delete or change anything you’ve already written.

Platforms: Web-based

Price: Free

Organization Tools

4Evernote

What would I do without Evernote? It’s a robust note-taking tool that not only allows me to save flashes of inspiration to my always-handy smartphone (where I can access them anytime and anywhere later), but it also lets me clip articles for research or inspiration. You can supercharge your notes with links, checklists, tables, attachments, and audio recordings. Even handwritten notes are searchable. I can also tag and categorize my notes to make them easy to find later.

Platforms: Web, iOS, Mac, Windows, Android

Price: Free | $69.99 per year for premium

Revision and Editing

5Grammarly

Every writer needs a second set of eyes to proofread drafts. Grammarly’s browser extension helps you communicate clearly by suggesting spelling, grammar, and punctuation improvements. Grammarly’s premium version allows writers to select from different writing styles such as creative, casual, and business.

Platforms: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, MS Office add-in

Price: Free | As low as $11.66 per month for Premium

6Readable.io

Have you ever wondered just how readable your writing is? My favorite test is to read my writing out loud (if you stumble during the reading, you may need to revise for readability.) But Readable.io takes things a step further. This web-based app gives your text an overall readability rating and scores its reading level on a number of scales, such as the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and the Gunning Fog index.

Of course, style is sometimes more important than reading ease, especially for creative writers. But when clarity is the most important factor, this tool can help. At the very least, it’s an eye-opener.

Platforms: Web-based

Price: Free | $3 USD per month for premium features

The Singular They

What Is the Singular They?

They is a third-person pronoun, usually referring to a group of something.

It is possible, however, to use they in reference to a single something (the same is true for the possessive, objective, and reflexive forms of they: their, them, and themselves). This is sometimes called the singular they.

A teacher can make a big difference in the lives of their students.

You can see the singular they in action in the example above. This sentence also demonstrates a common reason people reach for the singular they in both writing and speech: English has no gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun that can be used for talking about people. (Referring to a person as it is derogatory). In the sentence above, the gender of the teacher is unknown; it’s also irrelevant. You might even argue that it doesn’t really exist, because we’re not talking about any particular teacher. We’re talking about teachers in general.

Some people assume that the singular they is a modern invention, perhaps a contrivance to replace the outdated rule that writers should use he/him/his as the generic singular third-person pronoun. But, in fact, the singular they has a long, established history as a standard construction. Merriam-Webster cites examples from Chaucer, Shakespeare, Byron, Swift, Austen, and even the King James Bible.

Furthermore, the singular they isn’t only (or even mainly) used as a pronoun with indefinite gender. As Steven Pinker points out in his book The Sense of Style, it also functions as a pronoun of indefinite number. A frequently cited example from George Bernard Shaw illustrates this use:

No man goes into battle to be killed. . . . But they do get killed.

The gender of the hypothetical person in this example is unambiguous. But substituting he instead of they changes the meaning of the sentence. “But he does get killed” would imply that Shaw is talking about a specific man. If we changed “No man” to “No men,” though, it sounds like a generalization. We lose the subtle nuance of meaning that emphasizes the fact that every single man who goes to battle does so at extreme personal risk.

Why Do People Get So Worked Up About It?

If the singular they has both pragmatic and nuanced applications, as well as a long and respectable history, why is it so often decried as grammatical heresy? No one worried much about the singular they until the eighteenth century, when prescriptive grammarians decided that he/him/his should be the default indefinite pronoun. Although other invented rules, such as the proscription against ending a sentence with a preposition, have been thoroughly abandoned, the ban on the singular they has been slower to erode because so many of us have been taught that it is a terrible mistake.

But defaulting to he is not only outdated and widely considered to be sexist—it often just doesn’t work.

Was it your brother or your sister who had to wear a cast on his leg?

Obviously, he/him/his is not a generic pronoun.

Ways Around the Singular They

Often, skilled writers can rephrase sentences to avoid the problem of the singular they altogether. The widely disliked he or she is one option. But the result is often awkward and fussy:

A teacher can make a big difference in the lives of his or her students.

Another option is to make the antecedent of the pronoun plural, which would uncontroversially agree with the pronoun they.

Teachers can make a big difference in the lives of their students.

In longer pieces, some writers simply alternate between using his and her for generic examples.

A dedicated teacher can make a difference in the lives of her students. . . . An observant teacher can tell when his students are struggling.

But experienced writers also know that these tricks don’t always work.

When You Can’t Avoid It

A good rule of thumb is that if you can avoid using the singular they, then avoid it; it’s unnecessary. The more unnecessary the singular they is in a particular sentence, the more it will stick out.

My friend left their jacket in the theater.

Their sticks out here because it doesn’t seem necessary or natural. (Although it isn’t true for everyone, for the purposes of this example, we will assume that the friend identifies as either he or she.) Presumably, you are aware of your friend’s gender, so it would seem more natural to say “My friend left her jacket in the theater” or “My friend left his jacket in the theater.”

Someone left their jacket in the theater.

The singular their is less noticeable here because the pronoun someone is itself indefinite. But you could still easily avoid it by writing “Someone left a jacket in the theater.” That particular escape hatch, however, doesn’t work with a sentence like:

Whoever lost this jacket probably regrets their carelessness.

Of the three examples, this sentence contains the least noticeable singular their. There’s no way to get rid of their without totally rewriting the sentence. You could say “Whoever lost this jacket probably regrets the carelessness of leaving it behind,” but, frankly, that’s obnoxiously wordy. You could say “The owner of this jacket probably regrets losing it,” but that doesn’t mean quite the same thing. In this particular sentence, the singular their is the best choice.

So, Is It Ok to Use the Singular They?

Yes. But remember that not all readers accept the usage, and it’s likely that someone, somewhere, will be annoyed. In general, the more formal the situation, the harder you should try to avoid using the singular they. If you do use it, the best way to avoid getting into trouble is to be sure you understand why it’s necessary. And, remember, the reflexive form of they is themselves, not themself.

From Pens to Speech: How Writing Tools Have Evolved

As technology improves, it’s faster and easier than ever to get words from brain to screen. We’ve progressed from dipping utensils in ink to using speech recognition software to dictate an entire Slate article. Here’s the evolution of writing tools at a glance.

Pens

Writers initially used reed or bamboo pens, feather quills, ink brushes, or dip pens, all of which were dipped into ink and then placed on papyrus or paper. These were notoriously messy, which prompted the creation of a reservoir pen in 1636, which was made from two quills. One quill was sealed with a cork and held the ink, which was squeezed through a tiny hole. In 1827, a patent was issued in France for a fountain pen with an ink chamber in the handle.

The first patent for a ballpoint pen, or a pen that has a tiny moving ball in a socket in the pen tip, was issued in 1888. Then came the invention of felt-tip pens in the 1960s, rollerball pens in the 1970s, and erasable pens in 1979.

Typewriters

In 1868, the first commercially successful typewriter was invented. Mark Twain typed the following letter to his brother in 1875:

The machine has several virtues. I believe it will print faster than I can write. One may lean back in his chair & work it. It piles an awful stack of words on one page. It don’t muss things or scatter ink blots around. Of course it saves paper.

Initially, some people insisted that only two fingers be used to type while others said eight would be better and that typists should stare at the buttons, while still others argued it would be better to stare at the page. The QWERTY keyboard arrangement, on the other hand, was agreed upon by most and has barely changed since the invention of the typewriter.

Ever wonder why we have the QWERTY keyboard? It was arranged by Christopher Latham Sholes, inventor of the typewriter, who originally placed letters in two rows ordered alphabetically. The flaw in this system was that letters that were combined most often, such as “st” and “th,” were hit close together and caused the keyboard to jam. Thus, Sholes collaborated with Amos Densmore, an educator, and rearranged the keys according to their popularity to prevent jamming. This caused initial confusion for typists because they couldn’t find the keys, but it proved to make typing faster, because the keys wouldn’t jam.

Computers

Typewriters were widely used until computers advanced to the point that the average consumer could use them. In the late 1970s, Apple, Radio Shack, and Commodore began manufacturing keyboards for their computers. For a throwback, watch this Radio Shack commercial for the TRS-80.

Mobile Phones

Typing on mobile phones started with multi-tap approach on alphanumeric keys (1=abc, 2=def, and so on), as used by the 1989 Motorola MicroTAC 9800X. By 1993, however, we had the IBM Simon, the world’s first full QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen. The Nokia 9000 Communicator was launched in 1997 with the first QWERTY push-button keyboard and a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard. Now, many smartphone users only use QWERTY keyboards on-screen, although physical keyboards may be making a comeback.

Speech Recognition Software

Speech recognition first appeared in the 1950s to 1960s with Bell Laboratories’ “Audrey” system, which could recognize spoken digits. In the 1990s, Dragon released the first consumer-targeted speech recognition product, called Dragon Dictate, for a whopping $9,000. By the 2000s, speech recognition plateaued at about 80% accuracy, until very recently. In the last two to three years, speech recognition has improved thanks to Apple’s and Google’s speech-recognition capabilities. Typing by voice is now easier and faster than typing on screen; it’s also necessary as wearable devices like Google Glass and Apple Watch and products like Amazon fire TV come into the fray. The software parses your words from ambient noises, then analyzes the linguistic context to decipher what you’re probably saying.

The Future of Writing

Is handwriting becoming obsolete? In a study by Docmail, one-third of the 2,000 respondents said they hadn’t written anything by hand in the last forty-one days. Also, handwriting is receiving less emphasis in schools. Students in the U.S. are taking notes on laptops and cursive writing has been eliminated from the Common Core curriculum standards. American children have been required to know how to use a keyboard since 2013. Typing “allows us to go faster, not because we want everything faster in our hyped-up age, but for the opposite reason: we want more time to think,” said Anne Trubek, associate professor of rhetoric and composition at Oberlin College in Ohio. Do you think pen and paper will be replaced by speech recognition? Will handwriting ever be obsolete?

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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.