100+ Resume Action Words that Get Result

What are action verbs?

Action verbs (or power words) are words you can use on your resume. These adjective verbs or power words highlight your skills, experiences, and accomplishments in your resume. These words highlight your job experience, including the type of work you’ve done, what results you’ve achieved in the past, and the abilities you’ve completed. Employers will notice you and go on to the next stage of the employment process if you use powerful and unique open action verbs.

Why are resume action words important?

There are several important reasons to use action words for resume examples in your resume. If your resume has a boring list of accomplishments, experiences, and talents, you can lose a chance to make a stronger candidate and a more engaging first impression that will make a big difference in your job hunt. 

• When you use action words to tell your professional story, you might think of them as powerful verbs like “designed’’ instead of “managed” or “initiated” instead of “oversaw.” Selecting the most practical terms to convey your prior experience and achievements will assist a hiring manager or recruiter determine why you would be a valuable addition to them.
• Ensure your resume has strong action words to make your application stand out from other applicants. When companies have to go through hundreds or even thousands of resumes, this is crucial. You can tell the kind of tale that hiring managers like to read by using robust and detailed language.

How often should you use power words? 

As you know, action words can boost your resume; it’s possible when you know how to use the power words in your resume. If these adjectives can stand out on your resume, overloading of resume buzzwords can show you’re unable to describe your achievements, and you will be considered to fail to impress employers. Use one to two resume action words in one sentence. This will make your resume impressive, brief, and easy to read. Use powerful adjective words and ensure that these words clearly show the result of your achievements. 

Adjectives used for management skills

When emphasizing leadership and management skills on your CV, these adjectives can help you convey those achievements more effectively. If you want to enhance your management abilities, adjectives used for management skills are important in highlighting your strengths and capabilities. 

• Augmented
• Aligned
• Advised
• Authorized
• Cultivated
• Differentiated
• Enforced 
• Formed
• Shaped 
• Supervised
• Spearheaded
• Developed
• Coordinated 
• Heired 
• Guided
• Mentored 
• Motivated
• Sustained 
• Trained
• Shaped 
• Resolve 
• Chaired 
• Administrated
• Planned 

Resume Action Words for when you did Research or Analysis

If you want to highlight your research or analytical skills, these action words/verbs will help you to emphasize your analytical or investigative ability. 

• Audited
• Calculated
• Classified
• Compile
• Collected
• Discovered
• Detected
• Evaluated
• Examined
• Interview
• Investigated
• Interpreted
• Identified
• Measured
• Qualified
• Quantified
• Reported
• Tested
• Tracked

Action words for a resume to describe creativity or problem-solving

Perhaps you’re a born inventor, designer, engineer, or artist. You constantly generate things. However, using this word too often makes it useless.

Using this list of action words can help you write a stronger resume. 

• Built
• Corrected
• Devised 
• Drafted
• Designed 
• Crafted
• Established
• Initiated
• Invented
• Fixed
• Fashioned
• Resolve 
• Rebuilt 

Action words for resume to describe technical skills

If you want to highlight your technical abilities, these buzz words for your resume will assist you in adequately highlighting your technical expertise.

• Analyzed
• Wrote 
• Assessed
• Upgraded
• Charted 
• Tested 
• Installed 
• Trained
• Increased 
• Broadened
• Gathered
• Inspected
• Generated
• Formed 
• Classified 
• Instituted 
• Coded
• Fabricated 
• Collected
• Launched 
• Communicated
• Mapped
• Operated 
• Prepared 

Resume Action words to describe your communication

Rather than describing your conversation with the term "communicated," you might wish to choose one of the following alternative action words for a resume: 

• Brief 
• Presented 
• Composed 
• Instructed 
• Trained
• Interpreted
• Advocate  
• Promoted 

Resume action words to describe your teamwork

When describing your previous employment, It is unnecessary to repeatedly mention "worked with other team members on a project" on your resume. Instead, try some of these resume action verbs to describe your collaborative skills. There are great professional skills: Teamwork, cross functional communication, and ability to get along with team members. But just claiming to be a team player or including it on your resume is not good enough to win you the Job or impress a potential employer. Sure, here are a few buzz words for resume that you can use to express your teamwork capabilities:

Teamwork, cross functional communication, and the ability to work with others are important skills in the workplace. However, simply saying you are a team player is not enough to get the job or impress a prospective employer. You can use some resume buzzwords to describe your teamwork skills:

• Enable 
• Facilitated
• Supported
• Cooperated
• Encouraged
• Motivated 
• Joined 
• Merged 
• United 
• Participated 

Resume action words to describe customer services

Consider using the action words below to help you articulate your successes and skills related to client or customer service. 

• Championed
• Assisted
• Helped
• Resolved 
• Informed
• Educated 

Resume PowerVerbs to Use For “Support”

When you were supportive in your employment history, you can show your ability in your resume by using the action verbs. You can highlight your “support.” ability by following these words: 

• Clarified 
• Motivated 
• Referred
• Resolve 
• Guided 
• Advised
• Answered 

Resume Power Words to Use Instead of “Responsible for”

Resume action words can increase the value of your abilities, experiences and accomplishments. The word “Responsible for” is mostly used in the resume, but it sounds in the passive voice. Avoid using passive voice; therefore, use some action words to describe these skills: 

• Completed 
• Created 
• Acquired
• Accomplished 
• Achieved 
• Operated
• Prepared
• Performed 
• Secured 
• Executed
• Succeed In

Tips for using action words for resume building

Action words are the most essential element for your resume. But sometimes, it can be tricky how to use these action verbs. Here are some tips for using action words for resume building to make your resume stand out:

1. You mustn’t repeat the exact words on your resume. Use a variety of words. Some action verbs are powerful; recruiters may ignore others because they are familiar and repeated.
2. When you’re writing a resume, it’s important to use action words in active voice instead of passive voice. If the action verbs on your resume are one or two words, help determine whether you are using the active or passive voice. For instance, the verb "was grown" is in the passive voice since it consists of two words. If it were in the active voice, "grew" would be the only one there.
3. Action verbs act as an introduction to terms that highlight your achievements. What have you examined? What have you researched?
4. Always strive to utilize numbers to explain the what and how of an accomplishment. Don't merely mention your work responsibilities. Using numbers allows you to be quite particular. They provide a clear picture of your level of proficiency.
5. Avoid overusing buzzwords for resume. Buzzwords for resume can help your resume stand out, but overloading resume buzzwords can leave a negative impression on employers. **

Key takeaways

Using action words in your resume is vital to leaving a positive impression. As we’ve discussed above, power words highlight your achievements, experiences, and abilities. If you want to grab the attention of the employers and pass through the ATS software, you should focus on the proper action words. These 100+ action words may help you create a powerful resume representing your value. 

Recommended Reading 

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