Hiring Managers Rank Best and Worst Words to Use in a Resume in New CareerBuilder Survey

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Mar 13, 2014, 04:00 ET

CHICAGO, March 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- One in six (17 percent) hiring managers spend 30 seconds or less, on average, reviewing resumes, according to a new CareerBuilder survey. A majority (68 percent) spend less than two minutes. With so little time to capture interest, even a candidate's word choice can make a difference. The nationwide sample of employers identified which commonly-used resume terms are overused or cliche and which are strong additions.

The national survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from November 6 to December 2, 2013, and included a representative sample of 2,201 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes.

"Hiring managers prefer strong action words that define specific experience, skills and accomplishments," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Subjective terms and cliches are seen as negative because they don't convey real information. For instance, don't say you are 'results-driven'; show the employer your actual results."

The Worst Resume Terms
The following terms are resume turn-offs as selected by respondents:

Best of breed: 38 percent
Go-getter: 27 percent
Think outside of the box: 26 percent
Synergy: 22 percent
Go-to person: 22 percent
Thought leadership: 16 percent
Value add: 16 percent
Results-driven: 16 percent
Team player: 15 percent
Bottom-line: 14 percent
Hard worker: 13 percent
Strategic thinker: 12 percent
Dynamic: 12 percent
Self-motivated: 12 percent
Detail-oriented: 11 percent
Proactively: 11 percent
Track record: 10 percent

The Best Resume Terms
There are, however, several strong verbs and terms candidates can use to help describe their experience. The following are terms employers would like to see on a resume:

Achieved: 52 percent
Improved: 48 percent
Trained/Mentored: 47 percent
Managed: 44 percent
Created: 43 percent
Resolved: 40 percent
Volunteered: 35 percent
Influenced: 29 percent
Increased/Decreased: 28 percent
Ideas: 27 percent
Negotiated: 25 percent
Launched: 24 percent
Revenue/Profits: 23 percent
Under budget: 16 percent
Won: 13 percent

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,201 hiring managers and human resource professionals between November 6 and December 2, 2013 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 2,201, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-2.09 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors and 1 million jobs. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing everything from labor market intelligence to talent management software and other recruitment solutions. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

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SOURCE CareerBuilder