10 Boilerplate Phrases That Kill Resumes
Description
The 2009 job market is very different from job markets of the past. If you haven’t job-hunted in a while, the changes in the landscape can throw you for a loop.
One of the biggest changes is the shift in what constitutes a strong resume. Years ago, we could dig into the Resume Boilerplate grab-bag and pull out a phrase to fill out a sentence or bullet point on our resume. Everybody used the same boilerplate phrases, so we knew we couldn’t go wrong choosing one of them — or many — to throw into your resume.
Things have changed. Stodgy boilerplate phrases in your resume today mark you as uncreative and “vocabulary challenged.” You can make your resume more compelling and human-sounding by rooting out and replacing the boring corporate-speak phrases that litter it, and replacing them with human language — things that people like you or I would actually say.
Here are the worst 10 boilerplate phrases — the ones to seek out and destroy in your resume as soon as possible:
Results-oriented professional
Cross-functional teams
More than [x] years of progressively responsible experience
Superior (or excellent) communication skills
Strong work ethic
Met or exceeded expectations
Proven track record of success
Works well with all levels of staff
Team player
Bottom-line orientation
You can do better. What about adding a human voice to your resume? Here’s an example:
“I’m a Marketing Researcher who’s driven by curiosity about why people buy what they do. At XYZ Industries, I used consumer surveys and online-forum analysis to uncover the reasons why consumers chose our competitors over us; our sales grew twenty percent over the next six months as a result. I’m equally at home on sales calls or analyzing data in seclusion, and up to speed on traditional and new-millennium research tools and approaches. I’m fanatical about understanding our marketplace better every day, week and month — and have helped my employers’ brands grow dramatically as a result.”
You don’t have to write resumes that sound like robots wrote them. This tool( Download ) is useful– try it!
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I really have to disagree with some of this article. While I do agree that some of these phrases are over used and uneccessary, I feel you are a bit off the mark with a few. More than [x] years of progressively responsible experience; superior (or excellent) communication skills; and strong work ethic are not necessarily bad phrases. Yes, they are commonly found in resumes, however, if they do describe you then there is nothing wrong with including them.
What I probably disagree with the most is the example you provided as an alternative to these phrases. A resume written in first-person narrative (i.e. “I” or “My”) is never a good idea. It belongs in the cover letter instead. I have been in recruiting for over 20 years and when I get a resume that includes “I” or “Me” it comes across as unprofessional and usually makes it more difficult to decipher actual qualifications from self-perception.
These are just my opinions of course — thanks for letting me share!
Thanks very much for this informational blog post.