How to turn them into solid examples of talent
Throughout your career, you’ve accomplished many feats, exceeded several goals and mastered countless skills. Now you’re on yet another job hunt and you can’t remember a lick of any of it.
Such is the importance of keeping your résumé up-to-date, whether you’re looking for a job or not. When you don’t, not only will you forget the important details that’ll help your résumé stand out to employers, but in your rush to submit your application on time you’ll end up using the same words and phrases as everyone else – ruining your chances altogether.
Career experts always advise job seekers to avoid common résumé mistakes, but one grave error often left out of the mix is the overuse of clichés and vague phrases – and perhaps it’s the worst gaffe to commit.
“If a job seeker places overused phrases on his or her résumé, the chances of standing out from other candidates are greatly diminished,” says Kathy Sweeney, a certified professional résumé writer for her company, The Write Resume. “A résumé is a marketing tool and should be utilized to distinguish the candidate from other people vying for the same position.”
Details, details
From first glance at a candidate’s résumé, employers want to see career progression: concrete accomplishments, any gaps in employment and potential growth within the employer’s company, says Sally Stetson, co-founder and principal with Salveson Stetson Group, an executive search firm. Because employers want to see significant accomplishments, rather than lists of job duties, job seekers must provide solid illustrations of their talent.
“Providing specific examples may allow a potential employer to relate the applicant’s work experience to potential business needs within their company,” Stetson says. “These examples will also demonstrate a business and results orientation.”
Keywords
When employers search for candidates in their databases, it’s based on “exclusion” rather than “inclusion,” Sweeney says. In other words, employers look for keywords as a way to narrow the applicants down the 10 or 20 most-qualified candidates. These chosen few are left standing only after others are weeded out.
But what some candidates think constitute keywords and phrases are actually vague generalities that show up on the majority of résumés.
“Keywords are not ‘team player’ or ‘good communication skills,’” Sweeney says. “If an employer searched for those phrases, they would receive about 1,000 résumés that would be considered ‘relevant’ to their search parameters.” Instead, keywords are solid functions like “sales,” “marketing” or “business development,” she says.
Here are 13 clichés Sweeney and Stetson see job seekers overuse on their résumés and how to rephrase each one into a strong example of your talent.
Cliché No. 1: “Strong communication, customer service and organizational skills.”
• Let Sweeney rephrase that: Possess strong communication, customer service and organizational skills, which increased customer satisfaction from 85% to 98% and realized 100% on-time delivery of assigned projects.*
Cliché No. 2: “Introduced new products.”
• Let Sweeney rephrase that: Developed, introduced and launched successful new products, which increased market share 3% and contributed $3 million to bottom-line profitability.*
Cliché No. 3: “Track record of success.”
• Let Stetson rephrase that: Consistently surpassed sales goal by 10% or more each year.*
Cliché No. 4: “Possess leadership, communication, motivational and inspirational skills.”
• Let Sweeney rephrase that: Highly effective leadership, communication, motivational and inspirational skills, which led to 98% employee retention ratio and four out of six employees promoted into management positions.*
Cliché No. 5: “Exceeded all productivity goals for the department.”
• Let Sweeney rephrase that: Exceeded established department productivity goals 16% through development / implementation of best practice
