25 Resume Words To Avoid

CNN briefly touched on the topic of resumes earlier this month by giving some standard, but useful, advice with respect to what you put on your resume, including twenty five words you should avoid. Essentially they suggest that you should drop general terms about yourself or what you experienced in favor of specific things you did:

Instead of… “Experience working in fast-paced environment”

Try… “Registered 120+ third-shift emergency patients per night”

Personally, I always find it hard to write the Objective part of the resume (mine reads something generic about ‘wanting to find a software development position that utilizes by technical and leadership skills’) and I think they’d give a pass at generic words there but my work experience hardly ever has any ‘personality buzzwords.’ I figured I’ll put what I did and if it’s something they’re looking for, they’ll bring me in and learn about my personality and it seems to have worked out pretty well so far.

As for the words to avoid: Aggressive, Ambitious, Competent, Creative, Detail-oriented, Determined, Efficient, Experienced, Flexible, Goal-oriented, Hard-working, Independent, Innovative, Knowledgeable, Logical, Motivated, Meticulous, People person, Professional, Reliable, Resourceful, Self-motivated, Successful, Team player and Well-organized.

Photo by strph, story via CNN.