How to Use Action Verbs in Resumes and Interviews

How to Use Action Verbs in Resumes and Interviews

Your resume should showcase your previous accomplishments and successes, and highlight your skills and abilities. Using action verbs, words that show that a subject is doing something, can be a great way to highlight your skills on your resume.

If you want to show that you have great communication skills, you can use words like corresponded or reconciled. Use these words to demonstrate a time when you had great communication skills. Anyone can list “led a meeting” but saying something like “regularly corresponds with senior leadership” provides a great picture of your communication skills. Using specific words and describing the action in detail provides more insight for the hiring manager or recruiter when reviewing your resume.

Focusing on the skill or accomplishment that you want to highlight and being specific in the choice of words that you utilize can be extremely helpful in the job search process. The more detail that you can provide regarding a task or project, the better. This allows for the hiring team to have a clear picture of your skills and abilities.

When interviewing, be sure to work in action verbs when answering questions. If you are asked about your ability to safeguard confidential information, use an action verb to discuss a time that you have done that. This shows the interviewer that you have the ability to do this task and have experience completing this in the past.

Whether you are interviewing or creating a resume, action verbs are a great tool to best highlight your accomplishments and abilities.