What are action words for your CV?

The phrases power words, generic verbs, strong action verbs, powerful action verbs, action words for CV and passive verbs are regularly searched for on the world wide web, but what is their relevance to your CV? Read on and all will be revealed.

The style of writing used in CVs is important, and most CV writing professionals would recommend the use of action words at the start of a sentence. The action word describes what the person is doing or has done, and they are sometimes referred to as power words.

For example, led / lead, manage / managed or produce / produced. You will also notice that we use both present and past tense depending on when the task took place. If it's something that you are still doing in your current role then write in present tense, but if it's something from a previous role, write in past tense. Past projects in your current role would be past tense.

Examples of active verbs or words in your CV

When used at the start of a sentence on a CV (for past roles), an action verb / action word usually ends with an "ed".

The following action verbs are good examples of power words you could use on your CV.

• Managed

• Developed

• Accelerated

• Spearheaded

• Delivered

Now, you don't want to overdo it, but these action verbs / power words at the start of a sentence tend to make the CV sound a little bit more high impact and powerful to make a lasting impression. They describe your experience better and are more likely to impress an employer.

Use action words like these rather than starting each sentence with "responsible for".

Should your CV be written in passive or active voice?

Another stylistic convention is 'voice'.

Your CV should be written in active voice rather than passive voice with one exception. The exception is in your key skills section where you would use passive voice as this is how people use search terms. Let's go through some examples.

Example of using passive voice in your CV

Let me give you an example. So, let's just say in your job you managed a team of ten people. So, you could write on your CV "management of a team of ten". That's what we call passive voice. Management of a team of ten doesn't feel like it directly links to something that you did. Put another way, it sounds rather passive

Example of using active voice in your CV

A more active way of writing this sentence that will resonate much better with your audience is to say "managed a team of ten" or "manage" if it's your current role

"Manage or managed a team of ten" is active voice; it alludes to something you did, rather than "management of a team of ten" or indeed "managing a team of ten", which are more passive and feel like things that just happened.

Where wouldn't you use active voice?

Active voice should be used throughout your CV, but there is an exception, and this exception is the key skills section of your CV.

The key skills section typically sits between what most people call a profile and your work experience / career history. It's a list of keywords that is designed to help the recruiter understand the skills you have and to cross reference that with a job description.

But it's also to make the CV keyword rich so that it performs better when you're sending it through recruitment software (what people refer to as applicant tracking systems).

Recruiters search using passive voice

Applicant tracking systems (ATS for short) are looking for keywords to match to the job description, and when we're looking at keywords, we're usually searching for those keywords or phrases in passive voice, not active voice.

So, for example, let's say a potential employer is looking for somebody with good management skills. Then you would be typing in a search term of "management", not "managed" or "managing" or any other variation. You put "management".

If you were looking for somebody with the ability to, let's say, manage projects, you wouldn't use as your search term "managing projects" you would use project management.

Put yourself into the shoes of the recruiter, hiring manager or employer here.

If you were looking for somebody with good budget management skills, you wouldn't put into your search box "managing budgets", you would put "budget management".

So, it's just one of those conventions that when you are searching for somebody with specific skills, you tend to use the passive voice version of that skill.

LinkedIn's skills section uses passive voice

And equally, if you go onto LinkedIn and look at the skills that you can add to the skills section, typically the phrases are in passive voice.

So, throughout your CV, you're typically using active voice apart from the key skills section where you would use passive voice.

Why should you use powerful action verbs?

As we've mentioned in this blog, power words give the CV impact, show value in your experience and make you sound like more of a go getter, but it's also about meeting expectations.

Recruiters read a lot of CVs and therefore become conditioned to read things in a certain way.

If your CV is written differently, it makes the recruiter have to do something different, which disrupts their cognitive groove and renders your CV less effective.

Recruiters are used to reading sentences that start with action words, so give them what they are used to and use the writing style recommended in this blog!

You can also use action words in your cover letter for maximum impact to turbo charge your job search.

Generic phrases to avoid that don't impress hiring managers

Less of a grammatical convention, but equally as important, is avoiding generic and cliched phrases.

These usually revolve around behavioural skills rather than specific skills relating to the more technical or functional aspects of the role and include sentences such as "I can work well in a team as well as on my own", "I have excellent communication skills", "I'm a good communicator", "I'm a dynamic team player and self-starter", "I am seeking a role where I can use my skills", "I have good analytical skills" or "I have good research skills". Problem solving is another very generic skill to list on a CV.

They relate to relevant experience, but are more likely to be explored in an interview than on a CV. Your CV should focus more on skills related to job duties as this is what recruiters, potential employers and ATS are looking for at this stage of the recruitment process.

Some people call these "so what?" skills, predicated on the fact that they elicit the reader to say "so what?" due to their rather uninspiring nature. If other applicants are presenting more dynamic skills, they will leave a more lasting impression.

Examples of active verbs for people management roles

Good action words for people managers are managed, led, supervised, oversaw, sponsored, controlled and shepherded. Start your bullet points with these and you'll be on the right track.

Examples of active verbs for more junior roles

Use the following action verbs if you are a more junior job seeker - co-led, played a key role, co-ordinated and spearheaded. Start each bullet point with these and you'll be on the right track.

Next, find out how long your CV should be.