From the course: Writing a Tech Resume
The importance of word choice
- When building a resume, content is key. The design and layout of your resume is important, but recruiters are primarily looking at your resume content. Understanding which words to use and how to phrase them in an effective way will go a long way towards landing you a job interview. Some tips for writing effective resume content include be specific. What specific actions did you take, and what positive outcomes did they achieve? Use action words. Use words that show you took action to achieve a positive result. Recruiters want to see that you are motivated and have initiative. Focus on your outcomes, not your responsibilities. When listing relevant work experience, state the positive outcomes that your direct actions had on the success of a project. You can use the following template to create your impact statements. Focus on the job role you're applying for. If the job you're applying for is a technical management role, list work experience which demonstrates your leadership and communication skills. Cater the work experience outcomes to the role you want to achieve. Use data and statistics where possible. If you have tangible values, include them. For example, if you refactored a legacy codebase to be more modern and this led to a 35% reduction in the size of the codebase, state that. You can say refactored Dojo legacy codebase into React, which led to a 35% reduction in the package size. When writing about your work experience, it's important to use words which positively reflect the outcomes of your actions. Words like achieved, improved, trained, resolved, launched, and built indicate a positive outcome was achieved as a result of your actions. These words are also specific and allow you to focus on stating the impact you had. There are also some words or phrases you shouldn't use to describe your work experience or skills. Don't use business or technology buzz words in order to catch a recruiter's eye. These words are often overused and don't add value. Secondly, omit words which oversell or promote yourself. While a resume is essentially an ad campaign for your career, you want to avoid using words or phrases which are too broad, such as go-getter, go-to person, and detail-oriented. A few other examples of words and phrases you should omit from your resume include hard worker, think outside the box, assisted, utilized, worked on, and something. These can have a negative impact on your resume and may cause you to be rejected. These words don't do anything to inform the recruiter of the direct impact you had on the success of a project. They're vague and overused, so they should be avoided. When writing your work experience, it's important to create these statements without a main subject, or, in other words, don't use I. Instead of writing I organized a fundraiser for 300 people which raised $250,000 for a charity organization, simply omit the subject I, and begin with the action verb. So this statement should be transformed into organized a fundraiser for 300 people which raised $250,000 for a charity organization. This clearly illustrates your impact on the success of a project.
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