A bombastic resume boasting about your achievements may not increase your chances of landing the job of your dreams.
There are five popular catch phrases that should never make it into your resume, reports CBS News.Talking on 'The Early Show on Saturday Morning', career adviser Liz Ryan, CEO of AskLizRyan.com, spotlighted the things you shouldn't call yourself on a resume - at least, not without backing up the description with concrete examples.
In fact, she said that those examples could speak for themselves, without your actually using the terms you should avoid.
Ryan said that the underlying idea in writing a resume is to stand out, and using terms everyone else does hardly accomplishes that.
Revealing some of the typical or cliche phrases used in resumes, Ryan said: "'Results oriented professional' is probably the biggest one used, and it's meaningless! You're talking about yourself, so why go into this weird robotic language that doesn't describe much about yourself? For example, you might say, 'I got into journalism, because l like to tell compelling stories'. But you wouldn't say 'I have a proven track record in the newsroom.'"
"Lines such as: 'Bottom line-orientated,' 'proven track record of success" (as opposed to a proven track record of failure?!) are SO redundant. Yes, employers are looking for qualities like those, but it's not telling them this. 'Proven track record?' It's proven because it's a track record and of course it's successful, because why boast about failures? So they don't describe you.
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When asked how should one better describe his or skills, she said: "It should be done in teeny-tiny mini-stories. Instead of saying strong communication skills, say you built the company's newsletter from scratch. That fits within a bullet point and it says a lot about you. And the phrase built from scratch is colloquial, so employers like that because it says you're comfortable in your skin. It's better to tell a little story that is more colourful than just a regular cliche. It's grabbier than the common and trite phrases."
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Ryan further said: "Instead of saying mundane lines like 'excellent working with customers,' we can say 'saved our biggest client who was ready to leave' It's not stating you have potential ability, it's giving concrete examples of when your skills have worked. Don't say you have 'strong negotiation skills'- give examples of things you have already done.
"You really have to do the work make the world's shortest story about yourself. It cannot be a paragraph, but it starts by not standing back and saying what you think of yourself. Employers read all the time: 'My friend says "I use my time effectively, I'm a team player,' etc. 'Tell what you did already'.
Source-ANI
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