139 Action Verbs to Make Your Resume Stand Out When writing your resume, it’s important to avoid weak and passive verbs, stay away from business jargon or clichés, and watch out for tired words and phrases. These faulty word choices can undermine the strength and effectiveness of your resume. Instead, make a point of using powerful action verbs and avoid overusing the same verbs (such as “assisted,” “oversaw,” and “utilized”). Update Your Indeed Resume Action words are specific, clarify your contributions, and bring a confident tone to your resume and list of accomplishments. Here’s an example: Lacks strength and clarity: “Held weekly status meetings to share client updates.” Empowered and detailed: “Spearheaded weekly status meetings to communicate agency revenue growth.” Can you see how the second option is stronger and more detailed? The action verbs make your contribution clear and impactful. [Read more: 6 Universal Rules for Resume Writing] Pro tip: Combine your selection of action verbs with quantifiable results to show both what you did and the effect it had. For example, “Championed use of user feedback in program improvements, resulting in 50% boost in customer satisfaction ratings.” Select from the following action verbs to give your resume an edge: To demonstrate your strong work ethic or introduce your accomplishments, try: Achieved Capitalized Deciphered Discerned Drove Enacted Endeavored Established Exceeded Sharpened Shattered Sparked Spearheaded Steered Stimulated Supervised Surpassed Instead of “duties included,” “responsible for,” “served as,” or “actions encompassed,” try: Accelerated Accomplished Analyzed Assembled Built Founded Created Constructed Delivered Developed Executed Expanded Finalized Forged Guided Handled Headed Improved Increased Initiated Implemented Instituted Produced Reached Simplified Volunteered To illustrate your communication skills, try: Collaborated Conveyed Enlivened Instructed Performed Presented Spoke Trained For creative positions, try: Authored Brainstormed Briefed Communicated Conceptualized Curated Derived Designed Diagramed Drafted Edited Illustrated Imagined Influenced Intensified Modeled Proofread Published Researched Strategized Storyboarded Translated Visualized Wrote For sales positions, try: Captured Conserved Converted Earned Generated Maximized Negotiated Won For management positions, try: Advised Arranged Augmented Centralized Championed Differentiated Directed Empowered Endorsed Enforced Ensured Forecasted Fostered Identified Integrated Leveraged Reconciled Reduced Replaced Resolved Orchestrated Optimized Predicted Renovated For financial positions, try: Audited Classified Collected Equalized Dispensed Halted Investigated Lowered Maintained Minimized Recognized Secured For technical positions, try: Advanced Architected Automated Coded Deployed Detected Devised Diagnosed Discovered Formulated Installed Launched Networked Planned Programmed Rewrote Refined Tested Troubleshoot Upgraded