Action Words

Creating More Powerful Resumes and Cover letters

Sometimes, it's the words you use that make the best impression in a resume or cover letter. In addition to use of action words, remember that many electronic resume-scanning systems will be searching for keywords (usually nouns) that are representative of the key elements of the job.

Accepted	Drafted	Introduced	Reduced
Accomplished	Dragged	Invented	Refined
Achieved	Drove	Invested	Related
Acknowledged	Duplicated	Investigated	Reordered
Acquired	Edited	Involved	Reorganized
Acted	Encouraged	Isolated	Reported
Adjusted	Enhanced	Iterated	Represented
Administered	Enlisted	Joined	Researched
Advised	Ensured	Journeyed	Responded
Aggregated	Entrusted	Judged	Restored
Aggregated	Enumerated	Juggled	Restructured
Analyzed	Equipped	Jumped	Retrieved
Announced	Erased	Juxtaposed	Revamped
Applied	Established	Kept	Reviewed
Appraised	Evaluated	Labeled	Revised
Approved	Evolved	Lauded	Roped
Arranged	Exacted	Launched	Satisfied
Arrested	Examined	Learned	Searched
Assembled	Exercised	Lectured	Selected
Assisted	Expanded	Led	Sequestered
Assumed	Expedited	Leveled	Served
Attended	Experimented	Liberated	Serviced
Attracted	Extracted	Liquidated	Set up
Awarded	Facilitated	Listed	Settled
Backed	Factored	Loaded	Shipped
Balanced	Feathered	Located	Showed
Bought	Featured	Lowered	Simplified
Braved	Fed	Lubricated	Sold
Brightened	Figured	Maintained	Solved
Broadened	Finalized	Managed	Sorted
Brought	Financed	Marketed	Spotted
Budgeted	Fired	Married	Squelched
Built	Flew	Mated	Staffed
Cabled	Flowed	Measured	Standardized
Cabled	Fogged	Merged	Started
Calculated	Folded	Minimized	Strengthened
Captured	Forwarded	Modernized	Studied
Carried	Fostered	Modified	Succeeded
Carved	Found	Motivated	Supervised
Caught	Founded	Negotiated	Supplied
Centralized	Framed	Notified	Supported
Changed	Furnished	Numbered	Surrounded
Characterized	Furthered	Objected	Swapped
Charged	Gained	Observed	Systematized
Checked	Garnered	Obtained	Tabulated
Chose	Gauged	Opened	Tackled
Clarified	Generated	Operated	Tailored
Cleaned	Governed	Ordained	Tallied
Coached	Grabbed	Organized	Tamed
Collated	Grew	Outlined	Tape-recorded
Combined	Guaranteed	Overhauled	Taught
Communicated	Guarded	Oversaw	Tended
Compared	Guided	Packed	Tendered
Compiled	Hacked	Parked	Told
Completed	Haggled	Passed	Topped
Composed	Hammered	Patrolled	Totaled
Computed	Handled	Patterned	Tracked
Concealed	Hardened	Persuaded	Trained
Conceived	Hastened	Photocopied	Transacted
Condensed	Headed	Picked out	Transferred
Consumed	Heated	Planned	Translated
Controlled	Heeded	Played	Transported
Converted	Held	Pondered	Treated
Conveyed	Helped	Posted	Truncated
Coordinated	Hired	Powered	Turned around
Corrected	Honored	Prepared	Typed
Corresponded	Hypothesized	Pre-qualified	Uncovered
Counseled	Idealized	Prescribed	Undercut
Crafted	Identified	Processed	Undertook
Created	Illustrated	Produced	Underwrote
Cut back	Imagined	Proffered	Unified
Dared	Implemented	Prognosticated	Updated
Dealt with	Improved	Provided	Upgraded
Decided	Improvised	Published	Upped
Defied	Increased	Purchased	Used
Defined	Influenced	Pursued	Utilized
Delivered	Informed	Qualified	Vacated
Demonstrated	Initiated	Questioned	Validated
Deposed	Innovated	Quoted	Verbalized
Designed	Inoculated	Raised	Verified
Determined	Inspected	Rammed	Weighed
Diagnosed	Installed	Read	Weighted
Directed	Instigated	Realized	Withstood
Disposed	Instituted	Recalculated	Wooed
Distributed	Instructed	Received	Worked
Diverted	Integrated	Recognized	Wrestled
Divested	Interpreted	Recorded	Wrote
Divined	Interviewed	Recruited	Yielded