Do you ever read a piece of content that is so over worded and full of corporate jargon that it no longer makes sense?
Sometimes CV’s can be overloaded with an excess of keywords and catchphrases it can be hard to see the wood through the trees, bearing in mind that it takes less than a minute for hiring managers to read a CV and decide if you’re right for the role.
When applying for a job you need to make sure you have a successful CV that looks good and is easy to follow.
It should be tailored to the company and job your applying for and most importantly, avoid littering your CV with overused, nonsense buzzwords.
You need to use your CV as a showpiece to tell the employee or recruiter why you’re the best person for the job.
The best way to achieve this?
Get to the point.
CityAM has put together some of their top CV Buzzwords to avoid using and we’ve collated them below. When writing your next CV consider these and remember; be transparent, be yourself, and most importantly ensure it’s tailored to the company and role.
Highly Motivated
Alternative:
Tell the employer the motivations in your life and career and how they link to the responsibilities of the job role you are applying for.
Dynamic
Alternative:
This buzzword is extremely overused and everyone in the business world claims to be so. Instead, explain how you’ve adapted to changes and progressed in your career and your CV should demonstrate this.
Communication Skills
Alternative:
Communication skills is a very broad term, instead give examples of how you’ve used this in practice, for example, how your created and executed the company newsletter, or how you’ve worked on a project with different teams in the business.
Outcomes-focused / Results - Driven
Alternative:
Isn’t everyone working for a specific outcome and keen to see results? Your career history and experience on your CV will tell people this, in every job or project you been have working towards an outcome, show and tell this.
Passionate
Alternative:
If you have a ‘passion’ for something and if your CV is well written your passion for your career and achievements will be transparent.
Self-starter
Alternative:
This morning you woke up and got out of bed, this makes you a self-starter. So, what set’s you apart? Explain through your career history on how you have worked from your own initiative without direction.
Leader
Alternative
This can be a misleading term, not all businesses owners are good leaders and many people get promoted on the basis of technical skill, not leadership qualities. Don’t say you are a leader unless you can give examples on your CV of where you have led and inspired people in your career.
For further CV advice why not take a look at our blog on how to write a successful CV and download a free CV template here.
Sources
City.A.M - https://www.cityam.com/purge-your-cv-of-these-nonsense-words-and-phases/