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260 Examples of Resume Verbs

John Spacey, February 27, 2022

Resume verbs are past-tense verbs that are grammatically structured in active voice. This means that the subject of your sentences, which is you, directly performs the verb. For example, "managed a team of 14 people" is active voice and "a team of 14 people were managed by me" is passive voice. The following active verbs are selected to be relevant to resumes and interviews. Cliche verbs such as business buzzwords are avoided except where there is no good alternative.

Accelerated	Accommodated
Acquired	Acted
Adapted	Adjusted
Administered	Advanced
Advised	Advocated
Aided	Alleviated
Allocated	Altered
Amplified	Analyzed
Applied	Arbitrated
Architected	Arranged
Assembled	Assessed
Assisted	Attained
Attracted	Audited
Augmented	Authored
Automated	Blended
Boosted	Branded
Broadened	Budgeted
Built	Calculated
Campaigned	Chaired
Challenged	Changed
Checked	Closed (i.e. sales)
Coached	Coded
Collected	Commanded
Commissioned	Communicated
Completed	Composed
Conceptualized	Concluded
Conducted	Constructed
Consulted	Controlled
Converted	Convinced
Coordinated	Covered
Crafted	Cultivated
Curated	Curtailed
Customized	Defended
Delivered	Demonstrated
Deployed	Designed
Determined	Developed
Devised	Diagnosed
Directed	Discovered
Documented	Drafted
Earned	Employed
Enforced	Engaged
Engineered	Enlarged
Ensured	Established
Estimated	Evaluated
Examined	Exceeded
Executed	Exercised
Expedited	Experimented
Explored	Extended
Facilitated	Filled
Financed	Forecast
Forged	Formalized
Formed	Formulated
Founded	Fulfilled
Gained	Gave
Generated	Governed
Grew	Handled
Headed	Helped
Ignited	Illustrated
Implemented	Improvised
Increased	Influenced
Initiated	Instituted
Instructed	Intensified
Introduced	Invented
Investigated	Launched
Learned	Led
Leveraged	Lifted
Lobbied	Lowered
Made	Maintained
Managed	Marketed
Maximized	Measured
Mediated	Minimized
Mitigated	Mobilized
Modeled	Modernized
Monitored	Negotiated
Networked	Obtained
Operated	Optimized
Orchestrated	Organized
Originated	Outlined
Outperformed	Overhauled
Oversaw	Performed
Pioneered	Planned
Positioned	Predicted
Prepared	Presented
Preserved	Presided
Procured	Produced
Projected	Promoted
Proposed	Prospected
Prototyped	Provided
Published	Qualified
Quantified	Raised
Rationalized	Reached
Realized (e.g. revenue)	Rebuilt
Recommended	Reconstructed
Recovered	Recruited
Redesigned	Reduced
Refined	Reformed
Regulated	Remediated
Remedied	Renewed
Reorganized	Repaired
Replaced	Reported
Repositioned	Represented
Researched	Reshaped
Resolved	Restored
Restructured	Retained
Revamped	Reviewed
Revised	Revitalized
Revived	Scheduled
Scripted	Scrutinized
Secured	Selected
Served	Serviced
Set	Shaped
Shipped	Shortened
Simplified	Sold
Solved	Soothed
Sparked	Spoke
Sponsored	Standardized
Started	Streamlined
Strengthened	Structured
Studied	Succeeded
Summarized	Supervised
Supplied	Supported
Surpassed	Sustained
Systematized	Tailored
Targeted	Taught
Tested	Trained
Transformed	Uncovered
Undertook	Unified
Updated	Upgraded
Verified	Won
Worked	Wrote

Passive Language

A common shortfall of resumes is to use vocabulary that sounds overly passive. This is all about context such that there aren't necessarily good and bad verbs. For example, "assisted customers with special needs" sounds active but "assisted the project team" sounds like a rather passive role.

Easy Tasks

Verbs that sound like a short and easy task such as "prioritized", "attended", "delegated", "arranged" or "initiated" can also be perceived negatively.

Vague Language

Vague language such as "aligned operations to strategy" is easily perceived as meaningless. This can be corrected with more specific details such as "decreased the turnaround time for orders by 14%."

Cliche Language

Dramatic verbs tend to be overused on resumes such that they can become cliche. For example, "achieved 3.4 million in revenue." This can make less dramatic word choice such as "closed 3.4 million in revenue" sound more authentic.

Standard Language

It is a good practice to use verbs that are commonly used in your profession and industry. For example, software developers often talk of "delivering code", "shipping code" and so forth such that these words communicate that you're immersed in the culture of this profession. If you use more dramatic alternatives such as "created code" or "imagined code" you may be perceived as somewhat inexperienced or inauthentic.