Action Word of the Day

When you are looking for a job, your resume and cover letter are your pitch. If you are a salesperson, you'll know that automatically. But if you are like 77,999,548 of us, then you don't have the innate skill of the pitch.

So today, I'm letting you in on a bit of a secret when it comes to resume building. Part of your pitch lies in how you describe your responsibilities and accomplishments. Instead of having been "responsible for a $2M budget", you "drove" that budget. Instead of "managing 5 staff" you "mentored a dynamic team to success."

Your cover letter also has to be very active rather than passive. Great poets can spend months and sometimes years in finding just the right word to express an emotion or thought. If they can find a verb that gives them the right action, they will use that rather than an adverb that dilutes the meaning of the action.

Feel free to send me any particular paragraphs or sentences that you aren't happy with and we'll see what our readership can help you with. Post them in comments.