Cut These Words and Phrases from Your Resume

Cut These Words and Phrases from Your Resume Cut These Words and Phrases from Your Resume In his famous essay Politics and the English Language, 1984 author George Orwell lays out six rules for writing well in the modern age. No. 2on the list Never use a long word where a short one will do.Or, as Shakespeare put it, Brevity is the soul of wit.With that in mind, here are a fewwords and schlagworts to cut from your resumetoday.References available upon request is one of those stock phrases that weve read so often it almost becomes invisible. It may seem like a good idea to use the industry-standard phrase on your resume, but according to Heather Huhman, founder and president of the HR-marketing firm Come Recommended, Youre not doing yourself a favor by wasting precious space on your resume to include a phrase that is clearly understood by hiring managers and recruiters.Theres nothing wrong with being dynamic, energetic, motivated, or enthusiastic, but non-quantifiable descriptions li ke unterstellung dont add anything of value to your resume. As Amber Carucci writes for PR Daily, Sure, all of these are great words to describe your personality, but leave them off of your resume. Wait until you land the interview. Then let the company decide if you possess those traits.Buzzwords have a bad rep because theyre all sound and fury, signifying nothing. These empty words and phrases (team player, detail oriented, self starter, and proactive, to name just a few) are completely subjective, and like the descriptors above, theyre impossible to measure. Here are 50 more examples of filler phrases to cut from your resume, via US News.According to Forbes, one of the most overused yet unnecessary words is experienced. You can be experienced in something after youve done it once or every day for the past 10 years. So drop this nebulous term and be specific. Instead of writing Im an experienced editor, for example, a job seeker would be better off with Ive edited 50 novels, incl uding the bestseller Attack of the Hipsters.Wordy and redundant phrases, long the plague of English composition teachers everywhere, add nothing to your resume except meaningless clutter. Here are some common wordy phrases to cut, courtesy of Hamilton CollegeThe reason why is thatThis is a subject thatIn spite of the fact thatDue to the fact thatin the event thatbecause of the fact thatuntil such time asby means ofMany of these clunky phrases can be replaced by a single word for example, due to the fact that can be replaced by because.Unfortunately, it doesnt matter how many of these words and phrases you cut from your resumeif you skip the all-important step of proofreading. In 2013, Grammarly conducted a survey of resumes on LinkedIn, and we were shocked at the number of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors we found. Your resume is one of the most important documents youll ever create, so take the time to make sure that its perfect