Action Verbs for Your Résumé

Save the readers of your résumé time by conveying your information concisely using short phrases that begin with action verbs. Use the appropriate verb tense too, most likely either simple present or simple past, depending on when the action took place. In this post, you’ll find a list of examples; they are all in the past tense. There are many more action verbs. This is to get you started.

Accomplishing

Example: Demonstrated strong work ethic by working 20 hrs/wk while taking 21 credit hours

Communicating

Example: Presented to orientation group to facilitate community building among incoming freshmen

Creating

Example: Initiated campus clean-ups with eco-friendly student organizations

Financial and Quantitative

Example: Executed baseline tests for the denitrification push-pull method on soil cores

Helping

Example: Served as President of College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Student Council

Implementing

Example: Recorded survey results of constituent services using Internet Quorum

Leading

Example: Chaired committee to encourage faculty involvement in college charity fund-raising

Managing

Example: Measured concentrations using mass spectrometry to gain experience in identifying compounds

Organizing

Example: Organized educational, social, and extracurricular activities for Engineering Society

Planning

Example: Developed study to identify land-based sources of pollution affecting watershed and coral reef

Problem Solving

Example: Analyzed data collected through field work with interdisciplinary team to address environmental issues in Peru

Researching

Example: Researched viable alternatives for waste storage area for San Juan waste authority

Photo credit: John Rensten