Power verbs and action verbs bring your resume to life. By inserting power and action verbs into the work experience section of your resume (and other application materials), you’ll enhance your results and impact—and hopefully impress hiring managers.
However, you can’t just slap random action verbs into sentences and hope that’ll convey your effectiveness. You must choose your verbs carefully, especially if you also insert them into sections like your mission statement where you have very little space to play with. (You also don’t want to go too overboard; no hiring manager will keep a straight face if they read that you “totally decimated all challenges,” for example).
With all that in mind, let’s dig into powerful action words that can boost your resume power!
Refining Your Resume Ahead of Time
Before inserting your power and action verbs, make sure your resume is in excellent shape. You must always tailor your resume to each individual position you’re applying for; re-read the original job posting and make sure that your skills, work experience, and other resume sections accurately reflect what the prospective employer actually wants.
From there, tweak your resume in the following ways:
Match your resume’s skills with those listed in the job posting. This will enable your resume to pass the automated resume checkers used by many businesses, which check to see if you mention the same skills and terms as the original job posting.
Show your results. Each element within your work experience section must show how you delivered for your previous employers. Drop stats if possible (“increased revenue by 25 percent through streamlining cloud spending,” etc.).
Keep it streamlined. Hiring managers and recruiters will only give your resume a few seconds for their first read, so make sure you convey as much information as quickly as possible; you’ll also need to place your biggest achievements and wins closer to the top of the document for easy access.
Don’t over-optimize. It’s tempting to layer as many keywords, action verbs, skills, and other details into your resume as possible. Please don’t: automated resume scanners are trained to recognize “keyword stuffing,” and even if you pass that stage, you might accidentally bury your best achievements under a pile of random stats and jobs.
Once you’ve locked all that down, it’s time to move onto…
The Best Power and Action Verbs
Remember to use present tense verbs in your profile and qualifications summary and when creating task, responsibility and accomplishment bullets for a current position. Use past-tense verbs to describe prior positions and experience in your work history.
Achievements/Awards
| • Accelerated | • Generated | • Prescribed |
| • Accomplished | • Grew | • Produced |
| • Achieved | • Honored | • Prevailed |
| • Arose | • Improved | • Raised |
| • Attained | • Increased | • Realized |
| • Awarded | • Introduced | • Reduced |
| • Chosen | • Lessened | • Revitalized |
| • Completed | • Mastered | • Streamlined |
| • Consummated | • Maximized | • Surpassed |
| • Circumvented | • Minimized | • Topped |
| • Established | • Outperformed | • Transformed |
| • Exceeded | • Overachieved | • Won |
| • Founded | • Overcame |
Communication
| • Addressed | • Disseminated | • Profiled |
| • Advertised | • Documented | • Proofread |
| • Advised | • Drafted | • Publicized |
| • Alerted | • Edited | • Published |
| • Amended | • Emailed | • Queried |
| • Announced | • Generated | • Questioned |
| • Answered | • Emphasized | • Recorded |
| • Arbitrated | • Explained | • Relayed |
| • Articulated | • Expressed | • Reported |
| • Authored | • Framed | • Responded |
| • Branded | • Highlighted | • Rewrote |
| • Briefed | • Informed | • Scribed |
| • Broadcasted | • Interacted | • Search Engine Optimized (SEO’d) |
| • Chronicled | • Interfaced | • Shared |
| • Circulated | • Interpreted | • Socialized |
| • Cited | • Interviewed | • Specified |
| • Clarified | • Liaised | • Spoke |
| • Commended | • Listened | • Suggested |
| • Communicated | • Logged | • Synthesized |
| • Compiled | • Mediated | • Talked |
| • Condensed | • Moderated | • Telegraphed |
| • Consulted | • Narrated | • Transcribed |
| • Contacted | • Notated | • Translated |
| • Conveyed | • Notified | • Transmitted |
| • Convinced | • Outlined | • Tweeted |
| • Corresponded | • Penned | • Verbalized |
| • Crowd Sourced | • Portrayed | • Wrote |
| • Debated | • Posted | |
| • Defined | • Presented | |
| • Detailed | • Proclaimed |
Creativity/Innovation
| • Accentuated | • Drew | • Merchandised |
| • Advertised | • Enhanced | • Originated |
| • Animated | • Enlivened | • Patented |
| • Architected | • Envisioned | • Personalized |
| • Brainstormed | • Exhibited | • Piloted |
| • Captivated | • Fashioned | • Pioneered |
| • Captured | • Formulated | • Photographed |
| • Composed | • Graphed | • Redesigned |
| • Conceived | • Hypothesized | • Renewed |
| • Conceptualized | • Illustrated | • Revolutionized |
| • Crafted | • Imaged | • Sculpted |
| • Created | • Imagined | • Shaped |
| • Customized | • Improvised | • Showcased |
| • Designed | • Initiated | • Sketched |
| • Devised | • Innovated | • Storyboarded |
| • Differentiated | • Instituted | • Unveiled |
| • Displayed | • Invented | • Visualized |
| • Drafted | • Marketed |
Leadership
| • Advocated | • Enabled | • Led |
| • Aroused | • Energized | • Lobbied |
| • Assembled | • Encouraged | • Mentored |
| • Bolstered | • Engaged | • Mobilized |
| • Campaigned | • Enlisted | • Modeled |
| • Catapulted | • Enticed | • Moderated |
| • Chaired | • Enthused | • Motivated |
| • Challenged | • Focused | • Nurtured |
| • Championed | • Furthered | • Parlayed |
| • Coached | • Garnered | • Persuaded |
| • Compromised | • Guided | • Rallied |
| • Counseled | • Ignited | • Sparked |
| • Drove | • Influenced | • Spearheaded |
| • Elected | • Infused | • Spurred |
| • Elicited | • Inspired | • Steered |
| • Empowered | • Instilled | • Stimulated |
Management/Supervisory
| • Absorbed | • Discharged | • Prepared |
| • Accounted for | • Dissolved | • Prioritized |
| • Accrued | • Dispensed | • Procured |
| • Acted | • Dispersed | • Projected |
| • Adopted | • Doubled | • Promoted |
| • Administered | • Economized | • Provisioned |
| • Aligned | • Elevated | • Pruned |
| • Allocated | • Eliminated | • Quantified |
| • Amended | • Enacted | • Ratcheted |
| • Anticipated | • Ensured | • Rated |
| • Appointed | • Estimated | • Reapportioned |
| • Appraised | • Examined | • Recognized |
| • Appropriated | • Executed | • Recommended |
| • Approved | • Extracted | • Recruited |
| • Assessed | • Facilitated | • Redefined |
| • Audited | • Forecasted | • Reinforced |
| • Augmented | • Fought | • Reigned in |
| • Authorized | • Fulfilled | • Reorganized |
| • Avoided | • Furnished | • Researched |
| • Benchmarked | • Funded | • Restructured |
| • Budgeted | • Gained | • Required |
| • Calculated | • Gauged | • Reversed |
| • Capitalized | • Governed | • Reviewed |
| • Carried out | • Hired | • Revised |
| • Carved out | • Injected | • Risked |
| • Cemented | • Intervened | • Saved |
| • Charged | • Justified | • Seized |
| • Charted | • Leveraged | • Set goals |
| • Checked | • Magnified | • Sharpened |
| • Chose | • Managed | • Shortened |
| • Commanded | • Mandated | • Slashed |
| • Commended | • Maneuvered | • Solicited |
| • Compared | • Measured | • Sourced |
| • Complied | • Mitigated | • Supervised |
| • Contracted | • Monitored | • Sustained |
| • Controlled | • Mounted | • Terminated |
| • Convened | • Navigated | • Transferred |
| • Critiqued | • Normalized | • Trimmed |
| • Cut | • Off shored | • Tripled |
| • Decided | • Orchestrated | • Turned |
| • Deduced | • Outsourced | • Vetted |
| • Delineated | • Oversaw | • Weighed |
| • Delegated | • Planned | • Withstood |
| • Designated | • Praised | |
| • Directed | • Predicted |
Teamwork
| • Acknowledged | • Diversified | • Melded |
| • Amassed | • Embraced | • Merged |
| • Anchored | • Elevated | • Nominated |
| • Assimilated | • Encouraged | • Organized |
| • Augmented | • Energized | • Participated |
| • Balanced | • Enlisted | • Partnered |
| • Blended | • Forged | • Supplemented |
| • Buoyed | • Fostered | • Syncopated |
| • Collaborated | • Gathered | • Teamed |
| • Coalesced | • Harmonized | • United |
| • Contributed | • Ignited | • Volunteered |
| • Coordinated | • Joined | • Wove |
| • Cultivated | • Married |
Technical Work
| • Accelerated | • Equipped | • Qualified |
| • Added | • Evaluated | • Quality Assured |
| • Adopted | • Expunged | • Ranked |
| • Aggregated | • Extended | • Realigned |
| • Analyzed | • Extracted | • Rebooted |
| • Applied | • Extrapolated | • Rebuilt |
| • Assembled | • Fabricated | • Reconciled |
| • Authenticated | • Finalized | • Reconstructed |
| • Automated | • Fine-Tuned | • Recovered |
| • Backed-up | • Formatted | • Rectified |
| • Balanced | • Functionalized | • Re-engineered |
| • Blocked | • Grouped | • Refreshed |
| • Boosted | • Hosted | • Reinforced |
| • Branched | • Identified | • Rehabilitated |
| • Bridged | • Implemented | • Released |
| • Built | • Initialized | • Remodeled |
| • Bundled | • Installed | • Replicated |
| • Calculated | • Integrated | • Restored |
| • Calibrated | • Isolated | • Retooled |
| • Certified | • Launched | • Retrieved |
| • Changed | • Licensed | • Retrofitted |
| • Checked | • Linked | • Revamped |
| • Classified | • Loaded | • Revised |
| • Cleaned | • Maintained | • Road mapped |
| • Cleansed | • Manufactured | • Rolled out |
| • Cleared | • Mapped | • Rotated |
| • Coded | • Mechanized | • Routed |
| • Collocated | • Merged | • Safeguarded |
| • Computed | • Migrated | • Salvaged |
| • Computerized | • Mined | • Scanned |
| • Configured | • Mirrored | • Scoped |
| • Consolidated | • Mobilized | • Scrubbed |
| • Constructed | • Modeled | • Secured |
| • Corrected | • Modified | • Selected |
| • Debugged | • Moved | • Sequenced |
| • Deciphered | • Networked | • Solved |
| • Decoded | • Neutralized | • Stabilized |
| • Dedicated | • Operated | • Standardized |
| • Defended | • Optimized | • Straddled |
| • Delivered | • Overhauled | • Systematized |
| • Deployed | • Packaged | • Tested |
| • Digitized | • Patched | • Toggled |
| • Discovered | • Penetrated | • Traced |
| • Dispatched | • Pinpointed | • Transitioned |
| • Distributed | • Prevented | • Updated |
| • Duplicated | • Prioritized | • Upgraded |
| • Enabled | • Processed | • Validated |
| • Engineered | • Programmed | • Verified |
| • Enhanced | • Protected | • Virtualized |
| • Eradicated | • Prototyped | • Web-enabled |
| • Estimated | • Provisioned |
Training
| • Assessed | • Enriched | • Lectured |
| • Adapted | • Enrolled | • Showed |
| • Advised | • Familiarized | • Taught |
| • Demonstrated | • Honed | • Trained |
| • Demystified | • Indoctrinated | • Tutored |
| • Dispensed | • Informed | |
| • Educated | • Instructed |
User/Technical Support Experience
| • Appeased | • Formatted | • Resolved |
| • Allayed | • Inspected | • Responded |
| • Ascertained | • Inventoried | • Satisfied |
| • Assisted | • Investigated | • Scheduled |
| • Assured | • Issued | • Served |
| • Cabled | • Labeled | • Serviced |
| • Closed | • Located | • Set up |
| • Connected | • Logged | • Shipped |
| • Corrected | • Monitored | • Supported |
| • Diagnosed | • Performed | • Sustained |
| • Dispatched | • Pleased | • Ticketed |
| • Dissected | • Prioritized | • Tracked |
| • Eased | • Racked | • Trailed |
| • Escalated | • Remedied | • Triaged |
| • Expedited | • Repaired | • Troubleshot |
| • Fixed | • Requisitioned | • Uncovered |
