Resume Grammar Guide

Resume writing requires special consideration of both grammar and spelling. Carelessness with word choice can be reason enough for a hiring manager to pass over your resume. Resume writing is different than both composition and speaking. Keep your writing concise and specific with a professional tone. Avoid the following:

  • First-person pronouns (I, we): We know this document is about you, so this is implied. Also avoid 3rd person they/he/she pronouns – this is not a narrative. Start each action statement with a verb.
    • YES: “Trained new hires and organized team schedules.”
    • NO: “I trained them and organized their schedules.”
  • Articles (the, a, an): Articles don’t clarify or add meaning and end up crowding sentences.
    • YES: “Maintained lab equipment for students.”
    • NO: “Maintained the lab equipment for the students.”
  • Helping verbs (have, had, may, might): Helping verbs weaken credibility. Instead, take ownership of your actions and avoid these passive phrases.
    • YES: “Researched effective techniques to implement.”
    • NO: “Have researched effective techniques to possibly implement.”
  • “Being” verbs (am, is, are, was, were): Being verbs suggest a state of existence rather than a state of motion. The active voice gives a stronger, more confident delivery.
    • YES: “Created sketches in SolidWorks.”
    • NO: “Sketches were created in SolidWorks.”
  • Shifts in tense: Use the present tense for a job you’re still in and the past tense for jobs you’ve left. Maintain present tense throughout current work experiences, even if that action has been completed.
  • Complex sentences: Unless you keep your sentences lean and clean, readers won’t take time to decipher them.
    • YES: “Reduced waste by 20% by developing and implementing lean procedures.”
    • NO: “Identified excess and then developed a plan to eliminate waste that would be implemented into production process, ultimately reducing production waste by 20%.”
  • Overwriting: A thesaurus does not always provide the most appropriate synonym.
    • YES: “Designed prototype,” “developed prototype,” or just “prototyped.”
    • NO: “Fabricated a prototype.”
  • Adverbs (usually ends in “–ly”) and flowery language: Favor strong verbs over adverbs … most of the time. Show – don’t tell – the reader what you have accomplished.
    • YES: “Provided customer service by addressing client concerns, offering cost effective solutions, and communicating company policy.”
    • NO: “Effectively provided excellent customer service to patrons.”
    • AVOID: Consistently, continually, skillfully, effectively, etc. (do use adverbs to quantify, i.e. “weekly”)
  • Non-descript words: Be specific and explain your abilities with descriptive action verbs.
    • YES: Collaborated, contributed, monitored, sketched, drafted, engaged. (See action verb guide)
    • NO: Assisted, worked, responsible for, utilized, experience with/in, observed.
  • Misspelled words: These can be detrimental to your application. Be sure to consistently spell proper nouns or industry specific terms throughout your resume (SolidWorks, 3D print, etc.) *Spellcheck will not catch all proper nouns or titles in ALL CAPS.