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When writing your CV, the words you omit can be just as important as those you include. Some candidates cram their CV with popular buzzwords in an attempt to impress employers, but often, this has the reverse effect and leaves recruiters unimpressed.
If you want to get shortlisted by employers, then your CV needs to prove the value that you can provide them with. Buzzwords tend to be vague, non-descriptive and sometimes even irritating, so they rarely provide recruiters with an accurate depiction of an applicant.
Keep the following buzzwords out of your CV to improve your chances of landing an interview.
1. Hard working
It’s understandable that candidates want to prove their work ethic to potential employers, but simply stating that you work hard is not enough. Instead of writing this overused phrase, give some examples of when you have gone the extra mile for a previous employer, such as taking on additional projects or earning promotions. This way, you prove that you’re willing to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in without making a hollow claim.
2. Thought leader
The term thought leader is used to describe innovative, inspirational people and is usually associated with captains of industry like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. So to use the term on your own CV could be perceived as slightly egotistical, which is not an attractive trait for a potential new hire.
Instead of using the term, try toning it down by explaining your expertise in your field of work through your achievements and qualifications.
3. Strong communication skills
Strong communication skills is a bad phrase to use on your CV for two reasons. First, strong communication is a prerequisite for almost every role and not really something worth highlighting. Second, if you have strong communication skills, you shouldn’t need to state that you do, you can simply prove it through the way your CV is written.
If your CV is well structured with clear headings and the text is broken up for ease of reading with perfect grammar and spelling, then you’ve already proven yourself as a strong written communicator.
4. Works well in a team or individually
This phrase features in a lot of CV profiles, but unfortunately, it doesn’t tell recruiters much about the candidate and takes up quite a lot of valuable space. Essentially, this phrase tells us that the candidate works well, which isn’t a major accolade by any employer’s standards.
If you want to demonstrate your ability to contribute to a team, use the introduction of your role descriptions to show where you sit within an organisation and how your work feeds into their overall functioning.
When writing your role responsibilities, ensure you include details of people you interact with, including colleagues, external contacts, customers and stakeholders.
5. Results driven
Many candidates claim to be results driven in their CVs, but few back the claim up with facts. Recruiters have seen the phrase “results-driven professional” thousands of times, so don’t bore them with it.
Show the results you have achieved in your roles with tangible facts and figures to quantify them. Achievements will vary between roles and industry, but some good examples to include are: revenue generated, spending reduced, major projects delivered, and so on. Ideally, use numbers to demonstrate the impact of your results on your employer where possible.
6. Socialising with friends
This phrase can be found in the interests section of many CVs, but holds no value whatsoever. The vast majority of the population enjoy socialising with their friends, so it’s unlikely that you will impress a recruiter with this fact.
If you’re going to include an interests section then it should ideally show off some extracurricular skills or at least show you off as interesting person. Use activities such as sports, volunteering, travel or work-related interests to demonstrate traits like organisation, leadership and a touch of personality.
Filling your CV with buzzwords may seem like a good way to make it stand out, but they have become so overused that they won’t set you apart from other candidates. Use the limited space on your CV wisely by demonstrating the benefits you bring to an employer with factual evidence.
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