When describing projects and results, one of the best words to use is develop. More than any other word, it seems to be so useful and it clearly expresses what a person wants to convey. While develop is an excellent word, when used three or four times in a resume it becomes overworked and loses impact. You'll need substitutes. The most common are
- Created Instituted
- Designed
- Introduced
- Established
- Set up
- Implemented
- Built
- Composed
- Constructed
- Coordinated
- Cultivated
- Devised
- Elaborated
- Enhanced
- Fabricated
- Originated
- Fashioned
- Perfected
- Formed
- Pioneered
- Formulated
- Planned
- Generated
- Prepared
- Installed
- Produced
- Introduced
- Refined
- Organized
- Revamped
Here are examples that demonstrate how to describe results in various situations. In parentheses are words that could have been used instead of "develop."
- Developed (devised, prepared, produced) a creative financing/purchasing package to obtain 1900 acres of prime California farmland.
- Pioneered a mime program for gifted children age 8-12. Developed (designed, established) training programs for new and experienced employees and supervised the new employee orientation program.
- Set up apprenticeship programs for five skilled trades at the Physical Plant Department.
- Developed and implemented an information and referral service for consumer complaints and human rights issues.
- Developed and implemented mail and telephone solicitation programs and word processor systems.
- Coordinated the company marketing effort, including advertising and promotions.
- Designed and installed cash and inventory control systems for various clients.
- Created an employee orientation program which increased employee effectiveness and helped decrease turnover.
- Built a team of highly motivated employees.
- Established a sales award program which substantially reduced turnover of franchise sales staff.
- Designed and introduced new operating procedures which reduced labor costs from 24% of gross revenues to 14%.
- Instituted a preventive maintenance program which increased combat readiness of a unit by 10%.
Describe your current job in the present tense. For all previous jobs, write in the past tense. You may need to describe an event in your current job, such as a project that has already been completed. In that case, use the past tense to describe the project while using the present tense in the remaining portions of your current job.
Example:
STORE MANAGER - 6/90-Present. Oversee total operation of the store, supervise and schedule employees, and complete monthly profit and loss statements. Designed a new inventory system which has saved over $10,000.
Since the inventory system was designed over a year ago, it must be described in the past tense.
Using Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs are words that describe actions and things. Used appropriately, they can enliven a resume and describe more accurately what you did. While using adjectives and adverbs can add sparkle to a resume, if overused, they can actually weaken a phrase. Notice how they change the tone of the sentences below. In each example the second sentence has more impact.
- Worked with industrial engineers.
Worked closely and effectively with industrial engineers.
- During seven years as staff pharmacist, learned the operation of the pharmacy department.
During seven years as staff pharmacist, became thoroughly familiar with the operation of the pharmacy department.
- Initiate and develop working relations with local, state, and federal agencies.
Initiate and develop outstanding working relations with local, state, and federal agencies.
- Establish rapport with customers.
Quickly establish rapport with customers.
- Dealt tactfully and effectively with difficult customers.
- Presented technical material in objective and easily understood terms.
- Actively involve parents in Individual Education Plans.
- Consistently maintained high profit margins on all projects.
- Significantly improved communications between nursing administration and staff.
- Completed virtually all apartment units ahead of schedule.
- Continually streamlined policies and procedures to create a more reasonable work schedule.
- accurate / accurately
- active/actively
- adept/adeptly
- advantageously
- aggressive / aggressively
- all-inclusive/all-inclusively
- ambitious/ambitiously
- appreciable/appreciably
- astute/astutely
- attractive / attractively
- authoritative/authoritatively
- avid/avidly
- aware
- beneficial/beneficially
- broad/broadly
- capable/capably
- challenging
- cohesive / cohesively
- competent/competently
- complete / completely
- comprehensive/comprehensively
- conclusive/conclusively
- consistent/consistently
- constructive/constructively
- contagious
- continuous / continually
- contributed toward
- decidedly
- decisive/decisively
- deft / deftly
- demonstrably
- dependable/dependably
- diligent/diligently
- diplomatic/diplomatically
- distinctive / distinctively
- diverse/diversified
- driving
- easily
- effective/effectively
- effectually
- efficient/efficiently
- effortless/effortlessly
- enthusiastic / enthusiastically
- entire/entirely
- especially
- exceptional/exceptionally
- exciting/excitingly
- exhaustive/exhaustively
- experienced
- expert/expertly
- extensive / extensively
- extreme / extremely
- familiar with
- familiarity with
- firm/firmly
- functional / functionally
- handy/handily
- high/highly
- highest
- high-level
- honest/honestly
- imaginative / imaginatively
- immediate/immediately
- impressive/impressively
- incisive/incisively
- in-depth
- industrious/industriously
- inherent/inherently
- innovative / innovatively
- instructive / instructively
- instrumental/instrumentally
- integral
- intensive / intensively
- intimate/intimately
- leading
- masterful/masterfully
- meaningful/meaningfully
- natural / naturally
- new and improved
- notable/notably
- objective/objectively
- open-minded
- original/originally
- outstanding/outstandingly
- particularly
- penetrating/penetratingly
- perceptive/perceptively
- pioneering
- practical/practically
- professional/professionally
- proficient/proficiently
- profitable/profitably
- progressive/progressively
- quick/quickly
- rare/ rarely
- readily
- relentless/relentlessly
- reliability
- reliable/reliably
- remarkable / remarkably
- responsible/responsibly
- rigorous / rigorously
- routine / routinely
- secure/securely
- sensitive/ sensitively
- significant/significantly
- skillful/skillfully
- solid/solidly
- sophisticated/sophisticatedly
- strategic/ strategically
- strong/strongly
- substantial/substantially
- successful / successfully
- tactful/tactfully
- thorough/thoroughly
- uncommon/uncommonly
- unique / uniquely
- unusual/unusually
- urgent/urgently
- varied
- vigorous / vigorously
- virtual/virtually
- vital/vitally
- wide/widely
