

Boilerplate Phrases That Kill Resumes - edw519
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-10_boilerplate_phrases_that_kill_resumes-97

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treo
As you have to login to read it, here is the text:

The Savvy Networker Liz Ryan, Yahoo! HotJobs

The 2009 job market is very different from job markets of the past. If you
haven't job-hunted in a while, the changes in the landscape can throw you for
a loop.

One of the biggest changes is the shift in what constitutes a strong resume.
Years ago, we could dig into the Resume Boilerplate grab-bag and pull out a
phrase to fill out a sentence or bullet point on our resume. Everybody used
the same boilerplate phrases, so we knew we couldn't go wrong choosing one of
them -- or many -- to throw into your resume.

Things have changed. Stodgy boilerplate phrases in your resume today mark you
as uncreative and "vocabulary challenged." You can make your resume more
compelling and human-sounding by rooting out and replacing the boring
corporate-speak phrases that litter it, and replacing them with human language
-- things that people like you or I would actually say.

Here are the worst 10 boilerplate phrases -- the ones to seek out and destroy
in your resume as soon as possible:

    
    
        * Results-oriented professional
        * Cross-functional teams
        * More than [x] years of progressively responsible experience
        * Superior (or excellent) communication skills
        * Strong work ethic
        * Met or exceeded expectations
        * Proven track record of success
        * Works well with all levels of staff
        * Team player
        * Bottom-line orientation
    

You can do better. What about adding a human voice to your resume? Here's an
example:

"I'm a Marketing Researcher who's driven by curiosity about why people buy
what they do. At XYZ Industries, I used consumer surveys and online-forum
analysis to uncover the reasons why consumers chose our competitors over us;
our sales grew twenty percent over the next six months as a result. I'm
equally at home on sales calls or analyzing data in seclusion, and up to speed
on traditional and new-millennium research tools and approaches. I'm fanatical
about understanding our marketplace better every day, week and month -- and
have helped my employers' brands grow dramatically as a result."

You don't have to write resumes that sound like robots wrote them. A human-
voiced resume is the new black -- try it!

Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, former Fortune 500 VP and an internationally
recognized expert on careers and the new millennium workplace. Contact Liz at
liz@asklizryan.com or join the Ask Liz Ryan online community at
www.asklizryan/group.

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noss
> Years ago, we could dig into the Resume Boilerplate grab-bag and pull out a
> phrase to fill out a sentence or bullet point on our resume.

This looks like a lie to fill out the article. When were buzzwords ever seen
as a good thing?

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mixmax
It sounds like if you ask 100 HR people what a good resume is, you'll get 100
answers.

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Bjoern
I think this article is quite content free.

The only message of this article is in my opinion "if you write your cv you
have to keep up with the stupid^Wintelligent cycle of .. currently we only
like writing style X so change or your cv lands in the bin".

Writing a good CV is probably impossible. Everybody has different ideas what
"good" actually means.

Pity HR people don't understand Geek code ;)

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dazzawazza
It wants me to login to yahoo to see this article :(

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edw519
Sorry, I had no idea. Try this link.

[http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/printallept.htm...](http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/printallept.html?post=97&eptTemplete=contributingauthor)

If that doesn't work, I'll just cut & paste it here (It's not long.)

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gamache
Still doesn't work.

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philwelch
"You don't have to write resumes that sound like robots wrote them."

It depends on the company--at many, robots are going to read my resume, so why
shouldn't a robot write my resume?

