What if I told you that if you just commit to a few minutes each day during 2 weeks in January, you’ll see a transformation in your resume, LinkedIn, and job search correspondence to one that’s lean and confident? 

And what better time than the new year to resolve to pep up your prose, ferret out the flab, and beef up the body of your career-related content?

Free Boot Camp Alert!

Sign up for my Career Content Boot Camp, and from January 10 through January 21, I’ll email you a short (promise!) daily exercise for strengthening your profile.

Whether or not you’ve already worked with me, these exercises will help tone your writing as you continue to send career-related correspondence and update your profile. Or if you know someone who is considering a job change, please share this with them.

Each day, in less time than it takes you to set up that fancy new fitness gadget, you’ll be one step closer to a more svelte career profile.

In the meantime, you can get a head start right now.

Sometimes the best way to bulk up or tone your muscles is by starting with a process of elimination: mercilessly removing counterproductive behavior that saps your energy or prevents you from reaching peak form. 

It’s no different when you’re writing your career profile. Words that have no value are like so many empty calories. So let’s cut ‘em!

The following are 5 words and phrases that constantly creep into resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letters:

1. Adverbs

Adverbs rarely add value (except here, of course ;). Most of the time, they’re a distraction and just add flab around our…ahem…areas where we don’t want the extra weight, drawing attention away from our best features.

Among the scores of resumes I see, a common culprit is “very,” as in “very unique.” But here’s the thing: you either are unique or you aren’t. There’s no spectrum of uniqueness.

Very compelling? Your content is either compelling or it’s not.

When we’re tempted to add an adverb to bolster our point, it’s usually because we think the main word isn’t strong enough to stand alone. If that’s the case for you, choose a better word. 

You can do an easy test by covering the intensifier. Is the word you’re modifying strong enough by itself?

Here are some real world examples:

Instead of
Successfully penetrated a new market…

Try
Penetrated a new market…

Instead of
Successfully identified new business opportunities.

Try
Identified new business opportunities.

See how much stronger the second sentence is if you don’t weigh it down with extra words?

Once you start practicing this, you’ll find you can eliminate most intensifiers.

Exercise: Scan for words that end in “ly.” Remove those words wherever they’re redundant or where the words they’re modifying can be replaced with stronger ones. 

Word Hippo is a great FREE app for finding the perfect replacement.

2. …in order to…

The phrase “…in order to…” shows up everywhere. But I guarantee that your (bullet) point will be stronger if you use “to.”

Here’s an example:

Instead of
Introduced new software in order to improve forecasting.

Try
Introduced new software to improve forecasting.

Exercise: Search for “in order to” and replace with a simple “to.”

3. …of…

For such a little word, this one can do a lot to slow down a reader. It’s like a Christmas cookie. One here and there is OK, but too many can add up and bloat the sentence.

So instead of
Directed assessments of threats. 

Try
Directed threat assessments.

Instead of
Oversaw building of cloud infrastructure.

Try
Oversaw cloud infrastructure build.

Exercise: Do a quick search for the word “of.” If you eliminate that word and rearrange the text like I’ve done, can you say the same thing?

4. …related to…

Here’s a phrase you can cut entirely and reorder the text, as in the following example.

Instead of
Resolved issues related to employees.

Try
Resolved employee issues.

Exercise: Search for “related to,” cut it, and rearrange the text. See the transformation?

5. Responsible for…

This phrase is straight out of a job description, and should be removed from your career documents. Remember, the hiring team wants to know what you did, so replace “responsible for” with an action verb.

Instead of 
Responsible for innovative product and marketing strategies.

Try
Deliver innovative product and marketing strategies.

Exercise: Search for “Responsible for…,” replace with a strong verb, and voila! You’ve powered up your phrase.

So there you have it. 5 easy fixes for a more concise, easy-to-read resume, LinkedIn profile, or cover letter.

If you want more of these tips, don’t forget to sign up for my 2-week Content Body Bootcamp, which starts January 10, 2022!

In the meantime, enjoy those leftover Christmas cookies!

Happy New Year!
Emily