The Ultimate Guide to Resume Action Verbs & Power Words
Why Weak Verbs Kill Your Shortlist Chances
Recruiters spend an average of 6 to 7.4 seconds scanning a resume. If every bullet point begins with "Assisted with", "Handled", or "Responsible for", your resume reads like a passive job description rather than a track record of achievement. Action verbs instantly frame you as a proactive driver of results.
The Google "X-Y-Z" Formula for Bullet Points
Former VP of People Operations at Google, Laszlo Bock, pioneered the gold-standard resume formula: "Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]." Example Before: "Worked on website speed." Example After: "Accelerated mobile page load speed by 58% [Y] by implementing route code-splitting and WebP image compression [Z], driving a 14% lift in checkout conversion [X]."
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many action verbs should I use per bullet point?
Start every bullet point with exactly one strong past-tense action verb (e.g., "Architected", "Engineered", "Orchestrated", "Negotiated"). Avoid stacking multiple verbs in the same sentence.