Words to Avoid in Resume Bullet Points

There's a small set of words that show up on almost every résumé and almost none of them help you. Each one signals you skipped the specifics.

The “responsible for” trap

“Responsible for X” tells the reader you had the title. Replace it with a verb of action: led, owned, drove, directed.

The buzzword trap

Synergy, paradigm, leverage, ideate, level up, disrupt, visionary, transformational. These don't say what you did. They signal you've read a lot of LinkedIn.

The empty-modifier trap

Passionate, motivated, dynamic, results-oriented, dedicated. Every candidate says they're motivated. Show it through outcomes.

The vague-verb trap

Worked on, helped with, contributed to, was involved in. Replace with the specific verb (built, shipped, designed, mentored, launched) and a measurable outcome.

What to write instead

Every bullet should answer two questions: What did you do? and What changed because of it? If your bullet answers both, it's strong, no matter the verb.