Navigating Resume Grammar

Resume language differs from normal speech in several ways. In general, keep the language tight and the tone professional.

• First-person pronouns (I, we) - Your name is at the top of each resume page, so the reader knows it's about you. Eliminate first-person pronouns. Also, don't use third-person pronouns (he, she) when referring to yourself the narrative technique makes you seem pompous.

• Articles (the, a, an) - Articles crowd sentences and don't clarify meaning. Substitute retrained staff for retrained the staff.

• Helping verbs (have, had, may, might) - Helping verbs weaken claims and credibility implying that your time has passed and portraying you as a job-hunting weakling. Say managed instead of have managed.

• Being verbs (am, is, are, was, were) - Being verbs suggest a state of existence rather than a state of motion. Try monitored requisitions instead of requisitions were monitored. The active voice gives a stronger, more confident delivery.

• Shifts in tense - Don't switch back and forth between tenses. Another big mistake: dating a job as though you are still employed (2000 - present) and then describing it in the past tense.

• Complex sentences - Keep your sentences lean and clean readers won't take time to decipher them. Process this mind-stumper:

  • " Reduced hospital costs by 67% by creating a patient-independence program, where they make their own beds, and as noted by hospital finance department, costs of nails and wood totaled $300 less per patient that work hours of maintenance staff."

  • Complex sentences can be eliminated by dividing ideas into sentences of their own and getting rid of extraneous details:

  • "Reduced hospital costs by 67%. Originated patient independence program that decreased per-patient expense by $300 each."

• Overwriting - Use your own voice; don't say expeditious when you want to say swift.

• Abbreviations - Abbreviations are informal and not universal even when they are career-specific. Use Internet instead of Net. The exception is industry jargon - use it, especially in digital resumes. It adds to your credibility to be able to correctly and casually use terms common to the industry in which you're seeking employment.