6 Keywords, Action Verbs, and Scope and Accomplishment Statements

Use Keywords

For your resume to be effective in clearly demonstrating that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential duties of the role, it must be targeted to each job by including keywords from the job posting.

Keywords are terms that describe the type of person and skillset/education/experience that the employer requires.

Omitting keywords from your resume and cover letter may result in your documents getting discarded before anyone reads them.

1. Look up job postings you are interested in applying for and examine the qualifications/duties listed. Next, make a match between your skills, knowledge, and experience and the job requirements. Looking at job postings that reflect your job goal will provide you with a sense of the common requirements that an employer might be looking for and assist you in tailoring your resume to those jobs in the future.
2. Use labour market information resources such as the Job Bank – Explore Careers website to review various career and occupational profiles and understand the required duties and responsibilities. You could also use National Occupation Classification Codes, a government website that provides Canadian occupational information and organizes occupational titles according to skill levels and skill types. This can be used as a guide to inform you of all the various tasks and duties that are associated with different jobs.
3. Refer to your program learning outcomes – For each program at Conestoga College, learning outcomes are identified in order for you as a student to understand what abilities you will reliably be able to demonstrate upon graduation. The learning outcomes were developed by employers and industry professionals prior to the creation of your course and offer industry-specific language that you can apply to your resume.

Use Action Verbs

We know that employers and hiring managers are bombarded with applications; therefore, you are not doing yourself any favours by using all the same, old, tired words that everyone else is using. Starting each sentence with a strong action verb will capture the attention of the employer and provide a clearer, more interesting picture of what you have done.

Review your resume, go back and look at each word and ask yourself, is it powerful, appropriate, and exciting? Avoid using the same word more than once. 

COMMUNICATION

MANAGEMENT

TEACHING/HELPING

FINANCIAL

CLERICAL

RESEARCH

CREATIVE

TECHNICAL

Scope Statements

When developing your resume, you can really set yourself apart from others by writing strong summaries of your duties at past and current employment or volunteer positions. Use scope statements to describe what you did at each job or volunteer position. You may feel that your experience is limited or unrelated and that it’s not worth describing your tasks in detail; however, oftentimes we are actually gaining and using transferable skills without even realizing it.

Focus on including the following components in your descriptions:

1. Task: Identify the day-to-day activities you were expected to complete.
2. Skill: Decide which transferable skills you used to perform the tasks.
3. Outcome: State the outcome of the task.

Even in your part-time and volunteer jobs, you’ve gained many applicable transferable skills, take a look:

• Interacted with customers (Task) by listening carefully (Skill) to answer questions about store products (Outcome).
• Sold store merchandise (Task) by upselling product benefits (Skill) to meet daily sales goals (Outcome).
• Handled cash (Task) accurately in a busy environment (Skill) to ensure store till was balanced before closing (Outcome).

Accomplishment Statements

Accomplishment statements are highly favoured by employers because they provide tangible evidence as to what you can bring to the workplace and substantiate the skills or competencies you present on your resume. Accomplishment statements also demonstrate why you would be the best candidate for the position and can be used by employers to help differentiate you when compared to other applicants who have may have had similar experiences.

Start by brainstorming the tasks and activities you performed well in your past or current experience. Typically, these are characterized by occasions where you recognized a problem or a situation that could have been improved, you acted or responded to it, and it resulted in recognition or a positive outcome. When thinking about each experience, ask yourself the following question: How was my performance measured in this position and what value did I bring to this workplace or organization?

It can be helpful to list your experiences to date (work, volunteer, education, academic projects, assignments, and presentations) and identify achievements for each of these. Think of significant contributions, individual or group projects, recognition received from a formal performance review, or informally from coworkers, team members, customers, professors, and supervisors. Accomplishments can also include awards or any contributions you made that had a positive impact on your workplace.

To craft your own accomplishment statements, use the information in this video, or follow the STAR method described below the video.

The University of British Columbia. (2012, September 17). Resumes 101: Accomplishment statements [Video]. YouTube.

STAR Method

(S) Situation + (T) Task + (A) Action + (R) Result

Start by describing the Situation or Task followed by the Action you have taken and the Result you have achieved. Use strong action verbs to make the most impact. Don’t forget to quantify the results or actions as much as possible. Be specific, but concise. You can additionally vary the focus of your statement by choosing what actions you highlight.