Action verbs for your CV bullet points
Strong verbs make CV bullet points clear and confident. Lists by skill area, with weak and strong examples side by side.
Why verbs matter
Starting each bullet with a strong verb puts the focus on what you did. "Responsible for" and "Duties included" describe a job; verbs like "led", "built" and "reduced" describe your contribution.
Leadership
- Led, managed, coordinated, organised, supervised, mentored, trained, delegated.
Achievements and results
- Increased, reduced, improved, achieved, exceeded, saved, grew, delivered.
Creating and building
- Built, designed, developed, created, launched, introduced, set up, wrote.
Analysis and problem solving
- Analysed, identified, researched, evaluated, forecast, resolved, tested, audited.
Communication and customers
- Presented, negotiated, persuaded, advised, handled, explained, answered, liaised.
Organisation and accuracy
- Planned, scheduled, processed, reconciled, recorded, maintained, verified, updated.
Weak and strong examples
- Weak: Responsible for social media. Strong: Planned and posted weekly content that grew followers by 40% in three months.
- Weak: Helped with an event. Strong: Coordinated logistics for a 300-person career fair with 15 employers.
- Weak: Did data entry. Strong: Processed and verified about 200 records a day with no errors in monthly checks.
Tips
- Use past tense for past roles and present tense for your current role.
- Vary your verbs so your bullets do not all start the same way.
- Follow the verb with what you did, then the result.