Unless you have the literary skills of James Joyce, using your CV as a platform for self-promoting phrases is likely to fall into the category of cliché and could do more harm than good.
However appealing these phrases may sound to you at the time, recruiters and hiring managers will at best see them as superfluous and at worst they could detract from your entire application.
Here’s how not to describe yourself on your resume.
1. Quick learner
“I hate this one as we’re all quick learners when we do the same job day after day. Plus, everyone puts it on their resumes, so you really don’t stand out by using it,” says Kyle Blockley, managing partner of recruitment firm KS Consulting in Singapore.
2. Strategic thinker
“I don’t know any hiring manager or recruiter who would look for this phrase in a CV, but it’s often there,” says James Carss, Hong Kong director of recruiters HFG.
3. Confident, ambitious and tenacious
This (and similar triple-word horrors) remain popular on resumes but should be avoided at all costs. “This is not the 1990s when hiring was focused on buzz words and cheesy phrases,” says Carss. “Recruiters will assess such personality traits not from CVs but by asking behavioural questions at interviews.”
4. Highly accomplished
Among the most common yet most futile of any CV self-description – you shouldn’t bother applying for a new job unless you’re accomplished in your field. “It’s a pointless phrase, let your CV speak for itself,” says Carss.
5. Innovative employee
“Taken on its own as an adjective on a CV, ‘innovative’ is fairly meaningless. If you have been genuinely innovative during your career then this should be highlighted as an achievement. For example, introducing a new forecasting process which increased accuracy by 25%,” says Duncan McKenzie, a senior consultant at recruiters Astbury Marsden in Singapore.
6. Passionate about
“This is something that you see more and more on CVs and Linkedin profiles these days and in most cases it sounds a little bit excessive,” says McKenzie. “Phrases such as ‘passionate about risk management’ don’t add much value and it would be much better to talk about experience and achievements.”
7. Hard worker
“Putting a lot of energy into your career is admirable, but this phrase doesn’t clearly explain what you actually do with that energy,” says Stella Tang, managing director of recruiters Robert Half in Singapore. “Describe a situation when you helped the bank by going beyond your job description.”
8. Problem solver
Candidates far too often throw this phrase into their CV without examples to back it up. “It’s much better to clearly illustrate a time when you applied critical thinking to help your team or bank overcome a challenge,” says Tang.
9. Flexible professional
Flexible in what? In your working hours? In the tasks you perform? This word is far too generic to add any substance to your CV when it’s just used as a description. “Flexibility is only a selling point if you provide more details. For example, perhaps you picked up new duties when a team member left suddenly.”
10. Attentive to detail
Most candidates don’t relate this phrase to a specific aspect of the CV, rendering it worthless. “And whenever I see it I also seem to find spelling mistakes in the resume,” says Christina Ng, executive director at LMA Recruitment in Singapore.
11. Team player who can work independently
“This sentence doesn’t say anything and could appear to contradict itself,” says Orelia Chan, a manager at recruiters Robert Walters in Singapore. “You’re better off stating which projects you worked on as a team and outline your contribution. And a better way of saying that you’re independent is by giving an example of when you worked without constant supervision.”
12. Trained accountant
“It’s much better to point out that you have a CPA, ACA etc and are familiar with financial reporting standards such as IFRS, US GAAP, UK GAAP,” says Ng. “Be specific and technical as a professional, don’t be generic.”
13. Highly numerate
“Oddly, I do see this a lot when I recruit chartered accountants,” says Carss, from HFG. “I take numeracy as a given, I don’t need to see it on your CV.”