If your technical skills are stronger than your writing skills, it can be a struggle to respond to online questionnaires and job applications, or create cover letters, thank you notes and multiple versions of your resume. A job search requires you to draft massive numbers of written documents, which are highly scrutinized by their recipients.
One resource that can help with the arduous task of creating these is a list of action or power verbs. These cheat sheets, available online, not only provide the vocabulary to spice up a resume, the words can actually jog your memory and help you describe your key contributions and accomplishments.
The problem is that many of these lists contain only 50 to 100 words, and including the verbs can be a tip-off to reviewers that you're relying on canned resources. So when I recently received a new list of 380+ action verbs from resume expert Wendy Enelow, I couldn't wait to share it.
In addition to typical action verbs like develop, organize and present, Enelow includes more obscure verbs that can actually distinguish your writing from other job seekers. Here are a few of my favorites from her list, but be sure to visit her Web site so you can review them all.
Anchor Mastermind
Architect Monetize
Authenticate Normalize
Crystallize Obfuscate
Corroborate Proliferate
Effectuate Purify
Exhort Sanctify
Hypothesize Systematize
Lecture Thwart
-- Leslie Stevens-Huffman