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How To Describe Yourself On Resume

Words To Describe Yourself In An Interview And On Your Resume

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In daily life, people arent usually asking you how you describe yourself, but during the job search process, its an extremely common question. Even if the interviewer doesnt come right out and say tell me about yourself, they generally want to know about you as a person when they ask behavioral interview questions, STAR interview questions, or questions like what is your greatest strength?

The same notion goes for your resume and cover letter. In a career change cover letter, its even more important to select the right words. When you are describing your responsibilities and passions, you are essentially just describing who you are.

Believe it or not, just like resume action words, the words you use to describe yourself are extremely influential in how people view and remember you. So here is a list of 53 words to describe yourself during your job search, whether it is in your interview, on your resume, or in your cover letter.

Interview Question: How Would You Describe Yourself

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One of the first questions you may be asked in a job interview is, How would you describe yourself? While you have several options when deciding how to answer this question, the key is to explain why your specific experiences and attributes make you the best fit for the role.

When an interviewer asks you to talk about yourself, theyre looking for information about how your qualities and characteristics align with the skills they believe are required to succeed in the role. If possible, include quantifiable results to demonstrate how you use your best attributes to drive success.

Positive Words To Describe Yourself

These are great adjectives to describe yourself:

1. Able

I am able to handle multiple tasks on a daily basis.

2. Creative

I use a creative approach to problem solve.

3. Dependable

I am a dependable person who is great at time management.

4. Energetic

I am always energetic and eager to learn new skills.

5. Experience

I have experience working as part of a team and individually.

6. Flexible

I am flexible in my working hours, being able to work evenings and weekends.

7. Hardworking

I am hardworking and always the last to leave the office in the evening.

I have organised the staff functions for the last four years with great success.

8. Honest

I am honest and trustworthy when I am counting money after our church bake-sales.

9. Imaginative

I work with the team to provide imaginative solutions for our customers.

10. Innovative

I am always coming up with innovative ideas.

11. Motivated

I am motivated to go to the gym before work to get fit and healthy.

12. Organised

I have organised the staff functions for the last four years with great success.

13. Reliable

Co-workers rely on me to be on time.

14. Sense of humour

Even though I take my work seriously, I do have a good sense of humour.

Find out more advice, in terms of embedding these words into your CV, read our article: A Guide to Writing a Successful CV

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Describing Yourself: 4 Different Example Answers

Now lets circle back to how you should answer this question, starting with a quick wham-bam walkthrough just to warm you up.

Well start by pretending youre interviewing for a job as an assembly line worker for a candy company and that the job description states your responsibility will be to quickly fill different sized custom candy boxes with chocolates .

By reading the job description, you know that the position is high-speed and that youll be required to quickly assess each candy box as it comes towards you to figure out exactly how to fill it. Odds are that company wants an employee who can adapt quickly to a wide variety of different scenarios.

Now lets go through your list of qualities and characteristics and see if theres one that would apply to this job description.

Im flexible.

Very good. Theres your perfect quality/characteristic. Now lets focus on your targeted example.

Im comfortable adjusting to any situation and dont get flustered easily when faced with unexpected challenges. I proved this during my tenure at Hersheys when we had a power outage on Christmas delivery day but every last bar of chocolate still left the factory.

Boom. Mic drop. Walk away, you just won the day With that single word and simple sentence, you let the hiring manager immediately know that youre the right person for the job.

Fun, right? Lets do a few more!

Ready? Lets go.

Can you say corner office, company car and annual bonus?!? Wow!

B Professional Experience: Enhance Your Actions

How To Describe Yourself Resume

In your professional experience section, use adjectives sparingly. They should only be used in cases where they legitimately enhance your actions and achievements, or describe the manner in which you performed an action. Otherwise, they can make your resume seem fluffy and unprofessional.

Take a look at the examples below to get a better idea of how to use them properly:

Example 1:

  • Cultivated relationships with over 80% of patients, resulting in overall patient happiness and emotional well-being

Enhanced

  • Cultivated amicable relationships with over 80% of patients, resulting in greater overall patient happiness and emotional well-being

Example 2:

Normal

  • Led 10-member team in conducting the day-to-day operations of the plant, including the manufacturing of products, and implementation of 7 new production strategies.

Enhanced

  • Led 10-member team in conducting the day-to-day operations of the plant, ensuring smooth manufacturing of products, and facilitating the cost-effective implementation of 7 new groundbreaking production strategies.

As you can see, while the normal statements are still strong bullet points, the addition of adjectives strengthens them even further.

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Know & Research Your Audience

The first step in how to describe yourself is to know your audience! You dont want to describe yourself as a quiet person who prefers working alone if youre interviewing at a highly-social company that emphasizes teamwork. At least not if you want to get hired!

Now, you dont need to lie and say youre the most out-going, energetic person in the world, but youd want to show a bit of both sides, so they at least know you can handle some basic teamwork.

So prepare for your job interview by researching the company and figuring out what type of work environment they seem to have.

If you dont know how to research a company, this article will help you. Id recommend checking out their website, their Facebook page, YouTube, and maybe other social media like LinkedIn.

This will give you a sense of their overall company culture, which will help you do a better job of describing yourself in a way thatll be attractive to THEM.

How To Describe Yourself On A Resume

Truly impressive resumes make an impact while remaining succinct. Every word you use in your resume must grab the attention of a potential employer. This vital piece of paper may be the only chance you have to convince a potential employer to contact you for an interview. If you describe yourself in a way that sells you as a qualified candidate for the job, youre more likely to get your foot in the door for a face-to-face meeting.

Write your objective with three things in mind your strongest skill, your strongest desire for your career and the exact job you want. Because the objective is one short statement at the top of your resume, it must make an immediate impact by highlighting the core of who you are as an employee.

Include any honors, such as cum laude, you received along with your diploma in the Education section. Do not include your GPA unless it is particularly impressive. If you are a recent graduate, this section should follow the objective. However, if you have several years of experience, move this section below your Experience section.

Compose your Skills section to be as specific as possible. For example, instead of general computer programming skills, list a few more detailed projects that will give the employer an idea of your command over specific software and computer languages. As in the Experience section, use incomplete sentences and focus on action verbs.

Tip

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Benefits Of An About Me Resume Section

There are several benefits to including an about me section in your resume, including:

  • It summarizes your entire resume. Your about me section will briefly summarize the most important information you want the reader to know from your resume. If the recruiter or hiring manager doesnt have a lot of time to sort through resumes, your about me section can help you quickly stand out from other candidates.

Image description

  • Skills

  • Optional

  • ***It describes your professional brand.** Your about me section adds character to your resume by using specific examples of the skills you list throughout your resume. Try to incorporate both descriptive and action words that showcase your personality and identify the personal professional brand you want to portray.***It quantifies your experience.** The about me section is the ideal place to highlight your greatest professional accomplishments using descriptions that quantify your value.

    Related:Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment?

    The Power Of Adjectives

    RESUME EXPERIENCE SECTION: How to Describe Work Experience on a Resume & QUANTIFY your experience

    Start with agile or flexible, says Dave Popple, president of Corporate Insights. These words are definitely the flavor of the month right now. Job seekers should also be prepared with an example of their agility or flexibility.

    Popple also recommends including resilient.Companies believe that their workplace is stressful and want to make sure job seekers can manage the stress, he explains.

    Using the same adjectives an employer uses in a job listing can be helpful, says resume expert Scott Vedder. Recruiters like me utilize applicant tracking software to search for resumes that best match what weve written in the job posting. You can use closely-related synonyms, but its best to just use the same adjectives and keywords. Its important to customize your resume to align with what employers are seeking and the job posting is the key.

    Win the Room CEO Kelly Hadous recommends using active and positive adjectives in your resume. For example, use dedicated to show to the hiring manager your passion, willingness and motivation. Use diligent to show your love of a good job done. Use confident to show that you know who you are as a person and that you can carry any tasks without being afraid or hesitating.

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    How To Write An About Me Section In Your Resume

    Your resume is your opportunity to present yourself as the most qualified candidate for the position for which you are applying. Including an about me section in your resume can help you stand out as a candidate hiring managers or recruiters want to learn more about, which can help you get an interview. In this article, we discuss what an about me section in a resume entails, the benefits of including an about me section and examples of how to write one.

    Words To Describe Yourself

    As we mentioned, there is a great variety of words you can describe yourself with.

    Luckily, the list drastically shrinks when we want words that would match a specific skill or ability needed for a job position

    So the first thing you need to think about is what are the words you would want your potential employer to remember you by.

    It may sound hard and scary, but thats why we have a few examples for you to get you started.

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    + Words To Describe Yourself

    There are so many descriptive words out there

    And yet sometimes you may still struggle to find the right words to describe yourself.

    Hey, we dont blame you. Choosing the words to describe yourself can be a tricky task.

    On the one hand, you want to show your positive traits. On the other hand, you might not want to overdo it with self-praise.

    Things get even trickier when youre applying for college or a job and you need to find the most suitable words to describe yourself.

    Honestly, we know the struggle – this is why we wrote this article.

    Read on to find out:

    • 95+ Best Words to Describe Yourself
    • 45 Words to Describe Yourself in a Job Interview
    • 40 Words to Describe Yourself in a Resume
    • 40 Words to Describe Yourself on a College Application
    • Words NOT to Describe Yourself

    Resume Killing Phrases To Avoid

    Resume Examples Describe Yourself , #ResumeExamples ...

    You know the feeling you get when your parents try to use phrases to be cool? Like when your mom is hanging out with you and your friends and says something is sick. Its kind of icky, inappropriate, and disgusting. Thats how hiring managers feel when you use buzzwords on a resume.

    Are resume buzzwords worth it? Many of these phrases were cool in their day, but now, these cliches have seriously lost their staying power and its time to retire them.

    Are you guilty of using any of the following outdated terms?

    Move the Needle Significantly impact

    If you dont want to make recruiters cringe, explain what you mean in engaging conversational language. Dont lean on these overused terms.

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    Cv Personal Profile: How To Write Yours

    When writing your CV, there is often some confusion surrounding the CV personal profile, also called an executive summary or personal statement, and whether or not to include one. While they are not a mandatory must-have on a CV, they provide a quick overview of your abilities and suitability for a position, ideal for the busy recruiter or employer sorting through hundreds of applications.

    However, writing the short personal profile at the top of a CV can prove to be quite difficult. The CV personal statement, or profile, is the first thing that will be read by potential employers and recruiters alike, so its important to take the time to create a concise yet well-written introduction to your qualifications, skills and experience.

    The statement must be a brief snapshot of you as a professional. While it should only be a few lines long to summarise your CV and what you can offer the employer, it must also be unique to your skill set and tailored specifically to the role you are applying for.

    Having spent over four decades working with individuals to create stand out CVs and reading through countless personal statements, we have developed top tips to help you write the perfect personal profile.

    Top 30 Best Words To Describe Yourself

  • Able – I am able to speak 4 languages, namely: English, Spanish, German and Russian.
  • Hardworking – I am a hardworking person and I’m dedicated to get things done.
  • Honest – I am trustworthy and honest. People entrust me to count the money after bake-sales at the church.
  • Imaginative – I’m always first to bring imaginative solutions to the table.
  • Innovative – I’m a talented innovative thinker.
  • Motivated – I am motivated to wake up at 5 am to do yoga and meditate.
  • Creative – I utilize a creative approach to solve problems.
  • Dependable – I can describe myself as a dependable person with excellent time management skills.
  • Energetic – I’m so energetic that even after sleeping 4 hours a day I’m still full of energy.
  • Experience – I have experience in tackling crises in public relations.
  • Flexible – I am flexible in terms of my working regime, which allows me to work during the weekends and evenings.
  • Organized – I have organized functions of the staff during the last ten years.
  • Reliable – I’m a reliable person, who can never let another individual down.
  • Sense of humor – The Sense of humor is what makes me a heart of the team even though I’m used to working very seriously.
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    C Skills: Sharpen Your Skills

    In your skills section, only use adjectives to emphasize your level of skill with a given technique or tool. Most of the words you can use for this are found in the Effectiveness category of our list. Lets take a look at some comparisons:

    With Adjectives

    • Proficient with MS Word & Excel
    • Fluent in English and Spanish
    • Strong Communication skills
    • Advanced/Expert knowledge of Python and Javascript

    No Adjectives

    • Communication
    • Python and Javascript

    Describing your skills in this manner makes your them seem sharper, and leaves a greater impression on the hiring manager. Just be sure not to over-embellish, or you could get into trouble during the interview.

    Come Up With Your Own List Of Words To Describe Yourself

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    The above are some guidelines to give you an idea of the type of language to use based on what many interviewers look for in top-notch candidates. It’s important to come up with your own responses though, so that you truly represent yourself as an individual. Grab a pen and paper and begin brainstorming about your top-notch worthiness by taking these steps:

  • Create a list of the competencies, skills, and qualities provided above.

  • Write down what you do to represent each quality.

  • Craft your sample responses accordingly.

  • Practice answering common interview questions that might prompt your responses.

  • As you craft your responses, it’s also important to have some examples that speak to your claims. In other words, if you say you’ve often exceeded your employer’s expectations, be prepared to give quantifiable examples to back it up. The more you can support your claims with measurable success, the better.

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    Power Adjectives For Your Resume

    February 24, 2020 | By Lauren McAdams| Reviewed by Howard Davies, CPRW

    Looking for some good adjectives for your resume? Well, youve come to the right place! Our experts have created a comprehensive list of all the best resume adjectives, as well as a guide on how to use them effectively. On the other hand, if youd rather get straight to writing your resume, take a look at our how to write a resume guide, or get one done in minutes with our professional resume builder.

  • When Not to Use Them
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