Flexible, motivated, independent, go-getter, team player — there are a few terms and phrases that recruiters may find offensive and immediately discard your resume. It's harsh, but it's true. Recruiters expect these characteristics from candidates, so they don't exactly scream, "I'm a fantastic candidate, please hire me." They've heard everything before. They want to know what makes you unique.

It's time to update your resume, get rid of the waffle, and replace weak phrases with powerful alternatives to land the job you deserve. Here's what you should remove and what you should add.

Determine what should be included in your resume.

Before going through your resume and removing unnecessary words, decide what should be included.

The most effective resumes are tailored to specific jobs. Gather a few job postings and examine how each company describes the role, the requirements, the skills required, and the responsibilities. Make a list of the phrases you hear frequently and include them on your resume. This increases your chances of getting past an applicant tracking system and into the hands of a recruiter.

Diligent worker

This phrase is in the same category as phrases like self-motivated and team player. These should not be on your resume because they are a given — do they really add any new or distinguishing information? Businesses anticipate that you will work hard. To begin with, you don't have much time or space to do yourself and your skills justice, so avoid phrases like hard worker.

Which job does not necessitate hard work, motivation, and teamwork? It's not worth including unless you have a super-specific, incredible example that will blow the recruiter away.

Which job does not necessitate hard work, motivation, and teamwork? It's not worth including unless you have a super-specific, incredible example that will blow the recruiter away.

If you absolutely must include a term or phrase like this, try to use it in a statement rather than as a term without context. You can demonstrate how you demonstrated your hard work and the outcome. However, if the job posting does not specifically request this, it is best to leave it out.

achieved by replacing...

Replace hard worker with accomplished on your resume. This will only work if you back it up with examples of your work. For example, it could be meeting sales targets in a short period of time with only a few employees. Backing it up with an example completely flips it — it shows you're a hard worker because of what you've accomplished through that hard work, without saying it directly.

Aided

It's important to include words that demonstrate how you made a positive impact in your previous role, but the word "helped" should be avoided. There is a limit to how many times you can use it before it becomes jarring, and to be honest, overusing it can harm your resume.

For starters, it's difficult to quantify how much you contributed to a project, for example. You may have played an important role in a project, but using helped does not indicate whether you were the project's leader or whether you proofread a piece of work for a colleague as part of the project. It's a phrase that doesn't do you justice.

Second, it labels you as a follower rather than a leader. Yes, it demonstrates that you follow instructions, but replacing it with a powerful word will cast you in a more favorable light. substitute coached

You can substitute a few interchangeable terms for helped. Helped is a poor substitute for being coached, produced, represented, facilitated, or assessed. They're more powerful and demonstrate that you didn't just follow instructions but also took the initiative in some areas.

Thinking outside the box.

Hiring managers have pet peeves, and reading about a candidate's ability to think outside the box is one of them. It adds nothing to your resume. How are they supposed to know this is true, as with most words or phrases? What evidence do you have to back this up? What constitutes thinking outside the box?

Furthermore, it is quite wordy and can be replaced with something sharper and more powerful. Again, the expectation is that the person hired can think beyond the obvious.

Replace with... conceptualized

Action verbs such as created and developed also work well here because they allow you to provide a specific example of when you demonstrated creative thinking and its impact.

If a hiring manager is reading through multiple resumes and comes across a word like conceptualized with an example, they will sit up and take notice.

Synergy

It's tempting to use fancy words to make your resume stand out. The disadvantage? Vague terms like synergy provide no insight into your abilities. It's overused and will not improve your chances of getting a job. It can also be misconstrued because recruiters and hiring managers will lack context.

When describing accomplishments, keep your resume simple and use simple words.

Replace with... collaborate

Interaction and collaboration will also work well here. In fact, anything more specific than synergy will work better. Depending on the context, you can use an action verb, such as successfully collaborating between multiple departments or agencies to achieve success, to demonstrate what you mean.

Accomplished

Accomplishments on your resume can help you in two ways. Some include it to show a list of their accomplishments, while others, for example, say they're an accomplished software developer. When you don't back it up with evidence, accomplished, like most words, can be meaningless. A hiring manager who reads your resume will have no idea what distinguishes you from the other ten applicants for the same position.

replace with competent or proficient

When used correctly, proficient, skilled, and adept will all work. What you need to think about here is how much influence they have. Yes, accomplishments are necessary for every resume because they demonstrate how valuable you are. However, you must describe how you accomplished the feat in order for it to be genuine.

Your resume will not stand out if you waffle and use weak words. Create a VanHack profile to make your resume as powerful as possible. Create an engaging profile that stands out from the crowd to improve your chances of landing your ideal software engineering position.