One recent study showed that recruiters spend 6.25 seconds looking at a candidate’s CV before deciding whether he or she is fit for a job, so it’s important to get this right.

To help maximize the punch your CV gives in such a short amount of time, CareerBuilder carried out a survey to list terms they consider turn-offs, and to offer advice about the words that make them view a candidate favourably.

The message: Don’t include sweeping terms of self-praise, like “team player,” “go-getter” and “self-motivated.” Rather describe your accomplishments specifically with words like “improved,” “created” and “increased” and a specific explanation of exactly what you did, including numbers whenever possible.

For instance, instead of saying you added value to your sales team by your dynamic, results-driven efforts to proactively boost sales, say you improved every monthly sales target in the last six months by 40%. In other words, instead of saying you are results-driven; show the results you’ve achieved.

Here are the worst words to use on your CV:

Best of breed
Go-getter
Think outside of the box
Synergy
Go-to person
Thought leadership
Value add
Results-driven
Team player
Bottom-line
Hard worker
Strategic thinker
Dynamic
Self-motivate
Detail-oriented
Proactively
Track record

Here are the best words to use on your CV:

Achieved
Improved
Trained/mentored
Managed
Created
Resolved
Volunteered
Influenced
Increased/decreased
Ideas
Negotiated
Launched
Revenue/profits
Under budget
Won

For more CV and career advice why not visit our website www.theworksrec.co.uk