Interviewer: Thanks for coming in to see me today.

Sparky: No probs.

Interviewer: I see on your resume that you are started studying English when you were only 2.

Sparky: Yeah, I was a good learner.

Interviewer: Do you have any sales experience?

Sparky: I increased the sales of bacon at my local grocery store.

Interviewer: Can you elaborate on that a bit?

Sparky: Yes, I told my owner to buy me more bacon.

Interviewer: I see. Well, thanks for coming. Don't call us, we'll call you.

(NOTE: Sparky is not speaking in the best way for an interview.)

Are you job-hunting? Do you know how to write a resume? It can be difficult to choose what are the best words to use when writing a resume to get a job. Today, we are going to go over a few power words that can get the attention of your employer.

Power words, what are they?

There are certain words in English that sound more powerful than 'everyday' words. They make something sound more powerful than ordinary. Advertisements are usually full of power words. For example,

Discover the secrets of beautiful skin.

Lose weight fast and easy.
Get results now!

You probably think “Why do I need power words?” Well, because on a resume and in a job interview you are advertising yourself. It's important to give yourself the best possible chance to get the job. To do that, you need to advertise all of your skills well.

This may sound a little difficult at first, but once you get some practice you'll get better fast. Let's look at few examples of some power words you can use on your resume or in an interview.

Multiples

If you are in an industry that has a lot of figures (e.g. sales numbers, number of customers, return on investment) you can use multiples to really pack a powerful punch. For example,

I increased sales from $10,000/month to $20,000/month.

The above sentence looks pretty boring. Let's change it!

I doubled monthly sales.

This sentence says the same thing, but it is more dynamic and powerful sounding.

You can use 'multiple' verbs like 'to double', 'to triple', and 'to increase smth by # times'.

Fractions

You can also use fractions for the same effect. If you want to show that you reduced or decreased a number you can use 'fraction' verbs. For example,

I halved costs. (I reduced costs by 50%.)

I reduced waste by two-thirds. (I reduced waste by 67%.)
I cut expenses in half. (I reduced expenses by 50%.)

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short quiz.

Choose the most dynamic and powerful sentence.

1) A) I increased our client base from 250 customers to 750 customers.

B) I grew the client base by 200%

C) I tripled our client base.

2) A) I reduced the electric bill by 33%.

B) I decreased the electric bill from $1000 to $650

C) I cut the electric bill by a third.

3) A) I increased the traffic to the site by 5 times.

B) I boosted traffic by 400%

C) I increased the traffic from 10 visitors to 50 visitors.

Answers

1) – C) sounds the most powerful, but B) is also OK.

2) – C) sounds the most powerful, but A) is also OK.

3) – B) sound the most powerful, but A) is also OK.

That's it for this week. Did you find this article useful? I'd love to hear about it. Would you like to read more articles about power words or business English? Please let me know in the comments below.