Trite, Hollow and Nonsensical Things To Take Out of Your Resume

A collection of weird statements from real resumes

Reviewing resumes can be a bit depressing. All the generic advice about perfect resumes, SEO optimization, and getting past the ATS algorithms, along with the rise of ChatGPT, resulted in thousands of resumes that all look and sound the same.

When reading one of those, you can’t help but ask: “Is anything in there true?”

When I screen resumes, I look for statements that sound authentic and realistic. Specific examples, named projects, and details about project-related activities give me more information than adverbs and adjectives like quality, exceptional, successful, proficient, consistently, effectively and timely.

This article includes some gems from my collection of weird, insincere and completely unbelievable resume statements.

Don’t do it on your resume — instead, imagine that you have to explain every sentence in an interview.

Try speaking to each bullet while looking at yourself in the mirror. If you feel silly or pompous, then the person reading your resume will feel the same.

Instead, include skills and accomplishments that you can speak to and explain with specific examples. I’ve included…