Recently, I was asked to upgrade the resume for a health industry executive. His current resume stated that he was used to coping with a “dearth” of government health regulations. Unfortunately, “dearth” means scarcity and it was clear that what this applicant meant was just the opposite: he dealt with a vast quantity of regulations.
You have to be careful about using words in your resume that are not part of your daily vocabulary. It is too easy to think you know what they mean and make a mistake.
Another problem is that many words sound similar but have very different meanings, like “differing” and “different” or “affected” and “effected” or “principle” and “principal.”
A third problem related to resume language is that it is easy to get carried away with a sentence and lose sight of your point. One safety manager claimed that he “increased budget management, cost control, quality standards and onsite incidents”—surely, a safety manager would increase safety standards and decrease onsite incidents. But he forgot to check the list of his achievements to make sure they all related properly to the verb “increased.”
As a professional resume writer, I am always improving my vocabulary and writing skills to make sure that the statements I made about you are the ones that you want to make and that your achievements and skills are communicated in the clearest way possible. If you are not quite sure of your resume language, send me an email.