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Action verb finder

The first word of each bullet tells a recruiter what kind of work you did. Find the verb that proves it — or paste a weak bullet and get a stronger opener.

Fix a weak opener — paste a bullet

“Responsible for” — Describes a duty, not what you achieved. Try:

e.g. “Led the company blog.”

Click any verb to copy it.

Leadership

You set direction and people followed.

“Led a team of 6 engineers to ship the new billing system two weeks early.”

Growth & results

Numbers moved because of you.

“Grew organic sign-ups 38% in two quarters by rebuilding the landing pages.”

Efficiency & savings

You made things faster, cheaper or simpler.

“Automated weekly reporting, saving the finance team 6 hours a week.”

Building & creating

Something exists that didn’t before.

“Built an internal analytics dashboard now used daily by 120 people.”

Improving & fixing

You left things better than you found them.

“Overhauled the onboarding flow, lifting 30-day retention from 41% to 55%.”

Analysis & research

Your decisions were based on evidence.

“Analyzed 18 months of churn data and identified the 3 drivers behind 70% of cancellations.”

Communication

You could explain, persuade and align people.

“Negotiated a new supplier contract, cutting unit costs 12% with no change in quality.”

Planning & organization

You kept complex work on track.

“Coordinated a 400-person customer conference on time and 8% under budget.”

Sales & customers

You brought in and kept revenue.

“Closed $1.2M in new annual contracts, 130% of quota, in my first full year.”

Teaching & support

Others got better because of you.

“Trained 25 new support agents, cutting their time to full productivity from 8 to 5 weeks.”

Weak phrases and what to use instead

Instead of	Why	Try
Responsible for	Describes a duty, not what you achieved.	Led, Owned, Managed, Ran, Oversaw
Helped	Hides your contribution.	Contributed, Partnered, Supported, Enabled, Co-led
Assisted with	Undersells your part.	Supported, Coordinated, Prepared, Delivered, Executed
Worked on	Vague — what did you actually do?	Built, Developed, Designed, Delivered, Improved
Participated in	Passive — state your contribution.	Contributed, Collaborated, Presented, Drove, Facilitated
Duties included	Reads like a job description.	Managed, Delivered, Handled, Ran, Executed
Tasked with	Passive — say what you delivered.	Delivered, Led, Completed, Launched, Owned
In charge of	Vague — show the result.	Led, Directed, Headed, Managed, Oversaw
Made	Generic — be specific about how.	Built, Created, Produced, Designed, Crafted
Did	Says nothing about skill or impact.	Executed, Performed, Completed, Conducted, Delivered
Handled	Fine for volume, weak for impact.	Resolved, Managed, Processed, Owned, Streamlined
Used	Tools aren’t achievements — what did they help you do?	Applied, Leveraged, Implemented, Built, Automated

Let the editor catch weak bullets as you type

Every bullet on your résumé is checked for a strong verb, a number and length — with one-click rewrites that keep your facts.

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Guide · 4 min read

How to use action verbs on your résumé

Action verbs are the words that start each bullet on your résumé: Led, Built, Reduced, Negotiated. They matter because recruiters skim. The opening word is often all they read before deciding whether a line is worth finishing.

Why “responsible for” hurts you

“Responsible for the company blog” describes a job description. It tells the reader what you were supposed to do, not what you did or what changed. Compare:

Weak: Responsible for the company blog.
Strong: Relaunched the company blog, growing organic traffic from 8k to 31k monthly visits in a year.

The strong version starts with a verb that shows ownership and ends with a result. That pattern, verb + what you did + result, works for almost every bullet.

Pick the verb for what you want to prove

Different verbs prove different things. Choose deliberately:

To show…	Use verbs like
Leadership	Led, Directed, Mentored, Spearheaded
Growth	Increased, Grew, Doubled, Generated
Savings	Reduced, Cut, Automated, Streamlined
Creation	Built, Launched, Designed, Founded
Rigor	Analyzed, Audited, Modeled, Validated

Rules of thumb

Past tense for past roles, present tense for your current one. “Manage a team of five” (now) vs. “Managed a team of five” (before).
Don’t repeat the same verb more than two or three times on a page. Our length checker spots overused words.
Be honest about your role. If you contributed rather than led, say “Co-led” or “Contributed to”. Interviewers will ask.
Pair the verb with a number whenever you can: time, money, people, percentage, volume.
Mirror the job post. If it says “own the roadmap”, “Owned the roadmap for…” is a better opener than a fancier synonym.

Avoid thesaurus overreach

“Spearheaded” and “orchestrated” are strong once. Five unusual verbs in a row read like a thesaurus. Plain, precise verbs (Built, Cut, Sold, Wrote) are often more convincing. When you’re done, run your bullets through the bullet point checker.

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