Resume Keywords vs Buzzwords — Say Less, Signal More
Sunday night, Ravi replaced half his resume with power words—“dynamic,” “results-driven,” “synergy.”
Monday morning, the ATS said 88/100. Wednesday, the inbox stayed quiet. By Friday, he rewrote one bullet:
“Cut onboarding time by 34% by standardizing runbooks and automating Slack hand-offs.”
The score dropped to 76. The callbacks started. This page explains why fewer, truer words win—and how to choose them.
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The Psychology: Why Buzzwords Feel Safe (and Fail)
Buzzwords soothe anxiety. They signal “I belong” without saying what you did. But recruiters skim for defendable claims:
outcomes, constraints, and context. ATS may boost keyword density, but humans down-rank vagueness. The trick is balance—
use the right keywords, in the right places, grounded in proof.
Buzzwordy: “Results-driven leader with strong communication skills.”
Keyworded with proof: “Led 6 PMs; launched self-serve onboarding → cut activation time 34% (N=2.1k users).”
Keywords that Carry Weight
Keywords aren’t decorations—they’re handles that ATS and recruiters grab. Prioritize phrases the JD uses for
responsibilities and outcomes, not only tools. Mirror phrasing where accurate. Then anchor each keyword to
a measurable change.
- Responsibility keywords: stakeholder management, incident response, roadmap ownership, funnel analysis
- Outcome keywords: reduce churn, improve activation, cut cycle time, increase NPS
- Constraint keywords: GDPR, SLO/SLA, SOC2, budget limits, legacy migration
Rule of thumb: If you can’t attach a number, a boundary, or a before/after, it’s probably a buzzword.
Replace, Don’t Add (A 15-Minute Sweep)
- Open one JD. Highlight 8–10 phrases that truly describe the role.
- Find 5 bullets in your resume that feel generic. Replace vague words with the JD’s phrasing—only where true.
- Attach one metric, time frame, or constraint to each bullet.
- Remove adjectives that don’t earn their keep (“passionate,” “ninja,” “visionary”).
- Run a check in the Resume Scanner and fix any parsing risks.
Before: “Owned onboarding and worked with stakeholders to drive outcomes.”
After: “Owned self-serve onboarding; partnered CS+Eng; cut TTV from 9→6 days (Q2).”
Make ATS Your Ally (Without Chasing the Score)
ATS boosts rank when phrasing matches the JD and sections are easy to parse. But inflated scores from keyword dumps
backfire later. Aim for a clean baseline and strong proof. If you need a sanity line, ~70% is plenty. Then ship.
Learn what’s blocking you in why resumes get rejected by ATS and compare tools in
ATS resume scanners compared.
Five Buzzwords to Delete This Week (and What to Use Instead)
- “Results-driven” → name the result: “Reduced churn 3.8 pts YoY.”
- “Synergy” → describe the mechanism: “CS+Eng weekly triage; cut P1 response 27%.”
- “Go-getter” → show initiative: “Proposed release calendar; prevented 2 hotfixes/mo.”
- “Innovative” → show novelty: “Introduced canary deploys; rollback time 45→7 min.”
- “Excellent communication” → show stakes: “Ran exec briefings; unblocked $480k upsell.”
Ship Proof, Calmly (A One-Week Plan)
- Day 1: Pick one lane (e.g., Product Ops, Analytics Eng). Close other tabs. Decide.
- Day 2: Rewrite 4 bullets with responsibilities + outcomes. Mirror true JD phrases.
- Day 3: Convert resume to single column; remove icons/tables.
- Day 4: Run an ATS baseline. Fix top 3 issues.
- Day 5: Publish a micro artifact (teardown, deck, repo) that showcases one outcome.
- Day 6–7: Apply to 6 aligned roles. Track callbacks. Adjust keywords, not your identity.
FAQ
- Should I list every tool I’ve touched?
- No. Group tools by function and prioritize the ones your target JD uses. Depth beats laundry lists.
- My role wasn’t measured. How do I add numbers?
- Use directional metrics (≈, range, before/after times) and credible proxies (volume handled, cycle time, uptime).
- What if I’m changing lanes?
- Mirror the new lane’s language in the summary and skills, then prove adjacency with one artifact and 2–3 bullets.
Scan and upgrade your bullets →
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