The problem isn’t where you think it is.
Some jobseekers I work with become very irritated when they are offered positions that don’t align with their aspirations.
They think that they’ve been pigeonholed because of their past experience, or their training. But that’s a mistake!
Often, the problem lies not in their career path, but rather how they’ve communicated that path in their CV.
Many jobseekers don’t realize that their CV can act as an open book for recruiters, in terms of revealing how the candidate sees themselves.
I already wrote an article on this topic that garnered a lot of attention: 4 Secrets Your CV Reveals About You, Without You Knowing
In this new article, I’ll focus more tightly on a particular aspect of the same topic: what the verbs you use in your CV reveal about you.
The verbs you use act as the ‘engine’ of your CV. They describe the action you take and, by extension, the value you believe you can bring to an employer.
Old tool, new uses
Intuitively, I had this notion in mind already when by chance I stumbled on the taxonomie de Bloom, which I studied when I was getting my bachelor’s degree in the 90s.
It’s important to understand that the taxonomie de Bloom was not intended to help you craft a CV.
It’s a tool that shows different levels of learning, based on their complexity. Regardless, the content it provides can be very helpful for people who want to include persuasive messages in their CV.
Here’s how it works:
The various levels of complexity can be tied to levels in an organization’s hierarchy. For example, at the bottom of the pyramid you typically find tasks that could be accomplished by many people and learned very quickly. The personality of the person doing these tasks has a negligible impact on getting the work done.
For example, a customer service representative must remember the procedures to follow when dealing with clients.
Inversely, at the top of the pyramid we find activities that are more complex and that have a larger impact on the organization. These tasks require a much higher level of competence from those who perform them.
For example, a director general may be called upon to create a new financial model for an organization.
Every level in the hierarchy can be associated to a series of verbs.
|
Remembering Extracting important knowledge from one’s memory in the long term |
Associate, cite, define, duplicate, record, count, label, identify, select, list, localize, memorize, name, remember, recognize, repeat, reproduce, summarize, choose… |
| Understanding
Identifying the significance of information received from multiple sources |
Classify, compare, convert, demonstrate, differentiate, explain with words, illustrate (with examples), explain, express, make an analogy, generalize, interpret, paraphrase, predict, reformulate, represent, summarize… |
| Applying
Executing or using a procedure in a given situation |
Administer, apply, assemble, calculate, categorize, construct, control, discover, show, draw, determine, employ, establish, formulate, furnish, manipulate, measure, put in place, modify, demonstrate, operate, participate, prepare, produce, resolve, treat, find, use… |
| Analyzing
Breaking down the constituent parts of something and determining the links between the parts as well as the overall structure or purpose |
Analyze, target, compare, contrast, critique, cut out, deduce, delimit, differentiate, discriminate, dissect, distinguish, examine, correlate, bring out, infer, limit, prioritize, relate, break down, organize, oppose, question, separate, subdivide… |
| Evaluating
Deliver a judgement based on applicable criteria and norms |
Appreciate, argue, attack, choose, critique, defend, determine, estimate, evaluate, judge, justify, support… |
| Creating
Assemble discrete elements to form something new and coherent, or produce something wholly original |
Adapt, arrange, anticipate, assemble, combine, comment, compose, conceive, connect, construct, create, develop, write, expose, incorporate, integrate, put in place, organize, plan, prepare, produce, propose, edit, structure, synthesize… |
Of course, certain verbs should never be used in a CV – for example, memorize, numerate or even make an analogy.
But many of the verbs listed above can be used in a CV, including identify, represent, administer, analyze, evaluate, plan, and others.
It can be useful to undertake the exercise of spotting the verbs that you use most often and see at which level of the pyramid they are situated.
Most employers don’t use this model to evaluate candidate CV’s. But as they read your CV, there’s a good chance they will subconsciously make links between the verbs you use and what they believe you can bring to the organization.
Here’s a concrete example:
Let’s say you included the following phrase in your CV:
Participated in the implementation of a new rule.
The verb participate belongs to the Applying category. If you are hoping to get a director position and want to add value to your offer, using the verb participate conjures an average level of complexity of task.
In this case, I would be compelled to ask you how you contributed to the project. In other words, if you hadn’t participated, what would the consequence have been for the final result of the project?
For example, imagine the role you played involved putting different steps of the project into place.
In this case it would be preferable to use a verb like structure, which is associated with a higher level of complexity in the pyramid; at the summit, under the Create verb.
The phrase would then be changed to: Structured the implementation of a new rule.
Of course, this exercise can’t be applied to every phrase in your CV. My example is pretty simple. It also isn’t the only method you can use to improve your CV. But it’s a useful method that can help you improve the quality of your CV and the perceived value that employers will take from it.
Thanks to the Pôle de soutien à l’enseignement et à l’apprentissage de l’Université de Genève for allowing me to refer to their tools when writing this article.
Source : https://www.unige.ch/dife/files/3514/5372/9196/Taxonomies-verbes-action_SEA-2015.pdf
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