7 Words to Delete from Your Resume - Assisted & Helped
Written by Brenda Bernstein
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"Assisted" & "Helped"
You may be familiar with lists of resume power verbs. On many of these lists you will find the words “Assisted” and “Helped.” Unfortunately, if you rely on lists such as these, you may be sorely deceived. On one more discerning list, “Assisted” and “Helped” are listed under a very specific category: Helping. That is the only place where these verbs belong!
Telling us on your resume that you assisted somebody with something is only as informative as you make it. Honestly, I do not care that you assisted on a film shoot. I want to know that you held a camera or a boom; that you ordered pizza or handled catering orders; or that you troubleshot in emergency situations.
It is essential that you don’t get fooled into thinking that Assisted and Helped are always power verbs. They often just lead to vague and uninteresting bullets.
Compare:
a. Helped artists and network personnel.
b. Accompanied artists to television appearances and mediated between the artists and network personnel.
And compare:
a. Assisted with small claims cases.
b. Handled all phases of collection and litigation of small claims cases. Attended small claims court; directed court clerk and court commissioner regarding what action to take on firm’s cases.
Version b. in both cases is much more interesting and descriptive than version a.
There are limited situations in which it can be appropriate to use the words “Assisted” or “Helped.” For example:
a. Helped disabled adults to perform simple job tasks at their job locations.
b. Assisted elderly residents with their personal and financial recordkeeping.
Note in these last two examples, that although there might be other ways to phrase the bullets, we are not left wondering, “Well, what did you do exactly to help or assist?”
Take a look at your resume. Did you find the words “Helped” or “Assisted”? If so, can you be more specific about what you did? Draw us a picture. We want to know.