If you have experience in leading and mentoring, opt for collaborative verbs that show how you inspire and bring out the best in others. Your ability to nurture others and encourage their growth is a great strength to possess, and will likely make a strong impression on a hiring manager.

Verbs such as “coached” and “taught” show how you led others to achieve the concrete results that you discuss in the bullet points.

Action Verbs To Show Your Leadership Experience:

We've compiled a lot more action verbs by job titles below.

How To Use Action Verbs On Your Resume

To show you how to use these action verbs in your resume, see this infographic for reference. You'll note that each bullet point uses strong action verbs, with a specific description of the task that was accomplished.

Action Verbs For Program Manager Roles

Action verbs are powerful tools at your disposal to demonstrate the significant impacts you had at your previous roles. Your program manager resume should utilize strong action verbs to support and emphasize your accomplishments. Here is a list of action verbs used in excellent program manager resumes.

It is important to make sure not to repeat the same action verb more than twice if you can help it on your resume. The more that you use it, the less impact that the verb has on the reader since you’re just describing the same skill set. For example, if you saw “Researched market shares to increase effectiveness by 15% over one year” and “Researched strategic methods to facilitate meetings, boosting productivity by 60%” on the same resume, it sounds less impressive the second time.

Being creative with your action verbs while keeping them relevant to your program manager resume is key.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Program Manager Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For C-Level and Executive Roles

C-level executives need drive and vision. Your accomplishments should show you as the driving force of change, progress, and results, which means you need to structure your bullet points proactively. The best way to do this is to start each bullet point with a strong action verb.

For each accomplishment, decide what skill you’re trying to emphasize, and choose your action verb accordingly. Are you applying for a role at a company that needs a new strategy to turn around a floundering quarter? Start with verbs like “spearheaded” or “reorganized.” Is the company looking at a major period of expansion? Try “developed,” “expanded,” and “launched” to highlight times you were at the forefront of growth.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full C-Level and Executive Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For Project Manager Roles

The best project manager resumes discuss specific accomplishments using strong action verbs. Strong verbs convey your role in your achievements; in any resume bullet point, we recommend pairing an action verb with the quantifiable result you achieved to show the impact of what you did.

Project managers may have a diverse set of skills to draw upon, and there are a huge number of verbs you could choose to describe what you’re good at. We have an entire article devoted to action verbs to use in resumes -- in particular, project managers may want to pursue the ones in the accomplishment-driven, communication, management-related, leadership, and problem-solving sections.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Project Manager Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For Operations Manager Roles

When you’re applying to become an operations manager, you should always start your bullet points with precise and powerful verbs that tell hiring managers what you accomplished in your prior work experiences.

Operations managers do need a range of skills for their jobs, but as upper-level managers, they especially need to display leadership and management capabilities. Although there are many possible action verbs they could choose from, aspiring operations managers may want to pay special attention to the Executive and Management verbs.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Operations Manager Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For Creative Director Roles

Every bullet point should start with a strong action verb to highlight your role in every accomplishment. Especially for a high-level and experienced role like a creative director, you’ll want to use powerful verbs like “directed,” “initiated,” “budgeted,” and more. The role requires plenty of project management experience, budgeting experience, and overseeing cross-departmental teams in order to create a cohesive and well-oiled machine to bring the company’s marketing ideas to life. If you use more bland verbs such as “made” or “did,” you're downplaying your achievements in your experience to sound only like the essentials of what the job required.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Creative Director Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For Vice President of Operations Roles

If you want to boost your vice president of operations resume, try using bullet points when mentioning your achievements or responsibilities in the work experience section. You can start each bullet point with a strong action verb that accurately describes your duties. This will not only help you improve your readability but also make you seem more accountable. 

Each action verb should be highly related to your work, so you should stay away from vague and less descriptive words. Instead, check out the action verbs we’ve chosen for a vice president of operations resume. This way, you will enrich the vocabulary in your resume.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Vice President of Operations Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For IT Manager Roles

IT managers must have deep technical knowledge of a company’s electronic needs while also possessing leadership and operational savvy to successfully develop the company’s information technology network. It’s important to stress these skills through your action verbs -- for example, use words like “led” and “strategized” to emphasize your leadership skills.

As you’re choosing action verbs for your IT Manager resume, try not to use generic verbs -- they can hurt rather than help your resume. Use strong and powerful verbs that can create an image in your mind about the great work you did.

Tip: to quickly get a list of more powerful action verbs, read through various relevant job descriptions to see what kind of action verbs companies tend to use when they’re looking to hire IT Managers in your industry.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full IT Manager Resume Guide.

Action Verbs For Project Coordinator Roles

On your resume, you should always lead into your past accomplishments with strong, clear action verbs. The best verbs are the ones that most accurately depict what you accomplished and how you went about doing it.

As an aspiring project coordinator, you should choose specific verbs that speak to the core skills of the job -- namely, your organizational, planning, leadership, and communication skills. Did you execute projects flawlessly in past jobs? Did you facilitate meetings or resolve problems effectively? Choosing strong verbs to talk about your accomplishments can positively influence hiring managers’ professional opinion of you -- and make you more likely to get an interview.

If you need some inspiration, here is a list of project coordination-related verbs to get you started.

Relevant Examples Using Action Verbs

If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Project Coordinator Resume Guide.

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