Among all the hiring related application materials, resumes were, are and will continue to play immensely crucial roles in the hiring process. Statistics say that today, average employers spend only a few seconds looking at resumes, which makes it imperative to make your resume an impressive one. All of us understand the importance of first impressions and when it comes to the hiring process, your resume is your only chance to grab a prospective employer’s attention. In today’s competitive job landscape, you must have a professional resume that mirrors your expertise, so that you can get the best possible chance to capture a prospective employer’s attention. Remember that you only have a couple of seconds to represent all your expertise through your resume, which makes it important to create a resume that’s absolutely error-free. The reason why most of the resumes are tossed into the rejected file is using the wrong words. Here, we’ve jotted down 7 such words that you must not use in your resume.

1. Hard Worker

Anyone can say that they are a hard worker but that doesn’t make the word eligible to be placed as a different heading. Instead, you should provide concrete examples of situations that you’ve handled much more efficiently than others. While it’s true that a company is less likely to hire you if you’re not a hard worker, mentioning that in your resume won’t convince the employer unless you provide solid evidences.

2. “Responsible For”

‘Responsible for’ is a completely superfluous word, much like ‘duties included’. It simply complicates and hides your actual potential. For instance, don’t use something like “I was responsible for handling manpower”. Instead, you should provide the actual details like “trained 30 sales personnel in a week”. Describe yourself concisely, directly and write active verbs to demonstrate your achievements.

3. Team Player

Simply think of it like this – how many jobs are there in the world that allow you to work completely alone? If you get selected, you’ll have to work with someone, at the least. Therefore, using this word won’t make your resume stand out. Rather, you should mention clearly what role you’ve played in your earlier teams and how you saved your organizations’ resources, money and time when working on a tough project or in association with others. Remember that hiring managers want to see your track record to actually understand your capability.

4. “Highly Qualified”

We know that you’re highly qualified but does it really merit a mention to get the job? In reality, it simply leaves a negative impression about you. By using ‘highly qualified,’ you’re actually telling the hiring managers that you’re a little silly. Again, your achievements and work experience should do the talking. The references provided by you are adequate enough to demonstrate your qualification. Therefore, let the hiring managers talk about your qualification while you focus solely on establishing the value you could add to the company, if selected.

5.  Salary Negotiable

On your resume, this word simply shows your desperation for getting the job. Unless you’re specifically asked by your employer to mention your salary requirements, you should avoid using it. Unless stated otherwise, it is commonly understood that it’s negotiable. Additionally, it is considered as a padding sort of thing to fill out your resume. Instead, you should conduct a market research for the post you’ve applied for and keep a specific figure in mind.

6. “Flexible”

Describing you’re flexible is something like being proud of strapping your own shoes. In today’s business world, things change at an unbelievable speed. Technological advancements have started changing our working lives almost on a regular basis. Today if you want to get the job you desire, you need to be adept at flexibility. So, instead of inserting ‘flexible’, mention actual job accomplishments where you have displayed your flexibility. For instance, you can mention when one of your team members quit with a one-day notice, you had to perform his/her duties for several weeks together with your job duties and how that helped your team to work seamlessly.

Always remember that your resume has one and only one goal which is to bring you to the interview board, nothing else. So, go through the job description provided by the employer carefully. It always covers the required skills they are looking for the position. Pick some of the major highlighted attributes and expound on them while writing your resume. Remember that you need to show the actual results to the hiring managers, not your claims of greatness or your appreciable characteristics. So, the more you can demonstrate the actual facts, the better your chances will be for getting the job.

Bezon Karter is senior recruiter at www.xist4.com in UK,also works as a consultant & trainer for top IT companies. He writes about the technology that IT decision makers need to know about, and the latest happenings in the tech scene.  You can follow him on Twitter @benkarter_1