Study reveals the most overused and misspelled words on resumes in 2022

Language skills are vitally important to any resume and can often be the difference between getting hired and your paperwork falling to the bottom of the pile.

In a mission to help job hunters improve the language used on their resumes, Preply has analyzed Indeed’s CV database to reveal the most frequently used words featured in resumes in the last six months in the US.

To do this, the online language learning platform created a seed list of over 150 American English words and phrases commonly used by job hunters in their applications. Each word from the list was searched on Indeed’s CV database to discover the number of resumes where it had been featured.

Alongside this, Preply, also analyzed Google Search volumes to investigate which of the 150 words job hunters in America have the most difficulty spelling to help raise awareness of common mistakes to avoid.

The top 20 words most frequently used by US job hunters on their resumes in 2022

Preply’s research can reveal the top 20 most commonly used words job hunters use to describe themselves in their resumes.

According to Preply’s research, ‘Responsible’ is the most commonly used word in the last six months being featured on 5.3 million resumes.

‘Organized’ and ‘Social’ follow in second and third place on the list, being included in 3.7 million and 3.3 million resumes respectively in the last six months.

Job hunters are keen to show their personable side, with references to ‘friendly’ and ‘Outgoing’ traits featuring on 1.6 million and 860 thousand resumes respectively.

Despite not ranking among the top 20, over 4 thousand job hunters referenced themselves as a ‘Rockstar’ and the same amount stated having a ‘good sense of humor’. Alongside this, over 1 thousand candidates have described themselves as ‘Best of breed’ on their resume in the last six months.

Other popular buzzwords used to describe achievements and responsibilities in the last six months include:

• ‘Maintained’ (4,745,513 resumes)

• ‘Managed’ (4,187,669 resumes)

• ‘Completed’ (2,671,994 resumes)

• ‘Leader’ (2,349,213 resumes)

The 15 most commonly misspelled words on resumes in America

Preply’s research reveals the top 15 words American job hunters have the most difficulty spelling on their resumes when describing themselves and their achievements or responsibilities.

According to Preply’s research, ‘Experienced’ was the word causing the most problems for job seekers writing their CVs in American English with over 1.6 thousand people searching for the correct spelling on Google each month in the US.

‘Successful’ and ‘Professional’ also proved difficult for candidates due to their repeated letters, with nearly 1 thousand searches for each of the terms every month.

Words with American to English variations such as ‘Counseled’ and ‘Judgment’  also proved confusing for candidates and both received over 880 searches each month from people looking for spelling help.

On average, over 320 people search how to spell ‘fun’ each month in the US – a word that has been used on 448 thousand CVs in the last six months.

Expert shares six top tips for improving the language on your CV

Yolanda del Peso, Marketing Specialist at Preply shares her top tips on how to improve the language used on your CV to make your application stand out.

1. Start your sentences with action verbs

Front-load your sentences so the most important piece of information is at the start and is introduced using a dynamic verb. For example, “answered customer complaints” might become “managed customer complaints”.

2. Omit personal pronouns

Avoid the use of “I” and “we” to make your resume sound more scientific and factual. For example, “I lectured every week to a cohort” might become “Lectured weekly to a 30-strong student cohort”.

3. Use the language of the job description

Adapt your resume for every job role and try to incorporate specific words and phrases from the job advertisement you are applying for the best chance of success.

4. Give specific evidence of your skills and achievements

To back up your claims give clear, specific, and relevant evidence. Where possible try to quantify achievements. For example, change “Developed a large Twitter presence” to “Grew Twitter account by 3k followers in Q2”.

5. Avoid unnecessary adjectives

Keep it simple and try not to use unnecessary adjectives or adverbs. For example, “skillfully negotiated contracts” would become “negotiated contracts”.

6. Thoroughly check for spelling and grammar errors

Formatting and grammatical errors can be the difference between success and failure. Make sure you check your resume at least twice, and if possible ask someone else to review it before you submit it.