RebootForgeResume Words

Resume word review

Is "Utilized" Hurting Your Resume?

Hiring Manager Verdict

I've read 'utilized' on thousands of résumés and it has never once meant anything more than 'used.' It's three syllables doing a one-syllable job, and it makes the writer sound like they're performing intelligence instead of demonstrating it. Say 'used' — or better, say what the tool accomplished.

Tired of rewriting bullet points by hand? Paste your résumé and get a hiring-manager read on it — free.

Try the free Test Drive

What to write instead of "utilized"

Plain and strong

  • used
  • applied
  • employed

Getting value

  • leveraged
  • harnessed
  • drew on

Putting to work

  • deployed
  • adopted
  • implemented

How it reads in a resume bullet

  • ExampleDeployed a new scheduling platform across three locations.
  • ExampleApplied root-cause analysis to recurring equipment failures.

Tired of rewriting bullet points by hand? Paste your résumé and get a hiring-manager read on it — free.

Try the free Test Drive