You have to get rid of it. The word “led” is a surefire way to identify yourself as an amateur with no real demonstrated leadership potential. That goes double if you are using the word “Lead.”
If the word “Lead” is on your resume it's because you are committing one of these two no-nos:
Starting your bullets with the word “led” makes you seem generic and unimaginative at best and pandering and pretentious at worst. Very unleaderly indeed. I recommend you remove this word from your vocabulary entirely.
Here's why. The verb “led” is devoid of meaning. It is vague and unclear and therefore boring and irritating to the reader.
I could go on, but you get the idea. It could be any of these!!! Don’t you think that recruiter wants to know which????
The verb “led” is too imprecise. For your resume to rock, you need to choose powerful, vivid, specific verbs that fully capture the essence of what you did.
In particular, you need to look for the places where you took initiative, innovated, generated, designed, or started something. Where you were truly in a leadership position. The places where your contribution added something beyond the status quo. If you look for those places where your work added something new to the equation, no matter how insignificant that contribution might seem, THEN you will be showing the reader that you are a true leader and not just relying on lazy buzzwords.
Those verbs are too passive and imprecise.
These are true leader verbs – ones that describe the actions of a leader. If you can accurately capture your actions using one or more of these verbs, then you’re demonstrating real leadership alright.
Strive to choose powerful vivid verbs for your resume. You will be helping the reader understand the exact kind of results-producing leader you are.
Download one of our free resume templates below. Since the most recent experience should come first so that it’s easy for the reader to follow chronologically, click on the appropriate image below to download your resume template.
Feel free to take these templates and use them to build your own perfect resume. And if you haven’t already, please check out the Resume Protocol.
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