Weak Verbs That Kill Your Resume (And What to Use Instead)

The Verb Problem

Your resume fails in the first three words of every bullet. Not because of what you accomplished—because of how you described your role in it.

"Helped improve system performance."

This bullet tells me you were support staff. Someone else owned the work. You just assisted. Even if that is not true, "helped" positions you as subordinate.

I've rejected 50,000 resumes. Weak verbs are one of the fastest filters. They signal low ownership before I even read the metrics.

Here is the truth: The verb you choose sets the ownership level. Weak verbs position you as a passenger. Strong verbs position you as the driver.

For the full methodology on translating experience into proof of value, see our Ultimate Experience Translation Guide.

The 7 Weak Verbs That Kill Resumes

These verbs signal you were present but not accountable. They undercut your accomplishments before you finish the sentence.

1. "Helped"

Why It Fails: "Helped" means someone else led and you supported. It signals you were not the owner.

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

Weak verbs are especially common in soft skills descriptions. "Excellent communicator" and "strong team player" use no verbs at all—just empty adjectives. To translate intangible soft skills like communication and leadership into measurable proof (stakeholder count, meeting cadence, mentorship outcomes), see our Quantifying Soft Skills guide.

Every weak verb on your resume signals subordinate positioning. "Helped" tells recruiters someone else led. "Assisted" explicitly marks you as support. "Worked on" says you touched something but had no ownership. The fix isn't just vocabulary—it's reframing your role to show direct accountability.

The transformation mindset: Upgrading weak verbs is about developing the diagnostic lens to spot weakness and fix it systematically. Every weak verb signals a structural problem: duty language,vague scope, or missing outcomes. The fix isn't just swapping words—it's adding the context and metrics that prove your work mattered. To see 10 comprehensive before/after transformations across roles like Software Engineer, Product Manager, Sales, and Operations, with full diagnostic breakdowns explaining why each change works, see our Resume Before vs After Case Studies.

2. "Assisted"

Why It Fails: Even worse than "helped." "Assisted" explicitly positions you as support, not leadership.

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

3. "Worked On"

Why It Fails: "Worked on" is the weakest ownership signal. It tells me you touched something, but I have no idea what you actually did.

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

4. "Participated In"

Why It Fails: "Participated" means you attended. It says nothing about your contribution or impact.

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

5. "Responsible For"

Why It Fails: "Responsible for" describes your job duties, not your accomplishments. Resumes prove value, not list tasks.

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

6. "Contributed To"

Why It Fails: "Contributed" is vague. It could mean you led the work or you made one minor suggestion.

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

7. "Involved In"

Why It Fails: "Involved" signals you were present, not accountable. It is the resume equivalent of "I was in the room."

Weak Examples:

Strong Replacements:

The 12 Strong Verbs That Prove Ownership

Replace weak verbs with these ownership signals. Match your verb to what you actually did.

Leadership & Direction

Led: Use for team management, project ownership, strategic initiatives.

• "Led 8 engineers to deliver payment platform processing $24M monthly transactions"
• "Led cross-functional initiative spanning 6 departments and 40 stakeholders"

Directed: Use for high-level strategy or multi-team coordination.

• "Directed product roadmap across 4 product lines, aligning 12 teams and $8M budget"
• "Directed go-to-market strategy for enterprise segment, capturing 34% market share"

Drove: Use for initiatives where you were the primary force.

• "Drove adoption of DevOps practices, reducing deployment time from 4 hours to 22 minutes"
• "Drove customer retention from 68% to 91% through redesigned success program"

Creation & Building

Built: Use when you created something from scratch.

• "Built data pipeline processing 600GB daily, reducing analyst query time by 78%"
• "Built customer onboarding system, reducing time-to-first-value from 14 days to 3 days"

Designed: Use for architecture, frameworks, strategies, or processes.

• "Designed microservices architecture supporting 99.97% uptime at 3.2M requests/day"
• "Designed sales enablement program, increasing win rate from 18% to 29%"

Launched: Use for products, features, or initiatives you shipped.

• "Launched mobile app to 50K users in first 60 days, achieving 4.7-star rating"
• "Launched partner program generating $3.2M in incremental revenue within 12 months"

Improvement & Optimization

Optimized: Use when you improved existing systems or processes.

• "Optimized checkout flow, increasing conversion rate by 24% and generating $2.1M in additional revenue"
• "Optimized database queries, reducing average response time by 71% (from 980ms to 280ms)"

Streamlined: Use when you simplified or removed complexity.

• "Streamlined vendor approval process, reducing procurement cycle from 45 days to 12 days"
• "Streamlined codebase by removing 40K lines of legacy code, improving build time by 55%"

Automated: Use when you eliminated manual work.

• "Automated report generation, saving 18 hours/week and reducing errors by 94%"
• "Automated deployment pipeline, enabling 4x daily releases vs. weekly manual deployments"

Growth & Scale

Scaled: Use when you grew capacity, users, or operations.

• "Scaled infrastructure to support 10x traffic growth (500K to 5M requests/day) with 99.95% uptime"
• "Scaled customer success team from 4 to 18 members while maintaining 92% retention rate"

Increased: Use for measurable growth in metrics.

• "Increased organic traffic by 180% (from 80K to 224K monthly visitors) through SEO optimization"
• "Increased team velocity by 44% (from 50 to 72 story points/sprint) by implementing pair programming"

Grew: Use for revenue, user base, or market expansion.

• "Grew MRR from $1.2M to $4.8M (4x) over 18 months through enterprise expansion"
• "Grew email subscriber base from 15K to 180K by launching 8 lead generation campaigns"

Reduction & Efficiency

Reduced: Use for cost, time, error, or waste decreases.

• "Reduced customer support tickets by 38% (from 1,200 to 744/month) by improving product documentation"
• "Reduced infrastructure costs by $680K/year by migrating to containerized architecture"

Cut: Use for dramatic or significant reductions (more aggressive than "reduced").

• "Cut deployment time from 4 hours to 18 minutes, enabling 3x daily release cadence"
• "Cut customer churn by 52% (from 14% to 6.7%) through redesigned retention program"

Eliminated: Use when you removed something completely.

• "Eliminated manual data entry by building automated ingestion pipeline, saving 25 hours/week"
• "Eliminated production hotfixes by implementing comprehensive test coverage, reducing incidents by 89%"

Negotiation & Closing

Negotiated: Use for contracts, deals, or conflict resolution.

• "Negotiated contracts with 12 SaaS vendors, reducing annual spend by $320K while maintaining service levels"
• "Negotiated partnership terms with 6 strategic partners, generating $4.1M in co-sell revenue"

Delivered: Use for completed projects or achieved outcomes.

• "Delivered CRM migration 6 weeks ahead of schedule with zero data loss across 1.2M records"
• "Delivered $2.8M cost reduction through vendor consolidation and process automation"

How to Choose the Right Verb

Match your verb to your actual role and level of ownership.

Your Role	Choose This Verb	Not This
You led the team or project	Led, Directed, Drove	Helped, Assisted, Participated
You created something new	Built, Designed, Launched	Worked on, Contributed to
You improved existing work	Optimized, Streamlined, Automated	Responsible for, Involved in
You grew something	Scaled, Increased, Grew	Assisted with, Helped improve
You reduced costs/time/errors	Reduced, Cut, Eliminated	Worked on reducing
You closed deals or resolved conflicts	Negotiated, Secured, Closed	Participated in, Involved in

Ownership Test:

Ask yourself: "Was I the primary person accountable for this outcome?"

• Yes → Use strong ownership verbs (Led, Built, Delivered)
• Shared ownership → Use collaborative strong verbs (Designed, Launched, Optimized)
• Support role → Reframe to show your specific contribution, then use strong verb: "Built data pipeline that enabled team to..." rather than "Helped team with data"

Before & After Transformations

Example 1: Software Engineer

Before: "Worked on improving system performance and helped the team meet deadlines."

After: "Optimized API response time by 68% (from 1.2s to 380ms), enabling team to deliver project 4 weeks ahead of schedule and support 3x traffic growth."

Example 2: Marketing Manager

Before: "Responsible for managing social media accounts and assisted with content strategy."

After: "Grew Instagram following from 12K to 85K in 10 months, generating 4.2K qualified leads through 15 targeted campaigns and 8 influencer partnerships."

Example 3: Operations Lead

Before: "Participated in warehouse efficiency improvements and contributed to cost reduction initiatives."

After: "Redesigned fulfillment workflow across 95K sq ft facility, reducing order processing time by 41% (2.7 days to 1.6 days) and cutting labor costs by $280K annually."

Example 4: Product Manager

Before: "Involved in product roadmap planning and helped coordinate between engineering and design teams."

After: "Defined product roadmap for 4 features, coordinating 12 engineers and 6 designers to deliver $3.2M in new ARR within 8 months of launch."

Common Verb Mistakes

Mistake 1: Using "Managed" for Everything

"Managed" is overused. Be more specific about what you actually did.

• If you led people → "Led 8 engineers..."
• If you improved a process → "Optimized workflow..."
• If you handled accounts → "Grew 32 accounts..."
• If you oversaw budget → "Allocated $2.3M budget..."

Mistake 2: Repeating the Same Verb

Using "Led" for every bullet signals narrow scope. Vary verbs to show range:

• Led, Built, Launched, Optimized, Negotiated, Delivered

But do not sacrifice accuracy for variety. If you genuinely led 5 different things, use "Led" five times.

Mistake 3: Choosing Impressive-Sounding Verbs That Don't Match Reality

Do not use "Directed" if you were an IC. Do not use "Architected" if you followed someone else's design.

Inflated verbs trigger suspicion. Match your verb to your seniority and actual role.

Mistake 4: Strong Verb, Weak Context

"Led system improvements" is still vague. Strong verbs need strong context and metrics.

"Led" + what? → "Led 6-engineer team" "Led" to do what? → "to migrate 40 services" "Led" with what result? → "reducing costs by $420K/year"

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use passive voice on my resume?

No. Passive voice hides ownership. "The project was delivered on time" does not tell me who delivered it. Use active voice: "Delivered project 2 weeks ahead of schedule."

Should I start every bullet with a verb?

Yes. Bullets should follow the formula: Verb + Context + Metric. Starting with the verb immediately signals ownership.

What if I genuinely was in a support role?

Reframe to show your specific contribution. Instead of "Helped senior engineer," write "Built automated testing suite that enabled team to reduce QA time by 40%."

Can I use "managed" for managing tasks, not people?

Better options exist. "Managed tasks" → "Prioritized," "Coordinated," "Delivered." "Managed project" → "Led," "Delivered," "Coordinated."

How do I avoid repetition without sounding inconsistent?

Use synonyms strategically: "Led" and "Directed" both signal leadership. "Built" and "Designed" both signal creation. Vary within verb families.

What if my accomplishments were truly collaborative?

Use strong verbs that acknowledge collaboration: "Designed with engineering team..." or "Coordinated across 6 departments to..." But avoid "helped" and "assisted."

Final Thoughts

Weak verbs undercut your accomplishments before recruiters read your metrics. They position you as support staff, not the person who drove results.

Replace "helped," "assisted," and "worked on" with verbs that signal direct ownership: Led, Built, Launched, Optimized, Delivered.

Go through your resume. Find every weak verb. Replace it with a strong verb that matches your actual role. Add context. Add metrics.

Your accomplishments deserve verbs that prove you owned them.