Don’t “Manage” Too Much
Trite phrases detract from your résumé’s impact.
by Shane Christopher

Joe Torre manages the Dodgers. Your financial advisor manages your retirement money. After a long night on the town, you manage to get out of bed the next morning. Manage, manage, manage, manage, manage … say that five times fast and like most words, it starts to sound foreign and unnecessary.

A senior officer once told me that we manage programs and dollars, but we lead people. He was onto something. Management is important, mundane, and necessary; but uninspiring. Management is a science. Leadership is an art. Science can be replicated. Art is differentiated.

What Do You Manage?
If you’re like most military résumé writers whose work I’ve read, you manage TOO MUCH! One single-page résumé I saw from a military transitioner contained the words “manage” or “manager” 27 times.

Your résumé is your advertisement to get the interview. If you bore the recruiting manager with too many mundane words, your ad simply won’t work. Other trite words to avoid in your résumé include “I,” “personnel” and passive verbs (is, are, go, going … for instance, “I will work …” is better than “I am going to work …”).

Everybody manages, especially in a work setting. And many of those management tasks are important to highlight on your résumé, but replace “managed” with more active, descriptive language, such as “directed” or “supervised” or “demonstrated.”

Also, be sure to include the number of dollars you “managed” and how many people you “led.” Such details help recruiters compare your work experience with open positions in the company and with other people who may be competing for the job. In most cases, you’ve had more responsibility than civilian counterparts of the same age and experience, a testament to your time in the military.