19 Powerful Keywords for Your Life Sciences Resume to Indicate Leadership

It’s an often-cited statistic in the job recruitment world: hiring managers typically spend an average of six seconds scanning each resume before deciding whether to discard it or move it along for further review.

This means they’re not pouring over every single carefully chosen word or well-crafted sentence you’re likely spent hour polishing.

Hiring managers are often looking for powerful keywords that align with the job description for the role you’re applying to and indicate that you have the most important skills the position requires. These keywords are also important for getting your resume past “applicant tracking systems” that sort through resumes looking for relevant words, phrases, and terms before they even make it to a live human reader.

If you’re applying to any type of leadership position or if you have past leadership experience, you’ll probably have the word “manage” show up several times throughout your resume, CV, or cover letter. But, “manage” is also one of the most commonly used verbs on resumes to describe past leadership experience, and, as such, you’ll want to take care not to overuse the word.

Instead, consider limiting your use of “manage” on your resume, opting instead for more powerful, descriptive synonyms that more concretely communicate your ability to effectively lead people and projects.

19 Powerful Leadership Keywords to Include on Your Resume

1. Trained
2. Mentored
3. Led
4. Spearheaded
5. Launched
6. Supervised
7. Oversaw
8. Instructed
9. Engineered
10. Presided over
11. Guided
12. Directed
13. Administered
14. Coached
15. Piloted
16. Drove
17. Mobilized
18. Built
19. Organized