50 Buzzwords You Shouldn't Use on Your Resume

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You've written your resume. You poured a lot of effort into the page that will represent you, and you can't wait to distribute it far and wide.
Not so fast. Before you send that puppy out, check it for buzzwords. Like "team player." Or "detail-oriented." Or "accustomed to fast-paced environments."
Here's why you should avoid them: They're vague. They make your resume look like everyone else's. They're probably not among the keywords employers search for. They take up space on your resume that could be used for strong, concrete, specific examples of what you've accomplished, the work you've produced, and how hiring you would benefit your potential employer. Buzzwords are tired and overused, cliches that have lost their meaning over time.
Most importantly, every buzzword is a lost opportunity.
You want your resume to stand out. The best way to sell yourself is to show, don't tell. Explain your accomplishments rather than spouting them off in trite ways.
So check your resume for these boilerplate words and phrases. If you find them, replace them--or at the very least, elaborate upon them--with real-life, specific examples.
1. Team player
2. Detailed-oriented
[See 21 Secrets to Getting the Job.]
3. Proven track record of success
4. Experienced
5. Excellent communication skills
6. Leadership skills
7. Go-to person
8. Managed cross-functional teams
9. Exceptional organizational skills
10. Self-starter
11. Results-oriented professional
12. Bottom-line orientated
13. Works well with customers
14. Strong negotiation skills
15. Goal-oriented
16. People-person
17. Dynamic
[See How to Use a Job Rejection to Your Advantage.]
18. Innovative
19. Proven ability
20. Top-flight
21. Motivated
22. Bottom-line focused
23. Responsible for
24. Assisted with
25. Skilled problem solver
26. Accustomed to fast-paced environments
27. Strong work ethic
28. Works well with all levels of staff
29. Met (or exceeded) expectations
30. Savvy business professional
31. Strong presentation skills
32. Looking for a challenging opportunity
33. Cutting-edge
34. Multi-tasker
35. Proactive
36. Seasoned professional
37. Perfectionist
38. Highly skilled
39. Functioned as
40. Duties included
41. Actions encompassed
42. Best-in-class
43. Strategic thinker
44. Trustworthy
[For more career advice, visit U.S. News Careers.]
45. Flexible
46. Works well under pressure
47. Quick learner
48. Partnered with others
49. Results-focused
50. Out-of-the-box thinker
Finally, here's one more phrase you don't need to include on your resume: "References furnished upon request." It's assumed that you'll offer references if the employer asks, so don't clutter your resume with those unnecessary words.

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Four in 10 say marriage is becoming obsolete

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WASHINGTON – Is marriage becoming obsolete?
As families gather for Thanksgiving this year, nearly one in three American children is living with a parent who is divorced, separated or never-married. More people are accepting the view that wedding bells aren't needed to have a family.
A study by the Pew Research Center, in association with Time magazine, highlights rapidly changing notions of the American family. And the Census Bureau, too, is planning to incorporate broader definitions of family when measuring poverty, a shift caused partly by recent jumps in unmarried couples living together.
About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married, a fivefold increase from 1960, according to the Pew report being released Thursday. Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married.
Indeed, about 39 percent of Americans said marriage was becoming obsolete. And that sentiment follows U.S. census data released in September that showed marriages hit an all-time low of 52 percent for adults 18 and over.
In 1978, just 28 percent believed marriage was becoming obsolete.
[Photos: Secret celebrity weddings]
When asked what constitutes a family, the vast majority of Americans agree that a married couple, with or without children, fits that description. But four of five surveyed pointed also to an unmarried, opposite-sex couple with children or a single parent. Three of 5 people said a same-sex couple with children was a family.
"Marriage is still very important in this country, but it doesn't dominate family life like it used to," said Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University. "Now there are several ways to have a successful family life, and more people accept them."
The broadening views of family are expected to have an impact at Thanksgiving. About nine in 10 Americans say they will share a Thanksgiving meal next week with family, sitting at a table with 12 people on average. About one-fourth of respondents said there will be 20 or more family members.
"More Americans are living in these new families, so it seems safe to assume that there will be more of them around the Thanksgiving dinner table," said Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center.
The changing views of family are being driven largely by young adults 18-29, who are more likely than older generations to have an unmarried or divorced parent or have friends who do. Young adults also tend to have more liberal attitudes when it comes to spousal roles and living together before marriage, the survey found.
[Related: Sudden celebrity splits]
But economic factors, too, are playing a role. The Census Bureau recently reported that opposite-sex unmarried couples living together jumped 13 percent this year to 7.5 million. It was a sharp one-year increase that analysts largely attributed to people unwilling to make long-term marriage commitments in the face of persistent unemployment.
Beginning next year, the Census Bureau will publish new, supplemental poverty figures that move away from the traditional concept of family as a husband and wife with two children. It will broaden the definition to include unmarried couples, such as same-sex partners, as well as foster children who are not related by blood or adoption.
Officials say such a move will reduce the number of families and children who are considered poor based on the new supplemental measure, which will be used as a guide for federal and state agencies to set anti-poverty policies. That's because two unmarried partners who live together with children and work are currently not counted by census as a single "family" with higher pooled incomes, but are officially defined as two separate units — one being a single parent and child, the other a single person — who aren't sharing household resources.
"People are rethinking what family means," Cherlin said. "Given the growth, I think we need to accept cohabitation relationships as a basis for some of the fringe benefits offered to families, such as health insurance."
Still, the study indicates that marriage isn't going to disappear anytime soon. Despite a growing view that marriage may not be necessary, 67 percent of Americans were upbeat about the future of marriage and family. That's higher than their optimism for the nation's educational system (50 percent), economy (46 percent) or its morals and ethics (41 percent).
And about half of all currently unmarried adults, 46 percent, say they want to get married. Among those unmarried who are living with a partner, the share rises to 64 percent.
Other findings:
_About 34 percent of Americans called the growing variety of family living arrangements good for society, while 32 percent said it didn't make a difference and 29 percent said it was troubling.
_About 44 percent of people say they have lived with a partner without being married; for 30-to-49-year-olds, that share rose to 57 percent. In most cases, those couples said they considered cohabitation as a step toward marriage.
_About 62 percent say that the best marriage is one where the husband and wife both work and both take care of the household and children. That's up from 48 percent who held that view in 1977.
The Pew study was based on interviews with 2,691 adults by cell phone or landline from Oct. 1-21. The survey has a total margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, larger for subgroups. Pew also analyzed 2008 census data, and used surveys conducted by Time magazine to identify trends from earlier decades.

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'Harry Potter' Stars (Jokingly) Dis 'Twilight' While Speaking 'American'

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It's almost time for hardcore "Harry Potter" fans to break out the costumes! The next-to-last flick in the wizard series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1" hits theaters Thursday at midnight.
Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe smile for the cameras at the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1" in London. Dave Hogan/Getty Images
Photos: Stars of 'Harry Potter' on the Red Carpet
Gear up for the big event by watching a funny new clip from MTV that shows stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Tom Felton dropping their British accents to talk like they're from the United States. The four attempt to say very American phrases that we all, um, frequently toss around here, such as "Can I get an order of mozzarella sticks, please?" and "Justin Bieber is the man." At one point, they're even asked to -- gasp! -- dis "Twilight." Daniel apologized to his pal (and former "Harry Potter" cast member) RPattz before repeating it, and poor Emma was so surprised that she couldn't even utter the words.
Why Isn't There a 3-D Version of 'Potter?'
All of this is very entertaining, but it begs the question of which is the more beloved book-turned-movie franchise. My vote goes to "Harry Potter," mostly because I get nostalgic about having seen the kids grow up onscreen. Plus, Hogwarts Academy is so much more magical than Forks, Washington. But I know there are plenty of Twi-hards out there ready to cast a vote for the vampires ... and werewolf Taylor Lautner!

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First glimpse of a planet from another galaxy

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WASHINGTON (AFP) – A hot, gaseous and fast-spinning planet has been found orbiting a dying star on the edge of the Milky Way, in the first such discovery of a planet from outside our galaxy, scientists said Thursday.
Slightly larger than the size of Jupiter, the largest in our solar system, the newly discovered exoplanet is orbiting a star 2,000 light years from Earth that has found its way into the Milky Way.
The pair are believed to be part of the Helmi stream, a group of stars that remains after its mini-galaxy was devoured by the Milky Way some six to nine billion years ago, said the study in Science Express.
"This discovery is very exciting," said Rainer Klement of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
"Because of the great distances involved, there are no confirmed detections of planets in other galaxies. But this cosmic merger has brought an extragalactic planet within our reach."
Astronomers were able to locate the planet, coined HIP 13044 b, by focusing on the "tiny telltale wobbles of the star caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting companion," the study said.
They used a powerful telescope owned by the European Southern Laboratory at La Silla Observatory in Chile, located at an altitude of 2,400 meters (7,800 feet) some 600 kilometers (375 miles) north of the capital, Santiago.
The planet is quite close to the star it is orbiting, and survived a phase in which its host star went through a massive growth after it depleted its core hydrogen fuel supply, a phase known as the "red giant" stage of stellar evolution.
"This discovery is particularly intriguing when we consider the distant future of our own planetary system, as the Sun is also expected to become a red giant in about five billion years," said lead researcher Johny Setiawan of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
The exoplanet is likely to be quite hot because it is orbiting so close to its star, completing each orbit in just over 16 days, and is probably near the end of its life, astronomers said.
The star may have already swallowed other planets in its orbit, making the star spin more quickly and meaning that time is running out for the surviving exoplanet.
Astronomers were mystified as to how the planet might have formed, since the star contained few elements heavier than hydrogen and helium and planets typically form out of a complex cloud of spinning space rubble.
"It is a puzzle for the widely accepted model of planet formation to explain how such a star, which contains hardly any heavy elements at all, could have formed a planet," said Setiawan.
"Planets around stars like this must probably form in a different way."

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Wuz he robbed?: Bruce Bochy and the NL manager of the year

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Congratulations are in order for Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins and Bud Black of the San Diego Padres as both were named manager of the year in their respective leagues on Wednesday.
As has already been noted elsewhere, the manager of the year is basically an award given to the managers of the winning teams that writers looked down upon at the beginning of the season.  
But even considering that paradigm, Gardenhire and Black were deserving winners. The former finally broke his Susan Lucci-type streak by guiding a Justin Morneau(notes)- and Joe Nathan(notes)-less team to 94 victories and another AL Central title while the latter led a group of youngsters to a spot where they missed a tiebreaker by one game in the standings. They'll each receive a nice trophy that they'll have to remind people in future years that they won. No biggie.
But even with the award's vague nature acknowledged, I'm not so sure it shouldn't have gone to San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who finished behind both Black and Cincinnati Reds skipper Dusty Baker in the voting. (Black and Baker were separated by only one point, by the way — 104-103 — while Bochy garnered only 30 points.)
Admittedly, that's some tricky hindsight to claim. The voting was done at the end of the regular season, long before Bochy ever led the Giants to their first World Series title in San Francisco and before Dusty Baker and his Reds got bounced in three straight games by the Philadelphia Phillies.
But it's a vote that would have even made sense the first week of October. Bochy's lineup on the final day of the season was nowhere close to the one he started with on opening day; he managed the team to 28 one-run wins and his team ran down Black's when it trailed the Padres by 6.5 games on Aug. 25.
Also, it's not as if the Giants were prohibitive favorites in the NL West before the start of the season. If memory serves me right, most had them finishing behind Colorado and Los Angeles. So there was some of that "overcoming expectations" element that voters seem to like. 
None of it really matters in the long run, of course — I'm guessing everyone's just glad to be in the discussion since it means more job security — but I'm wondering if anyone else out there thinks that Bochy should have finished closer to Black and Baker's standing, if not ahead of them outright.

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Idaho scientists find new seismic fault in Rockies

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SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – Scientists at Idaho State University have mapped a previously unknown and active seismic fault in the northern Rockies capable of unleashing an earthquake with a magnitude as high as 7.5.
The newly discovered fault in central Idaho does not lie in a densely populated area.
But Glenn Thackray, chairman of the university's geosciences department, said the 40-mile-long fracture in the Earth's crust at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains near the tiny mountain town of Stanley is cause for some concern.
"There's a chance in the next few decades there will be an earthquake on this fault, and if it does happen it will be a rather large earthquake," he said.
A 7.5 tremor is considered a major earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage.
[Related: Decade's most haunting earthquakes]
Such a temblor would be most keenly felt at an epicenter near Stanley, home to about 100 year-round residents, with moderate shaking expected to extend from the resort community of Sun Valley to the capital city of Boise, Thackray said.
Scientists located the fault with a remote sensing technique that relies on laser-equipped airplanes. They were able to gather data about its history by analyzing sediment cores lifted from Redfish Lake, a mountain lake on the fault line famous for its historic sockeye salmon runs.
Thackray said researchers believe the fault triggered two earthquakes over the past 10,000 years, one some 7,000 years ago and another 4,000 years ago, suggesting significant seismic activity occurs at the site every several thousand years.
"Predicting when a fault might rupture is a real uncertainty of science," he said. "The problems with earthquakes and faults are they don't follow reliable patterns."
Given the findings, it may be prudent for towns like Stanley to revamp building codes and emergency preparedness plans, Thackray said.
A fault at Idaho's tallest mountain caused a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in 1983. The Borah Peak earthquake killed two children when a storefront collapsed in the central Idaho town of Challis and damaged buildings within a 50-mile radius. Other active faults in central Idaho lie in the Beaverhead, Lemhi and Lost River mountain ranges.
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

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BYU apologizes for disrespectful post-game scoreboard message

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One of college basketball's most underrated in-state rivalries became a little more hostile Wednesday night after a student employee put up a boastful message on the post-game scoreboard.
As fans filed out of the Marriott Center following BYU's hard-fought 78-72* victory over visiting Utah State, a message flashed on the scoreboard that read "Dear UT St., Enjoy The LOSS ♥ Your Big Brother BYU." BYU issued the following statement on Thursday apologizing for the scoreboard message and insisting that the student acted without the knowledge of anyone from the Cougars athletic department.

As a university, we apologize for the inappropriate message that was briefly posted on the BYU scoreboard at the end of the Utah State-BYU men's basketball game. BYU's athletic director Tom Holmoe also has apologized to Utah State's athletic director, Scott Barnes. As Tom explained to him, the university is extremely sorry for this message, which does not reflect the sentiment of BYU Athletics or the university.
Athletics does not operate the scoreboard in the Marriott Center; instead, this is handled by the university's IT department. In this incident, the usual person was not at work because of a family emergency. The student employee filling in took the liberty of putting up what he thought was a humorous message. This matter has been addressed with the student, who regrets his action.

Part of the reason the unnamed BYU student may have taken so much pleasure in defeating Utah State is because the Aggies have enjoyed the upper hand in the rivalry recently. Utah State defeated the Cougars in their lone hoops meeting last season and ended a 10-game losing streak to BYU in football on Sept. 29 with a 31-16 upset.
[Rewind: Billboard zinger targets controversial player] 
The scoreboard message is the second controversy to emerge from this latest Utah State-BYU matchup alone. Aggies fans were already irate at a dubious intentional foul called in the final two minutes on Tai Wesley that fouled Utah State's star big man out of the game and swung momentum in favor of the Cougars.
While anger over that foul call is understandable, any outrage at the scoreboard message is overreaction at its worst. This wasn't anything malicious. It was exactly the sort of lighthearted prank that makes college rivalries fun.

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