Dictionary of "Professional" Words

Finding the right words in a professional setting can be difficult, whether on paper or in person. Perhaps these tips can help you feel more comfortable when communicating with other professionals!

General Tips

• When speaking, try to limit your “likes”, “ums”, and “ands”.
• When writing, avoid: contractions, referring to the reader as “you”, and fluff words such as “very” or “really”.
• When referring to your class, say “first year” or “second year” instead of “freshman” or “sophomore”, etc.
• If you can only think of words that aren’t quite professional enough or what you’re looking for, Google search for synonyms. (This helps a lot in resumés if you’re running out of action words)

Picture: Example resumé for first year student distributed by Cheryl Knobloch

Resumés

Resumés are what potential employers look at when considering candidates for a position, whether you met in person or not. Don’t let that intimidate you (we will work on starting one at WEPO)! It can be a great way to set you apart and intrigue your potential employers in you as a person and as a candidate. On the right is an example of a resumé for a first year student.

If you look under this example student’s “Work Experience” section, you’ll notice that each bullet point starts with an action word, mostly verbs. This grabs the reader’s attention and show that you were active in your role.

Here are a few professional words that you can use in your resumé:

• Led (a project…), operated, designed, created, facilitated, produced, implemented, served (as a...), simulated, manufactured, constructed, etc.

Interviews/Networking

Preparing for an interview can be scary. One way to set yourself apart is to have some professional words and phrases ready to go that are specific to your resume. This especially helps if you’re going to describe previous work that you’ve done or a project that you worked on so that you avoid circulating the same three adjectives or nouns. Also, it’s better to find key phrases rather than planning full scripts or paragraphs because they’re easier to remember.

Let’s say that you worked in retail and want to describe what you learned and how the experience helped you grow as a laborer. Here are some examples that could help you articulate your experience:

• I served as a (insert position title) for (company/business name). Through this experience I refined my communication skills and learned to effectively collaborate with people from various backgrounds.
• Example professional words: communicated, acted, performed, volunteered, assisted, tasked, assigned, encouraged.

You may also want to describe a project that you’ve worked on. Here’s (another!) list that can help in this scenario:

• Objective, collaborated, contributed, led, innovated, redesigned, employed, spearheaded, researched, programmed, chaired, participated, designated, delegated, reviewed, revised, ran, obtained, accomplished, achieved, attained.

Your potential employer will understand that you likely don’t have much engineering experience yet, so describing projects that you have worked on or are working on is a wonderful way to connect and show your work ethic!

Don’t be afraid to get creative! You will have plenty of chances to practice along the way! You’re going to have a wonderful time here at Penn State and hopefully these tips can help you on your way to success. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reach out to me at gla5080@psu.edu!

Greta Amidon

Team D Mentor