Career Tips

Past or Present Tense Verbs or Both


I am a little confused on this one. I know I need to use action verbs, but can I mix past and present tense verbs? I still work for the company, so for the duties I currently handle do I use present tense verbs (like the first line below)? For items or accomplishments that I have completed already (like the 4th bullet), I need to use past tense verbs, right? Forgive me if this is an ignorant question, but I want to make sure my resume is consistent.  Also, is it OK to mix in "responsible for" statements with the action verb statements? Thanks!  

·         Oversee all of the firm’s marketing activities including event planning, public relations, advertising, direct mail campaigns, web site updates and other

·         Help create budget and create marketing plans to stay within budget

·         Create numerous internal marketing documents including marketing calendar and lead forms

·         Implemented numerous best practices and procedures including new client setup procedures, lead follow-up procedures and event planning and follow-up procedures

·         Coordinated firm’s semi-annual symposiums and doubled attendance within one year

·         Proactively sought out opportunities to market firm including sponsorships and advertising

·         Responsible for selecting and ordering all promotional items

·         Represented the firm at tradeshows, golf sponsorships, Chamber events, career fairs and other

·         Developed strong relationships with outside vendors including printers and local design firm

·         Created new marketing materials for the firm including general and niche handouts

·         Helped firm to receive awards such as becoming one of the Washington Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” and the “2005 Alexandria Professional Service Business of the Year”

...[Message truncated]
You can use words that end in ing that accomplish both.
Hi Jen,

You've created one long bulleted list of your job duties and accomplishments, and what that does is diminish the impact of your excellent accomplishments. The purpose of bullets is to emphasize important points, but bulleting everything doesn't let your accomplishments stand out. You also run into the problem of tense usage with current responsibilities and past accomplishments.

I recommend that you pull your day-to-day duties from your bulleted list and create a short paragraph under the employer's name and your job title. These duties will be in present tense because they are your current responsibilities. You can then create a bulleted list of your strongest accomplishments (preceded by something like, "Key Contributions") -- these will be in past tense because they already happened.

Make sure your duties paragraph is brief so you have more room to focus on accomplishments.

Best wishes,
Kim Isaacs
The Resume Expert

Thanks Kim!

I kind of knew it was a little too long, but did not know any other way to organize everything. I will definitely use your suggestions!

Thanks!

Jen

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