Résumé words · Results and numbers
Another word for “Successfully”
What it is trying to claim: That the thing you are describing worked.
Why it underperforms
It is a free word in the worst sense: nobody lists their failures, so every bullet on the page is already implicitly successful. Saying it out loud draws attention to the possibility of the opposite, and readers sometimes take it as a tell that the success was marginal. Deleting it never weakens a sentence.
Stronger than "Successfully"
Not ranked. Each is right for one situation, and the situation is the column that matters.
| Word | Use it when |
|---|---|
| (delete it) | Almost always. The sentence is stronger without and loses nothing. |
| On time | The success worth naming was schedule. |
| Under budget | The success worth naming was cost. Give the figure. |
| First time | It passed without rework, which is a real claim. |
| With no downtime | For migrations and releases, this is the success that matters. |
A real bullet, fixed
Before
Successfully migrated 200 users to the new platform.
After
Migrated 200 users to the new platform over one weekend with no data loss and two support tickets.
The vague adverb is replaced by the two specific things that would have gone wrong, which is what "successfully" was gesturing at.
When “Successfully” is the right word
Where success was genuinely in doubt and the contrast is the point, and even then the failure rate is the better way to say it.
Common questions
- What can I say instead of "Successfully" on a résumé?
- On time, Under budget, First time, With no downtime. Pick the one that matches what you actually did, then follow it with a number. The vague adverb is replaced by the two specific things that would have gone wrong, which is what "successfully" was gesturing at.
- Is "Successfully" bad on a résumé?
- It is a free word in the worst sense: nobody lists their failures, so every bullet on the page is already implicitly successful. Saying it out loud draws attention to the possibility of the opposite, and readers sometimes take it as a tell that the success was marginal. Deleting it never weakens a sentence.
- When is it fine to use "Successfully"?
- Where success was genuinely in doubt and the contrast is the point, and even then the failure rate is the better way to say it.
Fix these next
- AchievedThat you reached a target.
- DeliveredThat something finished and arrived.
- IncreasedThat a number went up because of something you did.
- GeneratedThat something valuable came into being because of your work.
- Proven track recordThat you have consistently delivered before.
All 72 words are on the résumé words index. For the verbs grouped by what they claim, read résumé power verbs.
After the résumé
Fixing the words is the easy half. The applying is the slow half.
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