Résumé words · Contribution
Another word for “Worked on”
What it is trying to claim: That you were part of a project worth naming.
Why it underperforms
It is true of everyone who was in the room, including the person who attended two meetings. Because it is equally available to the largest and smallest contributor, a reader assumes the smallest. The phrase costs you the credit you actually earned, which makes it uniquely expensive for people whose contribution was real.
Stronger than "Worked on"
Not ranked. Each is right for one situation, and the situation is the column that matters.
| Word | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Built | You made a part of it that did not exist. |
| Rewrote | A component existed and you replaced it. |
| Designed | The decisions about how it would work were yours. |
| Shipped | You took a piece of it all the way to users. |
| Contributed | Your part was genuinely small and you would rather be accurate than inflated. |
| Debugged | The work was finding out why something did not work. |
A real bullet, fixed
Before
Worked on the checkout redesign.
After
Built the address-validation step of the checkout redesign, which cut failed deliveries from 3.1% to 0.9% of orders.
Naming your specific piece is what converts a team accomplishment into a personal one, and it is more credible than claiming the whole redesign.
When “Worked on” is the right word
In a cover letter or a conversation, where "I worked on the payments rewrite" is natural speech and the detail follows immediately. On a résumé bullet there is no follow-up sentence to rescue it.
Common questions
- What can I say instead of "Worked on" on a résumé?
- Built, Rewrote, Designed, Shipped. Pick the one that matches what you actually did, then follow it with a number. Naming your specific piece is what converts a team accomplishment into a personal one, and it is more credible than claiming the whole redesign.
- Is "Worked on" bad on a résumé?
- It is true of everyone who was in the room, including the person who attended two meetings. Because it is equally available to the largest and smallest contributor, a reader assumes the smallest. The phrase costs you the credit you actually earned, which makes it uniquely expensive for people whose contribution was real.
- When is it fine to use "Worked on"?
- In a cover letter or a conversation, where "I worked on the payments rewrite" is natural speech and the detail follows immediately. On a résumé bullet there is no follow-up sentence to rescue it.
Fix these next
- Helped withThat you contributed to something without overstating your role.
- Assisted withThat you supported someone else on a piece of work.
- Involved inThat you were part of something.
- ResolvedThat something broken or disputed was ended by you.
- Duties includedThat the following list was the scope of the role.
- Participated inThat you took part in a program, project, or event.
- SupportedThat you provided ongoing help to a person, team, or system.
All 72 words are on the résumé words index. For the verbs grouped by what they claim, read résumé power verbs.
After the résumé
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