The 10 most common words Americans use on their resume – and which ones they are spelling wrong 

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A new study by QRFY, has revealed the most overused words on resumes, with ‘responsible’ coming top, which features on more than 5.1 million American resumes. 

• ‘Responsible’ is the most overused word on Americans’ resumes, featuring in more than 5.1 million resumes. 
• 'Profesional' was the most common misspelling among resumes, followed by 'organised' and 'environment.' 
• The study used Indeed’s Resume Search to find the most common words that feature in resumes updated in the last six months. 

QR code generator QRFY, compiled a list of 50 commonly used resume words and phrases, and then ran each of these through Indeed’s Resume Search, to find which featured the most across resumes updated in the past 6 months.

According to the study, ‘Responsible’ was found to be the most frequently used word, featuring in 5,146,386 resumes over the last six months. It has a significantly high usage rate, appearing 349% more frequently than any other words on the list, while also being the most-used word on resumes in each individual state. 

The second most-common word according to the study, was found to be ‘organized’ which featured in 3,864,497 resumes. A crucial skill employers seek in today's dynamic job market, which reflects the need for individuals who can manage workload, deadlines, and resources effectively. 

Closely following in third is ‘social’ which featured in 3,491,557 resumes, highlighting the importance of building and leveraging professional networks. 

‘Trained’ placed fourth being used 2,952,148 times, while ‘Leader’ ranks fifth featuring on 2,330,139 resumes, according to the study.

The 10 most-overused words and phrases on resumes: 

Rank	Word/phrase	Number of resumes updated within the last six months that used the word/phrase
1.	Responsible	5,146,386
2.	Organized	3,864,497
3.	Social	3,491,557
4.	Trained	2,952,148
5.	Leader	2,330,139
6.	Proficient	2,201,793
7.	Motivated	2,200,863
8.	Exceptional	1,905,296
9.	Experienced	1,787,354
10.	Friendly	1,770,814

The 10 most commonly misspelt words and phrases on resumes 

As well as looking at which words are the most overused, the analysis also looked at the most misspelt words on resumes, according to the study.

‘Professional’ was the most commonly misspelt word, which was found to be spelt as ‘profesional’ on 38,697 resumes within the past 6 months, with a number of jobseekers forgetting the crucial double ‘s’. 

The second most misspelt word according to the study, was ‘organized’, which saw 20,260 resumes adopt the UK spelling of the word, ‘organised’ which uses an ‘s’ rather than a ‘z’. 

Following in third, was ‘environment’ rather than ‘environment’ which cropped up in 14,770 resumes, and missed the ‘n’ from the word. In fourth was the misspelling of ‘management’ as ‘management’ which misses out the letter ‘a’ and featured in 9,354 resumes. 

The fifth most misspelt was the word ‘receive’, where people often transposed their vowels instead spelling it as ‘recieve.’ 9,354 resumes failed to follow the rule of ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ with this word, according to the study.

Rank	Misspelling of word	Correct spelling of word	Number of resumes updated within the last six months that used the word/phrase
1.	Profesional	Professional	38,697
2.	Organised	Organized	20,260
3.	Enviroment	Environment	14,770
4.	Mangment	Management	10,277
5.	Recieve	Receive	9,354
6.	Independant	Independent	7,087
7.	Knowlege	Knowledge	3,316
8.	Confidant	Confident	2,594
9.	Seperate	Separate	2,465
10.	Focussed	Focused	2,272

Speaking on the findings, Marc Porcar, CEO of QRFY who carried out the study, commented: 

“For those seeking career advancement, better work-life balance, or simply wanting a change of role, using the right language on your resume is crucial if you want to impress potential employers. If you’re using the same old buzzwords as everyone else, it can often feel difficult to stand out from the crowd. 

“Jobseekers should aim instead to offer specific examples of when they have demonstrated a certain characteristic, rather than just saying they are ‘organized’, for example. Doing so evidences to a potential employer that you can back-up these claims with previous work experience, which should help you stand out from other candidates, who may not have been as thorough.” 

The 20 most overused words: 

Rank	Word/phrase	Number of resumes updated within the last six months that used the word/phrase
1.	Responsible	5,146,386
2.	Organized	3,864,497
3.	Social	3,491,557
4.	Trained	2,952,148
5.	Leader	2,330,139
6.	Proficient	2,201,793
7.	Motivated	2,200,863
8.	Exceptional	1,905,296
9.	Experienced	1,787,354
10.	Friendly	1,770,814
11.	Fast-paced	1,701,821
12.	Skilled	1,636,246
13.	Team player	1,596,853
14.	Creative	1,503,845
15.	Successful	1,456,502
16.	Bilingual	1,451,423
17.	Focused	1,381,508
18.	Driven	1,355,376
19.	Reliable	1,336,700
20.	Hard-working	1,269,563

The 20 most commonly misspelt words 

Rank	Misspelt Words	Number of resumes updated within the last six months that used the word/phrase
1.	Profesional	38,697
2.	Organised	20,260
3.	Enviroment	14,770
4.	Mangment	10,277
5.	Recieve	9,354
6.	Independant	7,087
7.	Knowlege	3,316
8.	Confidant	2,594
9.	Seperate	2,465
10.	Focussed	2,272
11.	Tought	1,239
12.	Sucessful	934
13.	Prefered	657
14.	Experianced	574
15.	Publically	538
16.	Refered	498
17.	Prepration	311
18.	Andd	226
19.	Definately	106
20.	Noticable	81

You can find more information right here: https://qrfy.com 

Sources: preply.com, theladders.com, monster.com, indeed.com, staffingadvisors.com, recuiteze.com, businessinsider.com, huffingtonpost.com, wordsrated.com