Words To Include — And Avoid — On Your Resume

It has been my observation that there are common words and phrases that are overused and abused by IT professionals on resumes or LinkedIn profiles. How does a health system CIO break away from using the trite words and phrases used by others?

When writing your career or professional summary on your resume, look for keywords that make your healthcare IT experience standout. Seek out phrases that state the reason why you are qualified and why your background meets the needs of the hiring manager. Avoid language that dates you or is too generic and could apply to almost anyone in any industry.

Example of a generic CIO career summary

Results-oriented, highly motivated and proven executive with over 30 years experience driving complex business, technical, and collaboration initiatives within an organization. Track record of success developing highly effective IT organizations built around aligning staffing and team competencies to business requirements.

Words to avoid

• Results-oriented
• Track record of success
• Highly motivated
• Proven
• Highly effective
• Years of experience (this is obvious from your resume)

Example of a specific healthcare CIO career summary

Current Chief Information Officer for a regional health system with eight hospitals, plus former site IT executive for large healthcare system, generating over $3.3 billion annually. Have successfully deployed EMRs, CPOE, business analytics, and advanced clinical technologies. Achieved Meaningful Use, HIMSS Analytics Level 6 for EMR Adoption, 85 percent CPOE adoption, and voted Most Wired. Skilled at building physician and clinician relationships, and was a key executive in hospital operational turnaround and adoption of IT governance.

Words to use

• Health system or healthcare
• Specifics about size and scope of employers
• All of the current buzzwords in HIT
• Specific HIT achievements you led
• Physician/clinician/executive involvement
• Operational
• IT governance

When you write your summary, do it with a few substantial sentences, and let your resume and profile tell the rest of the career experience. Leave off “Objective” and bulleted words in your summary. Update older company names that have changed and information that may no longer be relevant. Your resume should be a regularly edited document and be focused on what makes your healthcare IT experience unique — and what makes you stand out in the crowd.