You may have heard the terms “passive” and “active” writing styles. In resume writing, active is best for two reasons. First, it helps conserve precious space on your resume. And, second, it’s much easier and quicker for an employer to read, thus increasing the chances they will read more of your resume.
Active Voice
Active voice is simpler. In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. A straightforward example is the sentence “Sandy loves dental hygiene.” Sandy is the subject, and she is doing the action: loves dental hygiene, which the object of the sentence.
Passive Voice
In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, “Sandy loves dental hygiene,” I would say, “Dental hygiene is loved by Sandy.” The subject of the sentence becomes dental hygiene, but it isn’t doing anything. Rather, it is just the recipient of Sandy’s love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Sandy to dental hygiene.
