Resume slop lives in two places: the verb that opens a bullet, and the adjective in your headline. Both are spots where a model may reach for a stock word, and both are places many recruiters scan early.
The phrases, and what to write instead
| Avoid | Write instead |
|---|---|
| Spearheaded | Led. Then say how many people and what shipped. |
| Leveraged | Used. Name the tool and the result. |
| Utilized | Used. |
| Responsible for | Use the action verb and the outcome. "Ran payroll for 300 staff." |
| Results-driven | Give one result instead. |
| Dynamic professional | Say your actual job. |
| Detail-oriented | Name the thing you caught. |
| Team player | Name the collaboration and its outcome. |
| Proven track record | State the metric. |
| Passionate about technology | Name what you built on your own time. |
| Meticulous | Give the example. |
| Cutting-edge technologies | Name the stack. |
| Seamlessly integrated | Say what connected to what, and what broke before. |
| Highly motivated professional with a results-oriented mindset | Delete the whole line. It says nothing. |
| Seeking to utilize my skills in a dynamic environment | Name the role you want. |
Complete example
Before
Spearheaded a dynamic initiative to optimize customer operations. The four-person billing cleanup cut unresolved invoices from 240 to 38 in six weeks.
After
Led a four-person billing cleanup that cut unresolved invoices from 240 to 38 in six weeks.
Spearheaded can be accurate when you led the work. Keep it if the verb matches your role and the bullet gives verifiable scope.
[Action verb] [team or scope] to [verified outcome] by [date or duration].
Use only details you can verify.
Check this draft in the anti-slop editor
The editor checks general writing patterns. This guide includes context advice that the general checker does not test. Your draft stays in the browser; you choose each change.
Open the editor →The rule underneath all of them
Every replacement above does the same thing: it swaps a claim for evidence. That is the whole method, and it is why no tool can finish the job for you. A model can delete results-driven. Only you know the number that belongs there.
Density matters more than any single word. One phrase may be ordinary. Several nearby tells can make a draft feel templated. The full 200+ tell list covers vocabulary, sentence patterns and machine artifacts that apply across many drafts.
Questions
Do ATS systems reject AI-sounding resumes?
Applicant tracking systems screen for keywords and formatting, not for style, so "spearheaded" is unlikely to filter you out by itself. The human review still benefits from specific scope and verified results.
Which resume verbs should I stop using?
Spearheaded, leveraged, utilized, orchestrated, championed, and any verb you would not say out loud. Replace them with led, used, built, ran, fixed. A plain verb followed by a number beats an impressive verb followed by nothing.
How do I fix a resume that sounds like everyone else's?
Take each bullet and ask what number belongs in it. If a bullet has no number, no name, and no date, it is describing a job category rather than your work. Those are the lines to rewrite first.