60+ Words to Best Describe Yourself for Interviews & Resumes

"How would you describe yourself" is one of the most common questions asked in a job interview. You're pressed to come up with unique and suitable words to describe yourself and paint yourself in the best light in a matter of seconds. 

What is the best way to describe yourself as a job applicant? 

The best way to describe yourself during a job interview is the way that give concrete examples of what you have done in the last roles or bring your accomplishments to the table. The words you use to describe yourself needs to allow you to show your personal traits and thus sets you apart from other candidates. 

Actually, before you are interviewed for a job, you likely have already worked on how to describe yourself. When you write your resume, you carefully select words on it to describe yourself to attract the HR's attention.

Describing yourself, or self-introduction, is never an easy task. To do it well when you're applying for a job, whether it is to describe yourself to the interviewer or to come up with the best words to describe yourself on a resume, is even harder. You may accidentally choose adjectives or phrases that are not positive or professional or talk too much when you're asked to describe yourself in just a few words.   

But, worry no more - we’ve got you covered.

💡 #1: Know your audience.

To determine what words to use to describe yourself, whether on a resume or during a social gathering, consider where you're are and who you're talking with. Are you describing yourself to get a job or are you introducing yourself on your socials?  Each scenario features a specific audience and therefore different words should be used while you describe yourself. 

To describe yourself on resumes or in cover letters, pick descriptive words that emphasize your skills and achievement. 

How about describing yourself in a job interview? You might be asked to tell the interviewer about yourself. Or, sometimes, you might be asked to describe yourself in a word, three words or five words. In an interview, you are allowed to elaborate on your answers.

First, pay attention to the question and answer exactly what is asked. Before you start speaking, think of what is the most desired skill or trait for this role. Pick a word or start a short sentence that showcases that you have that skill.

Lastly, if you're writing a professional bio on your social media to attract recruiters. The words you choose can be more casual but still best define yourself and the career path you're taking. Tailor the words in the description about yourself to demonstrate professionalism and abilities by thinking about the general skills and personal traits that are deemed necessary for your career.

💡 #2: Know how you want to present yourself.

Next, once you have a clear audience in mind, decide how you’d like yourself to appear to them and attract them effectively. 

For example, if you are being interviewed for an engineering role for which debugging is important, you can choose words that put emphasis on your analytical or problem-solving skills to describe yourself. Then provide a real-life example to elaborate.

Or, if you want to demonstrate your leadership skills effectually in a job interview. Thus, you can choose words to describe yourself like, encouraging, mentoring, and strategic thinking, to directly answer the describe yourself question. 

If you expect the audience to be impressed by your communication skills, give them an answer that contains such adjectives as: confident, approachable, and persuasive. 

To present yourself as a creative thinker, try to include these phrases in your answer for describing yourself: 

• Open-minded to other people's ideas
• Keep eyes on the latest industry trends 
• See things from diverse perspectives

💡 #3: Beware that different words can give off various impressions.

Be careful when choosing adjectives to describe yourself because many words can have the same meaning but create different impressions. For example, “ambitious” and “aggressive” can both be used to describe someone who wants to achieve a lot. But the word “aggressive” can sometimes give off a wrong impression in certain situations. 

Thus, it's particularly important to focus more on the impression that the word creates, not just the meaning. Also, if possible, do research on the company you’re applying to or interviewing at to know their company culture and decide what words are safe to use when you describe yourself—-either on a resume or in an interview. 

Just like “doing the right thing at the right time and in the right way”, you need to choose the best way to describe yourself in a particular situation. 

Check out the list of words to describe yourself for the 4 different scenarios, as shown below. 

✨ Words to describe yourself for job interviews

Adaptable	Adventurous
Ambitious	Courageous
Disciplined	Dynamic
Energetic	Enthusiastic
Friendly	Humble
Independent	Meticulous
Motivated	Open-minded
Passionate	Patient
Reliable	Resourceful
Sincere	Sociable

✨ Words to describe yourself for resumes

Accomplished	Attention to detail
Compassionate	Creative thinker
Dedicated	Determined
Diligent	Experienced
Excel	Goal-driven
Intuitive	Leader
Problem-solver	Proficient
Results-oriented	Self-confident
Self-motivated	Self-taught
Skillful	Sympathetic

✨ Words to describe yourself for college applications

Active listening	Adaptive
Cheerful	Cooperative
Creativity	Critical thinking
Determined	Dutiful
Eager	Enthusiastic
Fast learner	Go-getter
Hard-working	Organized
Patient	Pro-active
Team player	Responsive
Skillful	Well-planned

✨ Words to describe yourself for networking events

Approachable	Calm
Caring	Collaborative
Confident	Considerate
Diplomatic	Easy-going
Encouraging	Entrepreneurial
Extroverted	Flexible
Good listener	Humorous
Multilingual	Open-minded
People-person	Personable
Sociable	Storyteller

While writing your resume, carefully choose words to describe yourself. The words used on a resume to describe you should be effective and shouldn't take up much space as the space on a resume is limited and the recruiter generally doesn't linger too long on a single resume.

Simple adjectives would suffice. The other best words you can describe yourself on a resume are actually statistics. Numbers speak volumes, and they can help the recruiter measure your ability and accomplishment.  

Although the whole resume is technically a document that describe you professionally, there are sections that where you can fit in one or two words that help you stand out among a group of candidates. These sections are:

• Resume profile
• Resume summary or objective
• Work experience 
• Skills

A resume profile is a short bio. You can describe yourself with words that demonstrate the most wanted personal traits in your resume profile, for example, analytical data analyst or passionate leadership. 

The Resume summary, or objective, presents you professionally in a couple of sentences, in which a few descriptive words can give the recruiter a clear picture of your ability and accomplishments. You can, for instance, include words like "proven track record" in it and explain the level and scope of your professional achievement. 

The work experience is an excellent place to squeeze words to describe yourself to make your resume more appealing as you can detail your work achievement with sentences in it. For example, while describing your success, you can add words like "undertake thorough reviews" or "wisely manage".

In the skills section on your resume, words to describe yourself should allow the recruiter to measure your skills. Simply listing down various skills can be insignificant if you don't describe how well you perform the skill. In this case, words like "advanced programming" can be helpful.

If you're going to have a job interview, be prepared for self-introduction and personal trait questions. Below are the 4 sample answers for the describe yourself question that will help you nail your job interview. 

Q1: Describe yourself in one word.

Q2: What are three words that describe you?

Q3: Describe yourself in 5 words.

Q4: Describe yourself in one sentence.

Q3: How would you describe yourself?

Using wrong phrases and inappropriate ways to describe yourself can hurt your chances of getting the job. Read on to learn about the sets of words you will need to avoid when talking about yourself.

❌ General traits

The following words are commonly picked by most candidates: 

1. Calm
2. Careful
3. Ethical 
4. Hard-working
5. Honest
6. Intelligent
7. Loyal
8. Patient
9. Punctual
10. Serious

You can derive lots of benefits from having such traits in daily life, not just at work. They are good adjectives to describe yourself but not a suitable answer for questions like “describing yourself” in the interview.

These traits are basic and general. They cannot help you provide unique character traits that will resonate with the interviewer and thus stand out from the competition.

❌ Negative things that describe yourself

It's always great to be honest and stay true to yourself. That being said, some of the words don't have a negative connotation but may give off a wrong impression during a job interview. 

Check out the list of words to describe yourself that the audience may not want to hear: 

1. Aggressive
2. Easy-going
3. Introverted
4. Fast
5. Imaginative
6. Outspoken
7. Perfectionist
8. Risk-taker
9. Straightforward
10. Stubborn

❌ Words to avoid in a professional setting

As a job seeker, you need to select professional words to describe yourself so that hiring managers can see whether you will perform well and be a cultural fit in the workplace. 

Below are some words that are not suitable for job applications and interviews: 

1. Athletic
2. Brave
3. Chilled
4. Couch potato
5. Day-dreamer
6. Family-oriented
7. Funny
8. Generous
9. Religious
10. Speedy

--- Originally written by May Luong ---