Resumes written in English by non-native speakers often carry the cadence and vocabulary of the applicant's home language. That is fine for internal documents — but on a US hiring manager's desk, phrases like "I am responsible for the sales" or "I have good communication skill" mark a document as unpolished, even when the underlying experience is strong.
A recruiter or ATS parser does not parse intent. It parses exact words. When you write "duties include controlling the production," a US reader may see "bossy" or "micro-managing" — or just think it sounds foreign. The cost is a rejection that has nothing to do with your actual capability.
The good news? Most of these fixes are a single, predictable word swap. Here are 20 of the most common direct translations that sound wrong — and exactly what to write instead.
1. "I am responsible for..." (direct translation from many European and Asian languages)
→ Rewrite: "Managed" / "Led" / "Owned"
Before: Responsible for monthly financial reporting. After: Owned the monthly financial reporting process for a $12M portfolio.
2. "I was in charge of..."
→ Rewrite: "Oversaw" / "Directed" / "Supervised"
3. "My responsibilities included..."
→ Rewrite: Delete the phrase entirely. Just list actions. "Conducted quarterly audits, coordinated with three regional offices" — the fact that this was your responsibility is implied.
4. "I have good communication skill" (missing plural, odd article)
→ Rewrite: "Excellent written and verbal communication skills"
5. "Familiar with..." (often too vague)
→ Rewrite: "Proficient in" or "Experienced with" — but only if you actually used the tool daily. Otherwise use "Exposed to" only if you must mention it, and consider omitting it.
6. "I can use Word, Excel, PowerPoint"
→ Rewrite: "Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel: pivot tables, VLOOKUP; PowerPoint: executive-level presentations)"
7. "Achieved good results" (too generic)
→ Rewrite: Specify the result. "Reduced processing time by 18%" or "Increased quarterly sales 12% year-over-year."
8. "Worked hard"
→ Rewrite: Never write this. Employers assume you work hard. Show it with output. "Completed 30+ reports per week under tight deadlines."
9. "Got a prize" / "Won a competition"
→ Rewrite: "Awarded [Name of Award]" or "Recognized as Top Performer, Q2 2023."
10. "I was a member of the team"
→ Rewrite: "Collaborated with a 5-person engineering team to..."
11. "Helped the team"
→ Rewrite: "Supported" or "Contributed to" — but better yet, name your specific contribution. "Contributed code documentation that reduced new-hire ramp-up time by two weeks."
12. "Duties included..." (extremely common in translation)
→ Rewrite: Delete. US resumes are action-oriented. Skip the word "duties" entirely and start with a strong verb. "Managed..." "Implemented..." "Designed..."
13. "I had to..."
→ Rewrite: "Was responsible for" → then rewrite as above. "I had to train new staff" becomes "Trained 10+ new hires on CRM system, reducing error rate 30%."
14. "For 2 years experience" (preposition error)
→ Rewrite: "2 years of experience in..."
15. "Since 2018 until 2022 I worked..."
→ Rewrite: "2018–2022" or "2018 to 2022" with no "since" or "until."
16. "Current until now"
→ Rewrite: "2022–Present" (capital P, no dash after Present)
17. "Bachelor degree in" (missing article)
→ Rewrite: "Bachelor's degree in" or "B.A. in"
18. "Master degree in"
→ Rewrite: "Master's degree in" or "M.S. in"
19. "I graduated from university in 2019"
→ Rewrite: "B.S., Computer Science, University of X, 2019" (US format: degree first, then school, then year)
20. "I am a fast learner" / "I learn quickly"
→ Rewrite: Do not write this. It sounds like you lack experience. Instead, prove it. "Self-taught Python over 6 weeks to automate data cleaning, reducing manual work by 8 hours/week."
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) parse plain text best. Two-column layouts, tables, columns, and text boxes can cause parsing errors, but the most common error is actually a missing job title. Many ATS extract the job title from the resume and put it into a candidate record. If you write "Firm X — Associate" on one line and then "2019–2021" on the next, some ATS will parse "2019–2021" as the job title. To avoid this:
A clean, one-column, single-spaced resume with standard section headers will parse correctly in 99% of ATS platforms.
Check your resume for awkward phrasing (free)
If you want to check your resume for these exact patterns, you can paste it into the free checker at PrismResume — no account needed, no data saved.
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