How One Common Phrase Can Undermine Your Job Search
A seemingly harmless, inconsequential combination of words can really get in your way
In my work as a career coach for grad students, I read a lot of application materials. I read résumés. I read cover letters. I read statements of all kinds. I’m lucky that I get to be an audience for all of these stories that students tell about themselves and their work, and I always look forward to engaging with someone’s writing for the first time.
But I have a confession. No matter how many stories I read, no matter how many statements cross my desk, there’s a persistent and recurring phrase that completely turns me off to even the most compelling cover letter. A phrase that I have committed myself to highlight, circle, underline or cross out in every instance so that I can share this pet peeve with each student I see. A phrase that has become the bane of my very existence: “I had the opportunity to …”
What’s the problem?
Some may call this fixation unusual. (Many have.) Others say I am being overly obsessive or stubborn. (I am.) But I assure you, I have good reasons for my vendetta against this seemingly harmless, inconsequential combination of words. Simply put: it’s unnecessary, imprecise, passive and diminishing. They are words wasted when you have so few to spare, and they make it harder for you to convince a stranger of your ability to do great work in your application materials.
Here are the ways using “the opportunity to” hurts your writing.
It’s unnecessary. [...]
It’s imprecise and passive. [...]
It’s diminishing. [...]
Questioning the Opportunity
Each time you see your fingers involuntarily typing out a “had the opportunity to,” ask yourself:
- What did I actually do in this experience?
- Why did I want to write about it?
- What did I want to convey about myself in this story?
- What do I hope the reader learns about me by reading it?
- Are my word choices reinforcing, emphasizing and strengthening the point I wanted to make?
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Mike Firmand is assistant director of employer outreach at the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the Graduate Career Consortium -- an organization providing am international voice for graduate-level career and professional development leaders.