Why You Shouldn’t Use Pronouns in Your Cabin Crew Resume or CV

When it comes to writing a resume or CV, there are some very hard and fast rules that recruiters will expect to be adhered to, two of which are writing your resume in the past tense and forgoing the use of pronouns throughout your resume.

It’s still good to let your own personality shine through, as no one wants to read a resume that sounds like a robot has written it. In fact, recruiters are more put off by a dull, copy-and-paste resume full of tired, repetitive phrasing.

The guidelines we set out below might seem restrictive, but once you get the hang of them, you’ll see that they actually allow you to clearly describe your achievements much more succinctly.

Which Tense to Use

Past, present, or future? Should you write about what you’re doing right now, what you’ll do for the employer you’re applying to, or what you’ve already done?

Modern resumes should be written in the past tense. Tell the recruiter what you achieved and accomplished in your past roles, and once you’ve started writing in the past tense, stick with it. Don’t swap between present, past, or future tense within the same resume.

Instead of writing in the present tense:

❌ “I greet and serve customers in the shop. I help to solve problems for customers when the manager is away.”

Try this:

✅ “Served customers and resolved problems quickly and efficiently. Successfully managed the shop and staff.”

Some resume specialists suggest writing your Personal Summary and current role in the present tense, then switching to the past tense for everything else. To avoid confusion and keep things simple, staying in the past tense throughout your entire resume is the clearest, most widely recognised approach, and it’s what we recommend in How to Write a Winning Personal Summary, too.

Own Your Voice: Implied First Person

The best place to start is stripping out every use of “I” and “my” in your resume. Don’t swap them for “he” or “she” either, that’s the same mistake pointed in a different direction. What you’re aiming for is properly called implied first person: every sentence reads as if “I” is there without ever actually writing it.

This isn’t a stylistic preference. It comes down to three concrete problems that “I” and “my” cause on a resume, and each one costs you something real.

Space. A resume has strictly limited room, and every “I” or “my” is a word doing no real work. Cut them, and you free up space for the details that actually matter.

Bloat. “I successfully managed the shop and staff” is a softer, longer sentence than “Successfully managed the shop and staff.” Dropping the pronoun tightens every bullet point automatically with no further editing required.

Readability. A recruiter scanning dozens of resumes a day reads for verbs, not pronouns. Leading with a strong action word, rather than “I,” puts the thing that actually matters first, and lets them take in your strongest points in the time they’re actually willing to give you.

Do this consistently, and you’ll naturally end up with short, direct bullet points, always written from the perspective of something you’ve already done, never something you’re currently doing.

Quick Tips

• Write in the past tense
• Focus on what you’ve achieved, not what you’re responsible for, see How to Write a Winning Resume: Describe Achievements, Don’t Bore With Responsibilities for the full technique
• Use implied first person: no “I” or “my,” but no “he” or “she” either
• Write short bullet points that strip out unnecessary filler words