5 Better Words For “Extensive Experience” On Your CV

One of the most overused words in any person’s CV or resume is “extensive experience.” We’ve all used it before, and employers are generally tired of hearing it. In this article, we’ll look at synonyms for extensive experience so you can start impressing prospective employers from the get-go.

What Is Another Way To Say “Extensive Experience”?

“Extensive experience” is an overused phrase in CVs and many employers are tired of it. It’s important to mix it up to try and persuade an employer to read your CV. You might want to try “highly experienced” or “comprehensive experience” or “considerable experience” instead.

Before we dive into the article, we’ll cover the most useful words here. We’ll expand on them later, but we believe these to be some of the best synonyms for you to use in place of “extensive experience.”

• Highly experienced
• Comprehensive experience
• Considerable experience
• Vast experience
• Expert Knowledge

Highly Experienced

We’ll start by running you through “highly experienced” as an alternative. It’s the only replacement on this list that uses “experienced” in the verb form (and “highly” is an adverb used to describe it).

“Highly experienced” means that someone has achieved a high level of understanding or knowledge in a particular field or skill. We use it as an adverb + verb combination to show that we’ve specifically gone out of our way to achieving this level of experience.

Unlike everything else we’ll be mentioning after this, “experienced” is a verb here. In the other cases (as well as with “extensive experience”), we use “experience” as a noun. This makes “highly experienced” a unique choice in itself, but it’s still a remarkably popular one.

1. I am highly experienced at working with children.
2. I am highly experienced with working with machines.
3. I am highly experienced at owning my own company and building it up from the foundations.
4. I am highly experienced in matters to do with psychology, owing to my excellent education at a high-level university.

As you can see from these examples, we use “I am” before writing “highly experienced” in all cases. We need to include “am” as a verb before saying “experienced” because it requires it as an auxiliary (or helping) verb.

Comprehensive Experience

Let’s look at the first of the nouns on the list. When we use “comprehensive experience,” we can also replace the word “experience” with either “knowledge” or “understanding.” Choose whichever one you think works best for the context of your application.

“Comprehensive experience” shows that you’ve put a great deal of effort into understanding something to a “comprehensive” degree. That usually means you have a full understanding of something and that generally, you’re able to teach someone else fairly quickly too.

As we mentioned, “experience” can be substituted with either “knowledge” or “understanding” here and work to the same tone. Make sure you know the direct audience of your CV before deciding to change it, though.

1. I have comprehensive experience with all of the major software types on most operating machines.
2. I have comprehensive knowledge of the human psyche and how to approach difficult situations.
3. I have a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of mathematical theory.
4. I have comprehensive experience with heavy machinery.

We use “I have” before using “experience” in the noun form in this way. Sometimes, we use “I have a” if we’re talking more about an “understanding” of something, but that’s the only case we might use it.

Generally, stick to “I have experience” in all cases to make sure you get it grammatically correct.

Considerable Experience

“Considerable experience” works in the same way as “comprehensive experience.” We can replace “experience” with “knowledge” or “understanding” here, though it’s most likely that we use “experience” in most cases.

“Considerable experience” means that you have spent time learning the ins and outs of something. “Considerable” is an adjective used to mean “a great amount” of something.

So, let’s look through some examples of when “considerable experience” or variations of it might be optimal to use.

1. I have considerable experience working with mental illnesses.
2. I have considerable knowledge of the difficulties associated with impoverished neighborhoods.
3. I have considerable experience working with animals.
4. I have considerable experience in dangerous jobs and am happy to take this opportunity.

As you can see from these examples, we can use “considerable experience” in exactly the same way as the overused “extensive experience.” Generally, “considerable” isn’t as popular of a word to use, but it holds a similar meaning that’s just as powerful as “extensive.”

Vast Experience

Next, let’s look at when we might use “vast experience” as an adjective and noun combination. This is less common than some of the other ones, but that might make it all the more impactful when it comes to diversity with your CV.

“Vast experience” means you’ve got a lot of knowledge in an area, just like all the other examples before it. “Vast” means something that is “great” or “large,” and in this sense means we have a substantial amount of experience in a field.

While “vast” is the shortest adjective to describe “experience,” it still holds its own when you look at the impact of the following examples.

1. I have vast experience working in amusement parks.
2. I have vast experience working in retail and know how to please my customers.
3. I have vast knowledge in the field of chemistry and am looking forward to sharing it.
4. I have a vast understanding of all things to do with football and would make a great coach.

We can use “knowledge” and “understanding” in much the same way as the examples we’ve shared above. We can always find synonymous words with “experience,” though sometimes it’s best to know your audience before you try risking it.

After all, “experience” is a buzzword that most CV readers will look for when hiring new employees.

Expert Knowledge

Finally, let’s cover “expert knowledge.” This is the only one on the list that doesn’t use “experience” as a part of the phrase. The words “expert experience” simply don’t make sense, so we can’t use them in the same way.

“Expert knowledge” means you have a full understanding of a subject. This is very high praise, and if you refer to yourself as an “expert” in any field, you may well be asked to prove it. Only use it if you’re certain that you’re an “expert” in your understanding.

Let’s go over some examples so you can see when we might use them:

1. I have expert knowledge in dealing with young children.
2. I have expert knowledge in arts and literature and would make a great fit for the team.
3. I have an expert understanding of medicinal things, but I’m always winning to learn new methods.
4. I have expert knowledge when it comes to video games.

As you can see, the field of knowledge isn’t important. If you believe yourself to be an “expert” (which generally refers to the best of the best), then you may say that you have this.

What Does “Extensive Experience” Mean?

It’s great to know what all these synonyms mean and when to use them, but we should also quickly look at what “extensive experience” even means.

“Extensive experience” means that you’ve spent a long time learning something in a field or job. “Extensive” means “to a great extent,” which means you’ve spent a long time learning how to master certain things.

It’s one of the most popular sayings in a CV, and many employers will brush over it now because of how uninspiring it reads. That’s why it’s important to come up with a good alternative that speaks to a potential employer.

Can You Say “Extensive Experience”?

Many people worry about the correctness of “extensive experience” as a word.

“Extensive experience” is grammatically correct. “Extensive” is used as an adjective, while “experience” in this sense is used as a noun. An adjective describes a noun, meaning that both words work perfectly together.

However, it’s important to remember you can’t just say them on their own and generally need to include who has the “extensive experience” in a field.

1. I have extensive experience.
2. You have extensive experience.
3. We have extensive experience.

All of these sentences are correct; you just have to make sure you include a pronoun and an auxiliary verb (“have”) beforehand to make it flow.

How To Use Extensive Experience In A Sentence

There are a few ways you can use “extensive experience” in a sentence. It’s important to understand these examples before we throw alternatives at you. If you haven’t used or seen it before, then these are some good examples of when it’s used.

1. My job has provided me with extensive experience in the following fields.
2. My school offered an extensive work experience program that I took part in.
3. I made sure to get extensive experience in this field before I applied.
4. You can’t get a high-paying job without extensive experience in the field you’re applying to.

As you can see, the situation can vary based on what we’re talking about. We can also include extra nouns like “work” in-between “extensive” and “experience” if we need to. The meaning is always the same.

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