FACTS FROM OUR DATABASE: Superlatives financial services professionals use to describe themselves

It doesn't pay to be modest. Several Goldman Sachs MDs revealed this two years' ago, when their self-appraisals came to light. “We didn’t just survive – we excelled,” said Dan Sparks, then-head of Goldman's mortgage business. “On the leadership front I performed exceptionally well over the past year,” said Michael Swenson, an MD in Goldman’s mortgage business.“My ability to assess and manage the risk in the rapidly changing mortgage market has been another tremendous achievement,” he added enthusiastically.

Which words do financial services professionals use most liberally on their CVs? A search of our UK CV database suggests the following. We suspect there may be a large number of people who "excelled" but are unfortunately unable to discriminate them from the people who know how to use Excel.

Outstanding      20,529

Exceptional       9,306

Excellent team player    1,255

Tremendous     470

Highly efficient  387

Brilliant 374

All-rounder       344

Beautiful           146

Highly productive          114

Asset to any team         87

Stunning           28

Astonishing       17

Incomparable   15

Handsome        13

Gorgeous         8

Great guy         7