Bullet points: the difference between a duty and an achievement
Recruiters skim resumes in seconds, and bullets are what they skim. A duty tells them what your job description said; an achievement tells them what happened because it was you. The rewrite is mechanical once you see the formula.
The formula
Action verb + specific task + measurable outcome. Every bullet, same skeleton:
❌ "Responsible for customer support tickets" →
✅ "Resolved 30+ support tickets daily at 96% satisfaction, top 3 of a 25-agent team"
❌ "Handled social media" →
✅ "Grew the shop's Instagram from 800 to 6,500 followers in 8 months, driving ~15% of sales"
❌ "Worked as a cashier" →
✅ "Processed 200+ transactions per shift with zero register discrepancies across 14 months"
Finding numbers when "my job had no numbers"
Every job has counts (how many per day?), comparisons (versus the team average?), time (how much faster?), money (saved, earned, handled?) or scale (for how many people?). Honest estimates are fine — "~40 calls/day" — as long as you could defend them in an interview.
How many bullets
Most recent / most relevant role: 4–6. Older roles: 2–3. Ten-year-old roles: one line, no bullets. Order bullets by relevance to the job you want, not chronology — the first bullet is the one that gets read.
Verbs that carry weight
Built, launched, reduced, grew, negotiated, automated, trained, resolved, redesigned, saved. Avoid "helped with", "was involved in", "assisted" — they blur ownership, and ownership is the whole point.
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Frequently asked questions
Should every bullet have a number?
Aim for numbers in at least half, always including the first bullet of your most recent role. A bullet with no possible number should state a concrete outcome instead.
Can I estimate metrics I never measured?
Honest, defensible estimates ("~", "over") are standard practice. Invented precision ("increased efficiency by 47.3%") reads fake and unravels in interviews.
How far back should bullets go?
Detail the last 5–7 years. Older roles shrink to a title line — recruiters read them as history, not evidence.