Resume bullets that actually get read

Rule 1: Start with a verb

Every bullet should begin with a strong action verb. Not "Responsible for…", not "Worked on…", not "Helped with…". Those tell the reader you were nearby when work happened. Strong verbs say you did it.

Useful starting verbs by category:

• Built / Shipped / Launched / Designed / Implemented (creators)
• Led / Owned / Drove / Managed / Coordinated (leadership)
• Reduced / Cut / Improved / Optimized / Accelerated (improvers)
• Grew / Doubled / Scaled / Increased / Expanded (scalers)
• Negotiated / Closed / Sourced / Onboarded (operators)

Don't repeat the same verb across all your bullets. If three bullets in a row start with "Built", swap one for "Shipped" or "Designed".

Rule 2: Put a number in

A bullet without numbers is a claim. A bullet with numbers is evidence. Even small ones help.

• Weak: "Improved the onboarding flow."
• Better: "Redesigned the onboarding flow, lifting day-7 retention by 18%."

Numbers you can usually find:

• How much something went up or down: revenue, retention, latency, churn, NPS.
• Sizes: team size, customer count, request volume, contract value.
• Time: "in 6 weeks", "ahead of a 3-month deadline".
• Counts: "across 12 product teams", "for 40+ enterprise customers".

Don't have an exact percentage? Use a range or a rough magnitude. "Cut bug reports by roughly half" beats no number at all.

Rule 3: Show the why, not just the what

A bullet should answer two questions: what did you do, and what changed because of it. The "what" alone is a task list. Add the "so that" or the result.

• Task only: "Migrated the analytics pipeline to BigQuery."
• Task + result: "Migrated the analytics pipeline to BigQuery, cutting daily report runtime from 4 hours to 12 minutes."

If you can't articulate the result, ask yourself: did anyone notice this work? Did anything get faster, cheaper, easier, or bigger? If nothing changed, that bullet might not deserve a line.

Rule 4: Cut the buzzwords

Some words look like content but say nothing. Recruiters' eyes glide past them. Cut these on sight:

• "Synergy", "leverage", "stakeholder alignment"
• "Cross-functional collaboration" (replace with what you actually did with which team)
• "Strategic", "innovative", "dynamic", "results-oriented"
• "Spearheaded" (just say "led")
• "Best-in-class", "world-class", "next-generation"

Replace each one with concrete detail. "Worked cross-functionally" → "Worked with the design and ops teams to launch the new pricing page." Specific is always stronger than impressive.

Rule 5: Three to five bullets per role, max

Long bullet lists kill the rhythm. Ten medium bullets read worse than four sharp ones — recruiters tune out after the third or fourth. For each role, write the strongest bullets, then prune until you have three to five.

Newest role gets the most space. Earlier roles can shrink to two bullets each. A 10-year-old internship deserves one line or none.

Before / After examples

Software engineer

Product manager

Marketing

Operations

A self-check before you submit

1. Read each bullet aloud. If it sounds like a job description, rewrite it.
2. Underline the verbs. Are they all weak ("worked", "helped", "responsible")? Replace.
3. Circle the numbers. If a role has zero numbers across all bullets, you have work to do.
4. Cover the company name. Could the bullet describe a hundred other people doing the same job? Make it specific.

Build it now

The Kodotools CV Maker has a simple bullets field — one line per bullet — so you can write, rearrange, and prune quickly. Live preview shows you exactly what the recruiter will see. No signup, no watermark, free PDF download.