Bullets that read as outcomes
Summary
Most bullets describe a job. The ones that get read describe a change. The difference is usually one number and one verb.
The shape
Verb, object, result. "Rebuilt the regional dispatch schedule, cutting late deliveries from 9% to 3% in two quarters." The verb is what you did, the object is what you did it to, the result is what changed.
If a bullet has no result, it is a duty. Duties are true and forgettable. Keep them only if the role needs the scope established, and keep at most one per role.
Numbers you can actually source
- —Before and after: "late deliveries from 9% to 3%".
- —Scale: "a $2.4M transport budget", "40 lanes", "14 dispatchers".
- —Time: "from six hours to forty minutes", "within two quarters".
- —Rate: "inventory accuracy above 98%", "adoption reached 82% in a month".
Never write a number you cannot defend
Every figure on the page is an invitation. If you write "improved efficiency by 40%", expect the question "how did you measure it?". If you cannot answer in one sentence, the number is doing more harm than the bullet without it.
A bullet with no number and a real outcome beats a bullet with an invented percentage. The first reads as modest; the second reads as risky.
Openers to delete
"Responsible for", "duties included", "helped with", "worked on", "participated in", "in charge of". These phrases describe a position, not a contribution, and they push the actual verb to the middle of the line where nobody reads.
The fix is not to find a fancier synonym. It is to answer "so what?" and start with the answer: rebuilt, cut, negotiated, migrated, automated, replaced, consolidated, shipped.
Length and rhythm
- —One idea per bullet. Two ideas belong on two lines.
- —Aim for one to two lines at 11pt in a normal margin. Anything past two lines is read as a paragraph and skimmed.
- —Do not open three bullets in the same role with the same verb. It reads as a template, and it hides the one achievement that mattered.