How to write resume bullet points that show your impact

Use action, method, result

Start with an action verb, say what you worked on and with which tools, and finish with the result or scope if you know it. Use numbers only when you measured them.

• Before (fictional): “Responsible for handling customer data.”
• After (fictional): “Cleaned and merged customer records from three spreadsheets in Excel and SQL, removing duplicate entries before the quarterly mailing.”
• Before (fictional): “Worked on the company website.”
• After (fictional): “Rebuilt the product listing page in React, adding search and filters requested by the sales team.”

Action verbs to start with

Vary your verbs and pick the one that matches what you really did. “Led” means you led; “contributed to” is honest when you were part of a team.

• Built, developed, designed, implemented, automated
• Analysed, tested, measured, reported, forecast
• Led, coordinated, trained, mentored, presented
• Reduced, improved, resolved, migrated, streamlined

Mistakes to avoid

Avoid duty lists copied from a job description, vague phrases such as “various tasks”, and long paragraphs. Do not invent percentages or user counts: an interviewer will ask how you measured them.

Order bullets by relevance to the job you are applying for. Waywright, free to use, reorders and rewrites bullets for each job description from your real experience and highlights every changed line for review. An account is required.