The secrets to writing impactful resume bullet points

One of the questions we get asked a lot from our clients about resumes is, “Why do I need to add bullet points to my resume?” Bullet points are a great way to incorporate achievements, key skills, experiences, and qualifications into your resume concisely. They help you reduce the text density of your resume and increase the white space. Also, bullet points make it easier for hiring managers to scan your resume for your biggest selling points.

Why must your resume include bullet points?

Imagine you are reading a blog online. Are you more likely to enjoy the huge chunks of text or the short paragraphs with one or two sentences?

Bullet points help you reduce the density of text on your resume

If you are a job seeker who has added long paragraphs describing your skills and your experience to your resume, we strongly recommend that you swap those for bullet points. Bullet points will help you present your qualifications in a more summarized form and make it easier for a hiring manager to read your resume.

You get to highlight your key strengths with bullet points

Achieved something amazing in a past job? Add a bullet point describing your accomplishment to the work experience section of your resume. A bullet point that stands out makes it difficult for a reader to miss the important information on your resume. Also, hiring managers will be able to read your resume faster when you have made all the best qualifications pop out with bullet points.

Your resume will make a better first impression with bullet points

Imagine you are a hiring manager who gets confronted with a long resume that has 10 paragraphs and a one-page resume that uses bullet points. Which resume do you think will leave a better impression on them? Impressive resumes have the perfect balance of text density and white space.

How to write impactful bullet points for your resume?

Your resume will perform better in the job market when you balance the text density right. Here’s what you can do:

Use both paragraphs and bullet points

You need to include all the important information in your resume while maintaining the visual appeal. Ensure that your paragraphs contain less than four or five sentences. When you create job entries in the career summary of your resume, add up to six bullet points for more recent jobs and three bullet points for older jobs. Include industry-specific keywords in your bullet points but take care not to overstuff them with buzzwords and jargon.

Write STAR bullet points

If you have a great achievement to emphasize on your resume, it is better to write STAR bullet points to describe those. STAR bullet points let you narrate complex situations and results in a concise and impactful manner which impresses hiring managers to no end.

Write concise bullet points

Once you have done the first draft of your bullet points, go through them again with a pair of pruning shears. You need to remove any fluff words that add zero value to your resume. Also, when you review your bullet points, you can decide whether to remove or add more keywords to your resume.

Create a priority order for your bullet points

Not every job duty or achievement is equally valid and valuable for your job search. When you order your bullet points, try to do so giving priority to what matters. You can use the employer’s job description for clues on the priority order of your bullet points. Have they mentioned first that they want a dynamic project manager? Let your first bullet point under the job entry be about the number of projects you’ve completed successfully.