A resume bullet point has one job: prove you can deliver results in this role. Not describe your responsibilities. Not list your duties. Prove your value.
The difference between a weak and a strong bullet is almost always the same problem: the weak one tells you what someone did, the strong one tells you what they achieved. Here are 7 proven formulas to turn any duty into an achievement.
Formula 1: The Classic CAR (Context → Action → Result)
The most versatile formula. Set the scene, describe what you did, state the outcome.
- ❌ 'Managed a team of developers'
- ✅ 'Led a 6-person engineering team through a critical platform migration, delivering the project 3 weeks ahead of schedule and reducing page load times by 67%'
Formula 2: The Problem Solver
Identify a problem, describe your solution, quantify the fix. Great for process improvement and turnaround stories.
- ❌ 'Improved customer onboarding process'
- ✅ 'Identified 4-day bottleneck in customer onboarding caused by manual data entry; automated using Zapier + Salesforce integration, cutting onboarding time from 6 days to 18 hours and improving Day-30 retention by 22%'
Formula 3: The Revenue Driver
The most powerful formula for sales, marketing, and business development roles. Money talks.
- ❌ 'Responsible for enterprise accounts'
- ✅ 'Grew enterprise ARR from £1.2M to £4.7M over 18 months by targeting FTSE 250 accounts with a consultative sales approach — 2 of which became top-5 accounts by revenue'
Formula 4: The Scale Story
Show before-and-after size, reach, or scope. Ideal for growth-focused roles.
- ❌ 'Grew the marketing team'
- ✅ 'Scaled marketing team from 3 to 19 across 4 countries in 14 months, establishing regional leads in UK, DACH, France, and ANZ while maintaining CAC below target in all markets'
Formula 5: The Cost Saver
Savings are often underused on resumes. Operations, finance, procurement, and engineering roles should lean into this hard.
- ❌ 'Negotiated vendor contracts'
- ✅ 'Renegotiated SaaS vendor contracts across 12 tools, consolidating 3 overlapping platforms and reducing annual software spend by £340k (28%) without service disruption'
Formula 6: The Initiator
Built something from zero? That's a powerful signal of ownership and initiative. Lead with '0→1'.
- ❌ 'Created the company's data analytics function'
- ✅ 'Built the company's data analytics function from scratch — hired 4 analysts, selected and implemented Looker + BigQuery stack, and delivered first board-level dashboards within 90 days of joining'
Formula 7: The Award / Recognition
Formal recognition is proof that others validated your performance. Don't be modest about it.
- ❌ 'Performed well in customer success role'
- ✅ 'Ranked #1 Customer Success Manager globally (out of 43) for 2 consecutive quarters, maintaining 97% CSAT and 118% net revenue retention across a £2.8M book of business'
What if I don't have hard numbers?
You have more data than you think. Look at:
- Team sizes you managed or collaborated with
- Number of clients, accounts, or markets you covered
- Timelines — 'delivered in 3 weeks', 'shipped in Q2'
- Scope — 'across 6 countries', 'for 200+ users'
- Comparative improvement — 'reduced by ~30%', 'faster than the previous approach'
- Budget responsibility — 'managed £1.5M annual budget'
Rough estimates with honest markers (~, approximately, circa) are always better than vague descriptions. 'Reduced support tickets by approximately 40%' is a real claim. 'Reduced support tickets significantly' tells nobody anything.
Every bullet you write should pass this test: could a recruiter who's never met you tell what you did, how you did it, and why it mattered? If yes, it's a strong bullet. If not, rewrite it.
