Bullet point statements serve as personal sales pitches or impact statements that help a reader understand how your individual skills and experiences relate to the opportunity they are looking to fill. Your bullet points will also demonstrate to the reader that you possess the essential career competencies they are looking for. These statements are typically one to two lines in length and do not contain personal pronouns. They are also tense specific; if the experience occurred in the past, the bullet should be written in past tense. Follow the steps below to help develop bullet points for your résumé.
Step 1: Brainstorm
Think about the skills and competencies you want your readers to know about you. These could be broad industry-related skills or tailored/unique skills.
Step 2: Construct Your Bullets
Each bullet you write should include three main elements about the experience you participated in:
What You Did
What was one responsibility you had or one task you performed?
How You Did It
How did you complete that task? What transferable skills, technical skills, or career competencies did you use?
Why You Did It
Why was it important for you to use those skills to perform that task? Explain the impact you made to the organization or people benefiting from your work.
When starting the beginning phases of bullet development, it can often be helpful to start by making a list of all the WHATs first, and then going back to fill in the HOWs and the WHYs.
Step 3: Show, Don’t Tell
Use action verbs to show your reader how you used the transferable/technical skills outlined in step 2. Each bullet statement you write should start with a strong action verb and have at least one or two more incorporated throughout it.
Step 4: Quantify if Appropriate
Consider adding quantification elements or technical elements to your bullet statements to fully showcase your impacts and accomplishments.
This example is based off the roles and responsibilities of a UConn Center for Career Development staff member who conducts résumé critiques.
**Writing bullet statements takes time and you may write several drafts before finalizing one you think best resonates with your audience
