Resume Bullet Points

Before

In the past, resume writing advice focused on picking 10 different ways that were active voice: with verbs that advanced the action and were engaging.  It was important to write “Drove 15% increase in…”  instead of “participation increased 15%…”

Now

The state of the art now includes the right verb and action steps (see Application Tracking System page) and things like the STAR method for what is actually in the bullet points.

 

Columbia University Career Center on STAR Method

Columbia University shares here an overview of the STAR Method.

  • Situation: What was the situation, problem, or conflict you were facing?
  • Task: What were you tasked with? What were your responsibilities or goals?
  • Action: What action did you take? What did you do to solve this problem? (start with action verbs)
  • Result: What was the result or outcome of your action? How did it benefit the organization? Can this result be quantified?

Their link gives some concrete examples that you could implement with an undergraduate-level resume.

Yale

Yale at https://ocs.yale.edu/resources/writing-impactful-resume-bullets/ uses a different acronym and list, with similar intent:

Action + Project + Result = Accomplishment

They share some excellent before-and-after examples that help make this much more actionable.

 

Indeed

Indeed.com concurs with the STAR Method and suggests that you use its narrative method to describe your experience in interviews as well.  See their example page.

 

Using AI?

Using AI could be good or challenging for writing your resume.  Here are some exploratory blogs and resources.  They seem to be very hype-y.  However, even if you don’t use them, you may find that the people you are competing with are using them, for good or bad.

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