A strong CV bullet point opens with an action verb, states what you did, and ends with the result. Most people write duties instead — a description of what the job involved rather than what they personally achieved — and that single habit is the most common reason a competent candidate gets no replies.
The formula
[Action verb] + [what you did] + [result, with a number where possible]
Not every bullet can carry a metric, and forcing one produces nonsense. But roughly half should, and most people manage none.
Before and after
| Duty (weak) | Achievement (strong) |
|---|---|
| Responsible for managing social media accounts | Grew Instagram following from 2,000 to 11,000 in eight months, lifting referral traffic 34% |
| Worked on improving the checkout process | Rebuilt the checkout flow, cutting cart abandonment from 71% to 58% |
| Duties included answering customer queries | Handled 60+ support tickets daily at a 94% first-contact resolution rate |
| Helped with training new staff | Trained 12 new advisers, reducing average time-to-competence from six weeks to four |
| Assisted in preparing monthly reports | Automated the monthly board report in Power BI, saving two days of manual work each cycle |
| Part of a team that launched a new product | Owned pricing and onboarding for a product launch that reached 1,200 paying users in its first quarter |
Nothing was invented between those columns. The same work is described in both. The right-hand version simply says what happened as a result.
Finding numbers when you think you have none
Ask these six questions about each role:
- How many? Clients, tickets, students, sites, reports, people managed.
- How much? Budget, revenue, savings, contract value.
- How often? Daily, weekly, per shift, per campaign.
- How fast? Turnaround before and after you were involved.
- How big a change? A percentage, or a from-to pair.
- Compared to what? Against target, against last year, against the team average.
A from-to pair is often stronger than a percentage because it is concrete: “from six weeks to four” beats “reduced by 33%”.
Strong opening verbs
Led people: led, directed, managed, supervised, mentored, coached, coordinated, recruited, trained.
Built things: built, designed, developed, engineered, launched, shipped, created, prototyped, implemented.
Improved things: improved, streamlined, automated, reduced, cut, accelerated, simplified, refactored, overhauled.
Grew things: grew, increased, doubled, scaled, expanded, generated, won, secured, raised.
Analysed things: analysed, researched, evaluated, audited, diagnosed, investigated, modelled, forecast.
Communicated: presented, negotiated, advised, authored, published, briefed, facilitated, influenced.
Openings to avoid
“Responsible for”, “duties included”, “tasked with”, “helped with”, “worked on”, “assisted in”. Each one puts a passive frame in front of an achievement. Cut the opening and start with the verb that follows it — the sentence almost always improves immediately.
Length and rhythm
One to two lines each. A bullet running to four lines is a paragraph wearing a dot, and it gets skipped. If yours are long, the usual cause is two achievements sharing a bullet: split them.
Vary the verbs
If five of your bullets start with “Managed”, a reader stops registering the word. Vary them so each achievement sounds distinct.
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Frequently asked questions
How many bullet points per job on a CV?
Three to five for recent and relevant roles, one or two for older ones. More than six on a single job means a recruiter stops reading partway and you lose control of what they remember.
Should CV bullet points be full sentences?
No. Drop the leading pronoun and the full stop is optional but be consistent. ‘Led a team of six’ rather than ‘I led a team of six.’ Keep each to one or two lines.
What if my job has no measurable results?
Almost every job has scale even when it has no metrics: how many people, how many clients, how large a budget, how often, how fast. ‘Handled 60 support tickets a day’ is a number, and it is available to anyone.
Should I use past or present tense on a CV?
Present tense for your current role, past tense for everything before it. Keep it consistent within each job.