How to Bullet Point Your Job Experience

For many jobseekers, it can be difficult to fit a career's worth of job responsibilities onto a single-page professional resume. Bullet points make it easy to condense information and highlight your most important accomplishments. By turning each bulleted item into a persuasive, powerful item, you can save space and help your resume stand out from the crowd.

When it comes to reducing your job duties into a bulleted list on a professional resume, it can be difficult to determine which items to include. Eliminate anything that is obvious. If you worked as a cashier, it would be unnecessary to write that you operated a cash register or provided customer service. Instead, focus on the things that set your experience apart from other job candidates, such as being awarded the Cashier of the Year award, getting customers through 25 percent faster than other cashiers, or saving the store $10,000. Solid examples of your accomplishments are far more memorable and persuasive than obvious statements. If you have a surplus of responsibilities and accomplishments, choose items that will illustrate your ability to perform the duties of the open position.

On a professional resume, every word counts. To make the most of your space, start each bulleted item with an action word to stand out in the reviewer's mind. Instead of writing "Made improvements to filing system," you might write, "Implemented a new filing system that reduced search time." Use the past tense for every list item.

When a potential employer is looking through stacks of resumes, numbers often stand out more than words. Instead of simply stating your accomplishments on your professional resume, find ways to quantify your experience. While, "Increased the number of sales" lets the employer know that you are an effective salesperson, "Increased sales by 25 percent over three months" gives a concrete example. By assigning numbers to your most important accomplishment from each position, you can make your resume more memorable.

As you write the bulleted items for your professional resume, The Chronicle of Higher Education advises that you incorporate phrases from the job posting. Go through the posting, and highlight the most important phrases related to experience and education. If possible, drop them directly into your resume. That way, when the reviewer is scanning through stacks of resumes, it will be obvious that you meet the necessary qualifications. During a job search, anything that makes the reviewer's job easier can give you an advantage.

Writing strong bullet points for a professional resume takes a great deal of time and effort, particularly when you create a different document for each open job. The extra investment can pay off in the end, however, making your resume a more effective job search tool.

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