Resume Bullet Points: Action Verbs and Examples
Bullet points are where most resumes are won or lost. Weak bullets describe duties ("Responsible for customer emails"). Strong bullets describe outcomes ("Resolved 40+ customer tickets per day with a 96% satisfaction score"). This guide gives a repeatable formula and examples you can adapt.
The bullet formula
Action verb + what you did + how or with what + result. Not every bullet needs all four parts, but the best ones include a result the reader can picture, such as time saved, money earned, quality improved or scale reached.
Before and after
| Weak | Stronger |
|---|---|
| Worked on the company website. | Redesigned the pricing page and ran A/B tests, lifting sign-ups by 14%. |
| Responsible for team scheduling. | Built a shift-scheduling system for 25 staff, eliminating weekly double-bookings. |
| Helped with data reports. | Automated a weekly sales report in SQL, saving the team 5 hours per week. |
| Taught students. | Taught 120 students across 4 classes; average exam scores rose 11% year over year. |
Action verbs by category
Leadership: led, directed, coordinated, mentored, supervised, delegated, represented.
Building and creating: designed, built, developed, launched, implemented, established, prototyped.
Improving: streamlined, optimised, reduced, increased, accelerated, restructured, modernised.
Analysing: analysed, evaluated, forecasted, audited, researched, identified, measured.
Communicating: presented, negotiated, wrote, trained, advised, facilitated, persuaded.
Delivering: delivered, completed, resolved, managed, maintained, shipped, executed.
Tips for better bullets
- Use past tense for finished roles and present tense for your current role.
- Start every bullet with a different verb where you can.
- Quantify when you honestly can: percentages, currency, team size, volume, frequency or time.
- When you lack numbers, show scope: "for a team of 8", "across 3 regions", "daily".
- Keep each bullet to one or two lines.
- Never invent metrics. Be ready to explain every number in an interview.
If you are early in your career
Use coursework, internships, volunteering and personal projects. "Built a budgeting app used by 30 classmates" is a legitimate, specific bullet. The same formula applies.
The MySimpleResume builder lets you add bullets one at a time with live preview, so you can see how each line reads on the page.