Ten Ways To Make Bullet Points Hit The Mark!

In a résumé bullet points are meant to easily draw attention to information that allows decision makers to determine if you're a worthy candidate for the job.  Not to my surprise, when I recently asked people who screen résumés about bullet points they told me most résumés they see are inundated with bullet points but most of the bullet points fail to hit the mark?

With this in mind, here are a few pointers when preparing bullet points to include in a Professional Profile, Summary of Qualifications or Experience section of a résumé; all areas where bullet points aid in telling the story you want to get across to the decision maker.

1. Make certain the bullet point has value that makes the reader want to read on and learn more about you.
   
2. Understand that a bullet point need not be a full sentence or have a period at the end.
   
3. Many bullet points offer statistics and supporting data such as in achievements. The key is to write them so they come across as interesting reading and not as boiler plate pronouncements.
   
4. When using consecutive bullet points leave breathing room between them so each one stands out. For me this is the most irksome and often made mistake I see in résumés and I think it renders them unreadable.
   
5. Bullet points are meant to be visually appealing in a résumé while bullet point sub headings are distracting.
   
6. There are many choices on your computer’s bullet library, the trick is to choose the one most appealing to your story and to stay consistent.
   
7. In a résumé’s bullet points don’t overdo italics and bold fonts they will have the opposite effect than the one you desire.
   
8. Know when to use bullet points and when information should be offered in a sentence or a paragraph.
   
9. Bullet points are meant to create a visual appeal in a résumé so make sure this is the case when you insert one, and be conscious not overuse bullet points so as to detract from the document’s visual appeal.  
10. The secret to writing a great bullet point is brevity, especially in today’s “Twitter Age”, so work extra hard to make your point as briefly as possible, and when needed make one bullet point into two.

As always I am available to review US resumes if you email it to perry@perrynewman.com