04 · ATS resume system · Chapter 10 of 35
Write achievement bullets that survive an interview
The strongest bullets explain action, context or scale, and outcome. If you cannot defend a number, do not print the number.
12 min read
Duty bullets tell a recruiter what the company asked you to do. Achievement bullets tell them what changed because you were there. You need both flavors, weighted toward achievement on the most relevant work.
Action verbs that do real work
Led, analyzed, resolved, coordinated, improved, trained, produced, supported, implemented, documented, forecasted, negotiated, audited, designed, recovered, stabilized. Avoid ‘helped with,’ ‘responsible for,’ and ‘worked on’ as the first words. They hide the verb.
Before / after rewrites
Retail / frontline
Weak
Responsible for customer service and cashier duties.
Strong
Handled 40–70 transactions a shift and de-escalated pickup errors by calling the customer before they arrived, which the manager then made the Saturday standard.
Office / admin
Weak
Answered phones and did filing for the office.
Strong
Managed a 3-line phone queue and a shared inbox of ~30 messages a day; built a labeled folder system so invoice questions stopped disappearing into personal inboxes.
Sales
Weak
Met and exceeded sales goals in a fast-paced environment.
Strong
Sold $18k–$24k in average monthly revenue on a $16k target by running a same-week follow-up list instead of waiting for walk-ins (numbers must be yours and defensible).
Career changer
Weak
As a teacher I have transferable skills like communication and leadership.
Strong
Ran a classroom of 28, documented behavior and progress weekly, and coordinated with 6 specialists—same muscle as stakeholder updates and case tracking.
Credibility rules
- Use numbers only when you can defend them in a screen. ‘About 40 a week’ is more honest than ‘precisely 42.7% lift.’
- Never invent percentages. ‘Reduced errors’ without a baseline is weaker than ‘kept the log complete for 90 consecutive days.’
- Team results need a scope word: ‘as part of a 4-person crew’ or ‘I owned the tracker the crew used.’
- If you cannot remember the number, recover it from old emails, reviews, dashboards, or a former manager—not from thin air.
Do this now
- Rewrite your top 8 bullets using the formula. Read each one aloud. If you stumble, it is not ready.
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