Write CV bullet points that prove impact, not just duties

Open ten CVs and nine of them open bullets with "Responsible for" or "Worked on". Both are invisible to a recruiter — they describe what you were assigned, not what you delivered.

Strong bullets follow one shape: action verb plus what you did plus the result, with a number when possible. It is the short version of the STAR method, optimised for skimming.

The formula

One sentence. Three parts. In this order:

1. Action verb — past tense, specific (Built, Led, Reduced, Migrated).
2. Object — what you acted on (a pipeline, a team of 6, the checkout flow).
3. Result — the outcome, with a number (cut latency 40%, generated 1.2B VND in Q4, on-boarded 18 partners).

Drop "I" — every bullet is already about you. Drop "helped" — it hides your contribution.

40 action verbs worth using

Pick verbs that match what you actually did. Mixing categories signals range.

Built or shipped something

Built, Launched, Designed, Developed, Engineered, Prototyped, Released, Migrated, Refactored, Automated.

Led people or projects

Led, Mentored, Coordinated, Facilitated, Owned, Drove, Coached, Onboarded, Aligned, Directed.

Improved or optimised

Reduced, Cut, Accelerated, Streamlined, Doubled, Increased, Optimised, Scaled, Recovered, Stabilised.

Analysed or decided

Analysed, Investigated, Diagnosed, Mapped, Forecasted, Audited, Benchmarked, Quantified, Surfaced, Prioritised.

Before and after

Software engineer

Before: "Responsible for the payments module."

After: "Refactored the payments module to async queues, cutting p95 latency from 1.8s to 420ms across 12K daily transactions."

Marketing

Before: "Worked on Facebook and Google ad campaigns."

After: "Ran 6 always-on Meta and Google campaigns with a 180M VND monthly budget, lifting ROAS from 2.4 to 3.6 over two quarters."

Operations

Before: "Helped with vendor management."

After: "Negotiated SLAs with 9 logistics vendors, reducing average delivery delay from 3.1 days to 1.6 days during peak season."

When you do not have a number

Not every win is measurable. When numbers are missing, swap in scope or frequency:

• Scope: "across 4 product squads", "for a 600-seat office", "in 3 markets".
• Frequency: "weekly", "every release", "rotating on-call".
• Comparison: "first end-to-end test suite the team had", "replaced a manual spreadsheet process".

The 90-second bullet review

Re-read every experience bullet and check:

• Does it start with a strong past-tense verb? (Not "Responsible for", not "Helped".)
• Is there a number, a scope, or a frequency?
• Could a reader who knows nothing about the company tell what you actually did?
• Is it one line, not three? Two lines max if context is required.
• Are you using a different verb than the bullet above? Repeated verbs flatten the CV.

Try it on Tavie

Tavie flags bullets that lack a verb or a quantifier and suggests stronger alternatives from a curated verb library. You can also paste any bullet and get a rewritten version that follows the Verb plus Object plus Result shape.

Today's mission: rewrite your 3 most recent experience bullets with a stronger verb and at least one number or scope marker each.