How to write resume bullets when you don’t have numbers
Turn a vague duty into a clear resume bullet using the problem, what you did and what someone could use afterward.
Ghosted editorialPublished 11 min read
On this page
- From a duty to a bullet
- What a bullet has to do when there’s no number
- Three things to settle first
- Try it on your own line
- Six kinds of detail that do a number’s job
- Start with what you did, not what you were part of
- When you do have a number
- Bullets without numbers, by kind of work
- Which bullets to keep, and which goes first
- The mistakes that make a bullet weaker
- Check each bullet before you send
- Questions people ask about bullets without numbers
Before and after
From a duty to a bullet
| Starting line | A more useful line, if true |
|---|---|
| Helped with bugs | Reproduced login failures on Android and sent the release team the device, steps and error message. |
| Trained new starters | Wrote the opening checklist and walked new starters through their first shift. |
| Worked on reports | Built a weekly list of overdue invoices so the accounts team could see who needed a call. |
None of the better lines has a percentage. Each says what was going on, what the person did, and who could use the result. That’s what makes them believable, and it’s what gives an interviewer something to ask about.
Only if it’s true
Every example on this page shows a shape, not content to borrow. If you didn’t reproduce the bug, don’t write that you did. A plain line about real work beats a strong line about work you can’t talk through.
Start here
What a bullet has to do when there’s no number
A number is one way to make a line concrete. It isn’t the only way. Plenty of good work never gets counted: nobody measured how many questions you answered at the front desk, and nobody hands you a dashboard when you leave a job.
What a reader wants from a bullet is simpler than a figure: could this person do the work we need? A line answers that when the reader can picture the work, and three things are enough for that.
What was happening
The problem, the request or the situation. “Login failures on Android.” “Overdue invoices.” “New starters on their first shift.” A few words is usually enough, and sometimes the action implies it.
What you did yourself
Your action, with a verb that says what it was: reproduced, wrote, built, walked through. Not “helped with”, unless helping is exactly what you did.
What someone had afterwards
The thing you left behind and who used it: steps the release team could act on, a checklist new starters kept, a list the accounts team called from. This is the part a number usually plays.
Before you write
Three things to settle first
Which job you’re writing for
The posting tells you which of your work to pick. A support role wants the escalations you handled; an operations role wants the checklist you wrote. Start from the work that matches.
What you’d say if asked
Every bullet is an interview question waiting to happen. If you couldn’t talk about a line for two minutes, rewrite it until you could, or drop it.
Whose work it was
Yours, or the team’s with you in it. Both are worth a bullet; just say which. “With the warehouse team, moved stock counts onto handheld scanners” is honest and still specific.
Your turn
Try it on your own line
Finish “Someone came to me with ___.” Then finish “I gave them ___.” Cut the setup once the action makes sense. “Customers kept asking where their refund was” and “I wrote the status email our team could reuse” become “Wrote a refund status email the support team could reuse.”
Do it for one piece of work at a time. If you get stuck on “I gave them”, the work may have been a duty you carried out rather than something you changed. That’s fine for one plain line, but look for a better example to lead with.
Instead of a number
Six kinds of detail that do a number’s job
The tool or system
“Reproduced login failures on Android.” Naming where the work happened tells a reader you can work there too, and gives an interviewer a place to start.
The people you handed it to
“…and sent the release team the device, steps and error message.” A named team shows the work was used by someone, not just done.
The thing you made
A checklist, a template, a weekly list, a guide. A reader can picture a thing. A duty is harder to picture.
How often, or how far it reached
“Every new starter on the late shift.” “Each Monday.” “Across both stores.” Words like every and each are claims too: use them when they’re true.
What changed for someone
“…so the accounts team could see who needed a call.” The result, said as what someone could now do, with no figure needed.
Who kept it
“Now part of onboarding.” “Adopted by the evening team.” Someone choosing to keep using your work is evidence in itself.
One or two per bullet
A bullet with all six reads like a paragraph. Pick the one or two details that matter most for the job you’re applying to, and leave the rest for the interview.
Verbs
Start with what you did, not what you were part of
The first word of a bullet is the claim. “Helped with”, “responsible for” and “worked on” describe where you stood, not what you did. Swap them for the action itself.
| Instead of | Try, if it’s what you did |
|---|---|
| Helped with | Reproduced, wrote, fixed, checked |
| Was responsible for | Ran, kept, ordered, scheduled |
| Worked on | Built, drafted, tested, moved |
| Assisted | Prepared, booked, answered, covered |
| Was involved in | Interviewed, collected, reviewed, presented |
A bigger verb is a bigger claim. Don’t trade “helped” for “led” unless you led. If the work was shared, say so and say what your part was. And leave out adjectives about yourself: in a CareerBuilder survey of hiring managers, “team player”, “hard worker” and “detail-oriented” were among the phrases they named as pet peeves. A bullet that shows the detail says more than one that claims it.
52%
of hiring managers in a CareerBuilder survey wanted to see “achieved” on a resume, the most of any word. “Trained/mentored” got 47% and “resolved” 40%: verbs that describe what you did, with or without a figure behind them.
Source: CBS News (2014), on a CareerBuilder survey of hiring managers
Numbers
When you do have a number
If you have a reliable count, include it where it helps. If you don’t, name the tool, the problem or the handoff. “Sent reproduction steps to the release team” gives an interviewer something real to ask about.
Use the number
- You counted it, or it’s on a record: a ticket queue, a rota, a report
- You could say how you know if someone asked
- It describes your work, not the whole company’s
Use words instead
- You’d be guessing, or rounding up to sound better
- The figure exists, but you can’t get to it now
- “Every”, “each week” or “first” says it honestly
Leave it out
- The number belongs to the team or the company, like “revenue grew”
- You can’t say what your part in it was
- It needs a sentence of explanation to make sense
Counts you may have forgotten. Some numbers are easy to stand behind because they’re facts, not results: how many people were on your team, how many sites you covered, how many languages you supported customers in. If you know them, they make a line more concrete. If you’d have to guess, words do the job.
58%
of hiring managers in a Harris Poll survey for CareerBuilder said they had caught a lie on a résumé. Embellished skills and embellished responsibilities were the most common. A figure you can’t explain is an easy thing to ask about.
Source: CNBC, on a 2014 Harris Poll survey for CareerBuilder
More examples
Bullets without numbers, by kind of work
The same shape works in any job. These are made up, and each is only worth writing if it’s what happened.
| Work | Vague line | Clearer line, if true |
|---|---|---|
| Retail | Handled customer complaints | Took returns at the front desk and wrote up repeat faults for the store manager. |
| Hospitality | Responsible for opening | Opened the café at weekends: till, stock check and the allergen board. |
| Office admin | Managed calendars | Kept the directors’ calendars and rebooked meetings when their travel changed. |
| Teaching assistant | Supported students | Ran reading groups for pupils who were behind, and kept notes the class teacher used for reports. |
| Warehouse | Picked orders | Picked and packed orders, and flagged mislabelled stock to the shift lead. |
| Junior developer | Worked on the website | Moved the sign-up form to the new design system and fixed the errors screen-reader users reported. |
| Student society | Member of the events team | Booked speakers for the society’s talks and wrote the emails that went to members. |
Order
Which bullets to keep, and which goes first
A good bullet in the wrong place still gets missed. The first one or two under each job do most of the work, so put the line closest to the job you’re applying for on top.
Three to five for a recent job
Fewer for older ones. Past five, the good lines start hiding the best one.
One piece of work per bullet
If a line has “and also” in it, it’s probably two bullets, or one too many.
Two lines at most
A bullet that runs onto a third line is usually carrying its setup. Cut back to the action and what came of it.
To put your best lines where a particular job will see them, read how to tailor your CV to a job description.
What goes wrong
The mistakes that make a bullet weaker
Inventing a percentage
Advice to “quantify everything” leads people to add a percentage nobody measured. The first follow-up question, “How did you work that out?”, is the end of it.
Rounding up the verb
“Helped” becomes “led”, “supported” becomes “managed”. It reads better until someone asks who was on the team you led.
Copying the duties from the job description
“Responsible for customer enquiries” describes the job, which everyone in it had. Your bullet should say what you did in it.
Describing yourself instead of the work
“Highly motivated, detail-oriented team player.” A reader can’t check any of it, so they skip it.
Burying the action
“In order to improve the experience of new customers, I was asked to…” By the time the verb arrives, the reader has moved on. Start with it.
Last look
Check each bullet before you send
Questions
Questions people ask about bullets without numbers
Do recruiters only care about bullets with numbers?
No. A number is one way to make a line specific, and specific is what they’re after. A clear line about real work beats a vague one with a figure nobody can explain.
Can I estimate a number?
Only if you could explain how you got it, and you’d be comfortable saying “about”. If the ticket queue showed roughly the same count every week, that’s a basis. If you’d be guessing, use words instead.
What if my job was mostly routine?
Routine work done well is still work. Pick the parts where you made, fixed or taught something, and give the routine one plain line: “Ran the closing checks on the late shift.”
Should every bullet start with a verb?
Almost always. Past tense for jobs you’ve left, present tense for the one you’re in. Leave out “I”: the whole CV is about you.
Can I use the same bullets for different jobs?
Yes. Keep the facts the same in every version, and change which bullets come first and which of the posting’s words you use, where they’re true. Then keep track of which version went where.
How do I show a team result without taking the credit?
Say what you did inside it: “Rewrote the help centre’s billing articles with the support team, and wrote the refunds section.” That’s honest about the team and clear about your part.
Write bullets you can explain.
Turn your notes about a job into bullets in the CV builder. It asks you for a missing fact instead of making one up.