The job of a resume bullet is not to describe your role, it is to compress one piece of evidence into one line. "Responsible for managing client accounts" could describe anyone and is worth nothing. Everything below is built on that idea: lead with something that could not be said about everyone else, and give the reader a number to hold onto.
The rules first
One bullet, one point — if it needs a semicolon it is two bullets. Lead with something specific, which usually means the number, the scope, or the unusual verb. Past tense for old roles, present for current ones, consistently. No adjectives about yourself — "detail-oriented" and "hard-working" are what people write when there is no evidence. And do not invent the numbers; a recruiter who asks will find out, and an interview based on fabricated figures is worse than no interview.
The ten patterns
1. Action plus metric
[Verb] [thing] for [audience], producing [number] [outcome] in [timeframe].
Example slot-filling: cut onboarding time from [old] to [new] for [N] clients, producing [N] more activations per quarter.
2. Scope
Managed [N] [things] across [locations/teams], worth [$ or units] annually.
Use when scale itself is the evidence. Recruiters use scope to gauge seniority faster than titles do.
3. Before and after
Inherited [metric] at [starting point] and left it at [ending point] over [period].
Strongest pattern available if you led a change. Include both numbers — direction without magnitude reads as vague.
4. First or only
First [role/person] to [do X], resulting in [outcome].
Use sparingly and only when literally true. Write "established" rather than claiming to be the first everything.
5. Cross-functional
Led [project] across [N] teams ([names of functions]), shipping [thing] by [date].
Good for showing you can work outside your lane, which is what senior roles require.
6. Turnaround
Rebuilt [process/system] after [problem], reducing [metric] by [number] within [timeframe].
Use when you inherited something broken. The "after [problem]" clause supplies context without a paragraph.
7. Savings or revenue
[Verb] [initiative] that produced [$ or %] in [saved revenue/new revenue] in [period].
Give the basis: if the figure depends on an assumption, say which one in the interview rather than fudging the bullet.
8. Volume with quality
Delivered [N] [deliverables] per [period] at [quality metric] against a team target of [number].
The second half is what makes this work. Volume alone suggests you were a machine; volume against a bar suggests judgement.
9. Knowledge or tooling
Introduced [tool/method] to [team], adopted by [N] people and retained for [period].
Retention is the evidence. Anyone can install a tool; keeping it in use is the part worth claiming.
10. Promotion or growth
Promoted to [role] within [timeframe] after [specific thing you did].
Keep the reason concrete. "For strong performance" is a placeholder; the specific project is the evidence.
The phrases that get bullets skipped
Generated resumes reach for these constantly, and they are all invisible to a recruiter: "responsible for" — describes a job description, not evidence. "Assisted with" / "helped to" — hides your actual contribution. "Various" / "multiple" / "several" — an unstated number where a number was the interesting part. "Utilised" / "leveraged" / "spearheaded" — inflated verbs that add nothing. "Detail-oriented", "team player", "passionate" — self-assessment with no proof. And "results-driven", which everyone writes and nobody reads. If a bullet contains one of these, rewrite it against a pattern above rather than trying to patch it.
What this costs, from our 30-day benchmark
Our 30-day test measured roughly 22 minutes of editing per 1,000 words on the low-cost dedicated writer against about 8 minutes on the general assistant — near $7 per piece of your time at $30 per hour. Resumes are short enough that both tools cope; the cost is entirely in supplying accurate numbers, which no tool can do for you.
A workflow that holds up
Before generating anything, list your own raw material: the numbers you actually have (headcount, budget, revenue, time saved, volume), the two projects worth describing, and anything you were promoted for. That list is the input; without it the tool will invent plausible figures. Then write each bullet against one pattern, keeping roughly four to six per role. Read the finished page asking one question per bullet — could someone else have written this sentence about their job? If yes, it has no information in it and should be rewritten or cut.
Numbers in, adjectives out
Supply your real figures, write against a pattern, and cut anything anyone could claim.
Try Rytr →Frequently Asked Questions
Can AI write my resume bullets?
It can shape them well once you supply real numbers. Given only a job title it produces sentences anyone could write, which a recruiter skips.
How many bullets per role?
Four to six for recent roles, two to three for older ones. Each bullet should carry one piece of evidence.
Should I include metrics I am unsure about?
Only figures you can defend in an interview. Make the basis explicit — saved versus generated, gross versus net — rather than choosing the larger number.
What should I remove first when editing?
"Responsible for", "assisted with", "various", and any self-assessment like "detail-oriented". Replace them with a specific action and a number.