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How many bullet points per job on resume: A detailed guide

July 31, 2023 4.1K views

A resume is the most important thing you need before applying for any job. A well-formatted and well-written resume can increase your chances of getting hired. This one-page document aims to highlight your skills and specifications at a glance. It contains all the information required to apply for a job, such as your educational background, previous work history, contact information, and promising achievements.

In the competitive market, only those can win the race; have creative ideas to showcase their abilities. The hiring managers and recruiters say that 80% of the applicants don't get the interview call because they don't properly organize their resume sections. You can format your resume properly and make the sections organized by adding bullet points in your resume. Many people ponder how many bullet points per job on a resume.

Your resume reflects your relevant skills and helps recruiters to determine why you are an ideal candidate for this position. Whether a newbie or experienced, you will find resume building tricky without expert advice. You must add some effective elements to your resume to increase its impact. You can emphasize your achievements, honors, and work experience by adding resume bullet points.

But before choosing a professional resume format, be sure to get the answer of how many bullet points per job on the resume. Once you answer this puzzling question, you can easily create a professional and effective resume. Some experts suggest adding 5-6 bullet points to your resume, which may vary based on your experience level.

If you're seeking the answer to how many bullet points you should include on your resume, where to include bullet points, and how bullet points can enhance the effectiveness of your resume, then you're at the perfect place. Specifically, we will focus on:

1. How many bullet points per job on resume 2020

2. Some Benefits of using bullet points in your resume

3. Where you can include bullet points in your resume

4. Tips for writing bullet points in your resume

Continue reading to get an in-depth answer to your queries regarding bullet points on a resume. We will share the best knowledge possible.

What are Bullet Points on your Resume-A Detailed Overview?

Bullet points are a powerful shortcut for writing an effective resume. A well-formatted resume with highlighted job roles and skills helps you get your desired position. The bullet points in your resume aim to increase the readability of your resume and make it more powerful. Always remember that the recruiters and hiring managers have to read many applications daily. You can provide them with an easy-to-read document highlighting your qualifications and achievements.

Bullet points on your resume help the recruiters to understand why you're a perfect candidate for this position and how you can help the company to achieve its future goals. A well-formatted resume with effective use of bullet points can make you stand out in front of all other applicants.

Where you can Use Bullet Points on your Resume-A Step by Step Guide

You can use bullet points in every section of your resume except the summary/resume objective. Adding bullet points can increase its effectiveness if you're using a creative or traditional resume format. You can use bullet points to break long paragraphs into short, readable lists.

Follow the below-given guidelines for using bullet points in your resume sections.

1. Contact Information and Personal Details

The contact and personal information section on your resume include your name, contact number, email address, and permanent address. You can add all this information in bullet points for comprehensive and effective communication.

2. Professional Details

Breaking your professional details and achievements in bullet points can be tricky and exhausting. You can use the following tips to showcase your professional details in bullet points without any hassle:

1). Highlight your responsibilities and duties 

2). Emphasize your achievements 

3). Use reverse chronological order to showcase bullet points in your resume

4). Highlight your previous company name, your position, your work period, and company location

Showcasing what you achieved and how you helped your previous company achieve its goals on your resume can land you the final interview.

3. Skills

Most of us ask how many bullet points per job on resume skills we can add. You can use 5-6 bullet points on your resume to highlight your most relevant soft and technical skills. It is better to add a separate section to your resume to provide all your relevant skills with ease. But this estimation may vary depending on your previous work experience and relevant skill set.

4. Educational Background

Organizing your resume's educational section can be tricky for most of you. However, you can use effective bullet points to present your educational background appropriately. You can use this section to increase your chances of getting hired if you don't have any previous work experience.

You can add the following bullet points to the resume educational section:

  • Name of your most relevant degrees

  • Name of institute

  • Grades or CGPA

  • Graduation year

  • Location of your institute

When using bullet points in your resume educational section, you must ensure that things are relevant and organized.

5. Additional Sections

You can break the additional sections of your resume into bullet points such as your hobbies, volunteer work, certifications, and languages to give your resume a more powerful impact.

The Perfect Number of Bullet Points per Job on Resume for Different Experience Levels

When seeking the answer of how many bullet points per job on your resume you should include, the main factor to consider is your experience level. Hiring managers and recruiters suggest adding bullet points according to your experience level and previous work history.

See below for the right number of bullet points per job on the resume for different experience levels.

Entry Level Positions

You can add bullet points in your resume, even if you're a fresh graduate with no or minimum experience. You can add several things in bullet points to highlight your expertise and qualifications, such as:

  • Personal projects

  • Internships

  • Volunteer work

  • Hobbies

  • Educational background

  • Certifications

  • Extracurricular activities

When applying for an entry-level position, you need to focus more on your educational background and accomplishments, no matter how small.

Mid-Level Positions

Having previous work experience in the field you're applying for can make things much easier. Before creating your resume, think about all your responsibilities and accomplishments in your previous jobs and list them. Then pick the most relevant and best ones and include them in your resume.

You can use bullet points to highlight your most relevant skills, accomplishments, and duties to show your authenticity and expertise in the relevant field. You can add the following bullet points to your resume when applying for a mid-level position:

  • Personal details

  • Relevant skills

  • Accomplishments and honors

  • Years of experience

  • Job roles and duties

Leadership Positions

Having a lot of experience and skills in the relevant field can also put you in a difficult situation. It may take hours and hours to understand which skills and accomplishments are perfect for adding to your resume. But worry no more; read our effective tips to create a professional and result-oriented resume using bullet points.

Pick your most relevant and best accomplishments and add them in bullet points. 6-8 bullet points are more than enough to highlight your experience and expertise when applying for a leadership or senior position.

Consulting and Freelancing

Although freelancing and consulting roles differ from traditional in-house positions, they follow the same bullet point strategies. Freelance and self-employment positions can benefit more from bullet points in the resume highlighting the exact position.

You can add your company name, years of experience, accomplishments, and relevant skills in bullet points to make your resume more effective.

A few Tips to Add Bullet Points Effectively to your resume

Formatting and organizing your resume can be tedious, but you can use the following tips to list bullet points in your resume more professionally.

1. Be Specific

When listing bullet points in your resume, the most important thing is to be as specific as possible. You can highlight your accomplishments and how you helped the company to achieve its goals rather than focusing on your duties and responsibilities. If you were a team leader, you could list the size of your team and the honors you achieved as a team leader.

2. Keep it Relevant & Professional

When listing bullet points on your resume, you can add only specific and most relevant information. If you're unsure about the employer's requirements, you can refer to the company's job ad to determine what to list in your resume.

You can list your most relevant technical skills, certifications, and work experience to increase the effectiveness of your resume. Experts suggest adding some soft skills instead of unnecessary and irrelevant bullet points.

3. List the things in order

Order is always important to increase the effectiveness of bullet points in a resume. Start listing your most relevant and crucial information at the start of the document and then follow the order of importance.

4. Use Action Verbs

You can use some action verbs in bullet points to show hiring managers why you're an ideal candidate for this position.

Paragraphs vs. Bullet Points

Paragraphs

Bullet Points

Decrease the readability of your resume

Make your resume easy-to-read

Don’t allow you to show statistics in every line

You can list the statistics in every line

Make resume messy and bulk

Highlight your most relevant and crucial information

Some Effective Resume Templates for determining the Right Number of Bullet Points per Job on Resume

At WPS Template Store, you can find a great collection of free resume templates to design a professional resume in minutes.

1. Creative Fresh Resume for Graduates

This simple resume template effectively highlights your accomplishments and honors in bullet points. It is great to list your details and contact information with a clear picture at the document's start. The second section of this resume template is devoted to the candidate's educational background, where you can list your most recent degree, institute name, and starting and graduating years.

2. Fresh Style Resume with One Page

This resume template is a great choice if you are applying for a leadership position. It is a simple resume template that lets you list your previous work experience in detail. It is a great idea to list all your technical and soft skills below your educational background. This resume template helps you highlight your proficiency in each skill.

3. Simple Resume for New Job

This simple resume template is an idea if you want to emphasize your previous work experience. You can add your details and contact information at the right corner of your resume with a clear profile picture.

This simple resume template allows you to showcase your previous work experience in detail. You can list your responsibilities, duties, roles, starting and ending employment dates, the company's name, location, and achievements.

Final Takeaway- How many Bullet Points per Job on Resume

When it comes to determining the number of bullet points per job on a resume, it may vary a lot, largely depending upon your work experience. Most recruiters and hiring managers suggest adding 5-6 bullet points to the resume to make it more effective. You can list your crucial information and achievements in bullet points on your resume to make it easy to read and attractive.

If you want further clarification about the right number of bullet points on your resume, you can watch free tutorials at WPS Academy. Moreover, you can get free resume templates from WPS Template Store to design a professional resume in minutes. The platform has a number of varying CV options available to choose the one that suits your requirements. You can choose from the above mentioned ones for a professional CV.

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15 years of office industry experience, tech lover and copywriter. Follow me for product reviews, comparisons, and recommendations for new apps and software.