العربيةHow to write your work experience on a CV as strong bullet points
Learn to write the work experience section of your CV in a way that convinces recruiters, with before-and-after examples for sales, accounting, design and admin roles.
Say you spent three years working in a phone shop. Over that time you learned how to deal with customers, sell products, organize stock and solve everyday problems.
But when it came to writing your CV, you summed it all up in one line:
"Worked in sales and customer service."
The sentence is true, but it doesn't do your experience justice.
The problem many applicants face isn't a lack of experience. It's not knowing how to explain its value.
Responsibilities vs. achievements
Responsibilities are the things you were expected to do.
Achievements are the things you delivered, improved or helped make happen.
For example:
- Responsibility: following up on customer orders.
- Achievement: set up a clear way to track orders and update their status, which helped the team deal with delayed orders more easily.
Not every responsibility has to become a huge achievement. But the more you can show the effect of your work, the stronger your experience looks.
An easy way to write experience bullet points
MIT's career office uses a method for describing achievements called PAR:
- Problem / Project: the problem, project or task.
- Action: what you did.
- Result: what came of it.
On a CV, you can shorten it to this formula:
A clear action verb + the task you did + how you did it or what resulted.
Example:
"Built a shared Excel sheet for tracking customer orders, making it easy to see the status of every order and follow up on late ones."
See how the sentence shows what the person did, which tool they used, and why it was useful.
Before-and-after examples from different fields
1. Sales associate
Before: "Selling products and dealing with customers."
After: "Advised customers on products that suited their needs, handled sales and exchanges, and contributed to the store's monthly targets."
If you have a result you can back up, you could add:
"Helped raise accessories sales by 15% over three months by improving product displays and suggesting complementary items to customers."
The 15% here is only an example. Don't use a figure like this unless you achieved something similar and can explain it.
2. Accountant
Before: "Entering invoices and doing accounts."
After: "Prepared daily journal entries, reconciled customer and supplier balances, and helped produce monthly financial reports using Excel and the company's accounting software."
3. UX/UI designer
Before: "Designed mobile apps using Figma."
After: "Designed user flows and interactive screens for a mobile app, from analyzing requirements and creating wireframes to handing designs over to the development team."
If you took part in user research or usability testing, mention it only if you were actually responsible for it or contributed to it.
4. Administrative assistant
Before: "Organizing files and appointments."
After: "Managed correspondence and administrative files, scheduled meetings and tracked documents between departments to keep paperwork moving."
5. Warehouse supervisor
Before: "Managing the warehouse and arranging goods."
After: "Tracked stock coming in and going out, kept inventory records up to date with regular stock checks, and worked with purchasing and sales to fix shortages."
6. Content creator
Before: "Writing social media posts."
After: "Planned monthly content and wrote posts for social media, reviewing engagement figures and adjusting the content based on how posts performed."
Notice that most of these examples have no numbers. Even so, they're clearer and stronger than the originals.
How to use numbers without exaggerating
Numbers help when they're true and tied to your work.
Ask yourself:
- Roughly how many orders did you handle?
- How many people did you work with on the team?
- How many projects did you work on?
- How long did the project last?
- Did you save time or reduce errors in a way you can show?
- Do you have sales figures or reports that show your contribution?
For example:
"Managed inventory records for more than 300 products."
That's useful information if it's true, even without a percentage improvement.
But don't write "increased productivity by 80%" just because it sounds professional.
If you don't know the figure, don't make it up. Use an accurate description that shows the size of your responsibility.
Verbs to start your bullet points with
Instead of starting every point with "Responsible for", try verbs that show your role:
- Developed
- Organized
- Analyzed
- Delivered
- Designed
- Followed up
- Coordinated
- Prepared
- Improved
- Supervised
- Contributed
- Tested
Pick the verb that matches what you really did.
There's a difference between "supervised a team" and "worked as part of a team". Using the right verb is part of what makes your CV believable.
How many bullet points per job?
As a rule of thumb, start with three to five points for the roles most relevant to the job you're targeting, and keep less important roles shorter.
You don't need to list every daily task.
If you spent five years in one job, pick your main responsibilities and the most important results or improvements you were part of.
If you worked at a small company and covered several roles, show that range instead of hiding behind a general job title.
What about freelance work?
If you work freelance, don't leave it out.
For example:
Freelance Graphic Designer | 2023 – present
- Created brand identities and marketing materials for small businesses.
- Worked directly with clients to understand their needs and revise designs.
- Managed delivery deadlines and revisions throughout each project.
You can add a link to your published work if you have permission to show it.
Freelancing is real experience. What matters is presenting it under its real name and in an organized way.
Before you finish your experience section
Go through each bullet point and ask yourself:
Did I explain what I did? Did I mention a skill relevant to the job? Is there a result or context that shows the value of this work? And is every detail true?
If the answers are clear, your experience section is now stronger.
Seekr tip
Open the job ad you want to apply for and pick out the three most important responsibilities. Then go back to your experience and choose the points that prove you've handled similar responsibilities.
That way you're tailoring your CV to the job, instead of writing general information and leaving the recruiter to connect the dots.
And if you haven't had a formal job yet, read how to write a CV with no experience.
Frequently asked questions
Should I write my responsibilities or my achievements?
Both matter, but it's best to describe your responsibilities in a way that highlights your contribution and results wherever you can.
Do I need numbers in every bullet point?
No. Numbers add value when they're true and useful, but they're not required for every experience.
Should I include experience from a different field?
Yes, if it shows skills you can bring to the new field, such as handling customers, organizing work or communication.
