# Writing good bullets

> The builder scores your bullets and flags weak ones. What it is actually measuring, and how to fix the flags it raises.

Source: https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/writing-good-bullets
Last verified: 2026-09-03

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Bullets are where a resume is won or lost, and they are the part most people write worst - a list of
duties rather than a record of what changed because you were there.

## What the checklist flags

The **Improve** room runs a set of checks as you write. The ones you will meet most:

| Flag                                 | What it wants                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Summary too long**                 | A summary is three or four lines. Longer and it is read as an essay and skipped.                                |
| **Missing email / phone / LinkedIn** | A recruiter who cannot contact you does not chase it.                                                           |
| **Contact details wrap**             | Your contact line is spilling onto a second line, which looks broken.                                           |
| **Skills unmapped**                  | Your skills are one undifferentiated list rather than grouped.                                                  |
| **Longer than target**               | See [making it fit](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/making-it-fit).                                         |
| **Not single column**                | Two-column layouts can confuse parsers. See [the ATS check](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/the-ats-check). |

> **Note** - A flag is an opinion, not an error
>
> Nothing is blocked. If you have a reason to keep a five-line summary, keep it - the checklist is
> telling you what a reader is likely to do, not what the file is allowed to contain.

## What makes a bullet score well

1. **Start with what you did**, in a verb. "Rebuilt", "cut", "shipped" - not "responsible for".
2. **Say what changed**, with a number where one exists. "Cut checkout errors by 40%" is a claim
   somebody can ask about; "improved checkout reliability" is not.
3. **Keep it to one or two lines.** A bullet that wraps to four is a paragraph pretending.
4. **Be specific about your part.** "Led a team of four" and "was on a team of four" are different
   facts and interviewers ask which one it was.

## If you cannot find a number

Not every job has metrics, and inventing them is worse than not having them. What works instead:

- **Scale.** "Across 12 markets", "for 400 daily users".
- **Before and after.** "Replaced a manual weekly process with a scheduled job."
- **Difficulty.** "Migrated the payment rail with no scheduled downtime."

## When you are stuck

The **Sharpen bullets** and **Impact Interview** assists exist for exactly this - the second asks you
questions about a role and drafts bullets from your answers, which works better than staring at an
empty field. Both cost credits; see [improving with AI](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/improving-with-ai).

- [Improving with AI](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/improving-with-ai) - The four assists, and what they cost.

- [Your readiness score](https://www.revquix.com/docs/resume/your-readiness-score) - A score out of 100, with every deduction explained.