Resume Question: Too many bullet points?

Submitted by flexiblefine on Monday May 5th, 2014 11:06 am
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How many bulleted accomplishments are too many for a given position?

My impression is that more recent jobs should have more bullets, since they are fresher than older jobs. I also expect that a longer tenure in a position should be reflected in more bullets.

I've been in my current position (same title, same company) for 12 years. I think my most recent draft resume has 8 or 9 bullets for this position. Is this too many? Is there a "too many"?

Submitted by Alex_W on Saturday May 17th, 2014 2:31 am

Interesting to read this is

Interesting to read this as my resume is more bullets than prose.

Not that there is any official answer, but the amount should be proportionate to the time in the role, the diversity of role attributes, and the amount of achievements to highlight.

Can save space and bullets by listing with commans some achievements and responsibilities that can be logically grouped together.

Submitted by donm on Saturday May 17th, 2014 2:38 am

Too C-like in your Thinking

The right number of bullets is not a number. I know of no better way to illustrate what I mean than by an analogy.

When most people take a photograph of someone, they focus on the face and put that in the middle of the view finder. This tends to cut off the feet and include a lot of "sky" above the person's head. Instead, the photo should be framed as a whole, and include the feet and cut out the sky. Keep the whole object as the focus, and not one particular facet.

Your resume should be the same. It should show all of your abilities in the best way, and not have distractions in the background. If your present position has four bullets and your previous position has 8 bullets, it does not mean either position is more or less important than the other. The point is to show what you've done and what you can do in the future for the new employer.