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Writing Skill Statements

Bullet point statements give depth to your experiences

Elaborate on Your Experiences

Your resume contains a lot of information, and some of the most important parts are descriptions of your work, internship, leadership, study abroad and volunteer experiences. Learn to craft strong skill statements to highlight the impact of your skills.

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Keep Reading to Learn:

The purpose of bullet points
Skills you want to capture in your descriptive statements
A break-down of how to draft a strong skill statement

Why Bullet Points?

To put it simply: it's easier to read! Putting paragraphs on your resume often makes it harder for someone to get the quick facts about your experiences, and makes reading your resume a more daunting experience.

It's all about those skills!

You'll start by writing about transferable skills, like communication skills, teamwork, problem-solving, customer service and more.

As you gain more experience, you'll include industry-specific skills and highlight the knowledge you have that is particular to the field you're seeking employment in.

Why bullet points?

To put it simply: bullet points are easier to read! Putting paragraphs on your resume often makes it harder for someone to get the quick facts about your experiences.

With bullet points, you can break up the description of your work into multiple short statements, starting each with an action verb to grab the reader's attention.

Action Verbs

A Simple Guide

Below is a process you can use to transform an overly simple bullet point statement into a more impressive one!

Starting bullet point: I made phone calls.
First: Remove any personal pronouns, like "I." Example: Made phone calls.
Ask yourself: What skill(s) did you learn/demonstrate by performing this duty? Example: Learned communication skills.
Change the structure: Make it a statement, add an action verb at the beginning: "Learned communication skills by making phone calls."
Choose a stronger verb: Choose a stronger descriptor for your skill: "Developed strong communication skills."

Using the Example Above

Integrate Some Details

Clarify

Ask yourself the 5 "W's" and an H (Who, what, where, why, when, and how): Who was I talking to? What was I talking to them about? Why was I doing this?

Answer: Talking to St. Thomas Alumni, during a fundraising drive for student scholarships.

Quantify

Where possible, give a sense of the scope of your experience in numbers!

Answer: Over twenty alumni every evening.

Result

Where possible, highlight the outcome and result to demonstrate impact.

Answer: Helped raise over $1 million in scholarship funds from September to May.

Developed strong communication skills speaking to over twenty St. Thomas Alumni per evening as part of a fundraising scholarship drive that raised over $1 million in funds during the academic year.

Next Steps

Begin drafting bullet statements and
Stop by the Career Development Center to have your writing reviewed by a Career Peer!