Bullets vs Narratives: Building a Resume That Actually Works

Buy Glen a Coffee

A commercial in the 1980s famously asked "Where's the beef"?! I feel the same way often when reviewing a stack of resumes. Don't let yours be one of those.

“I’ve been on both sides of the hiring table. I’ve scanned thousands of resumes, hired well over 200 people across government and private sectors, and here’s what I can tell you: the format matters less than the story you’re telling.”

But format does matter. The way you package your story can either help a hiring manager see your value or bury it in noise. That’s where the two main flavors of resumes come in: bullets and narratives.

As a hiring manager, it is not unusual for a hundred resumes to get dumped on my lap for a single job. Yes, there is normally a panel to do the reviews, but the hiring manager decides on what is important for the panel to review for.

If they don’t see it quickly, plainly, you may not be rated high enough to make the first cut.

In the private sector it was just me most of the time, so the first scan was normally fast, and I better see what I needed clearly right away, or I was moving on.

If you read my interview blog segments, you know you have to grab the hiring manager’s or interview panel’s attention in the first 90 seconds or so.

The same is true with your resume, and how you structure it may determine IF you ever get that interview in the first place.

Let's do a deeper dive on the two most common resume types: Bullet, and Narrative.

In the next Blog in this series, we will take a brief look at a couple other variations, (Hybrid, Executive), and talk Cover Letters, and how to best target your resume to the job you want.

Bullets: Fast and Scannable, But Often Empty

Bullets are everywhere. HR likes them because they’re quick to skim and easy for keyword-matching systems. But here’s the problem: bullets too often read like grocery lists.

• “Managed teams.”

  
  

• “Oversaw projects.”

  
  

• “Conducted analysis.”

Great. So did a thousand other applicants. Nothing in those bullets tells me how well you did it, or why I should care.

Often it is obvious the bullets are a regurgitation of what the announcement says is required experience. This makes the resume, well, easily forgettable no matter how creative the formatting is.

Better bullets tell mini-stories.

“Managed teams.” =

• Managed a team of 20 people developing a $2M IT modernization project, delivering ahead of schedule and 15% under budget.

  
  

• Led a team of 12 through a twelve-month major system migration with zero downtime.

  
  

Now I can see results, not just responsibilities. This quickly tells me how you align to my needs.

Pro: Quick to read, good for scanning.

Con: Easy to get lazy, easy to blend in.

Pro Tip: Create a bulletized experience long form. (Kind of the cheat sheet of your experience in short bullets).

Cover all of your skills with example-based bullets. You most likely are applying for a segment of the industry (Program Management, Engineering, Contracts, Logistics, etc.).

Take the time to really think about your experience and write those bullets out. You can then easily compile any resume (Bullet, or Narrative) to meet virtually any job opening you are applying for quickly.

A good habit is to review this list a couple times a year, and update it as your experience dictates. That way it is ready when you need it.

Pro Tip: This can also be used to help you when writing your accomplishments for mid, and year end.

Narratives: Richer Stories, Risk of Rambling

Narrative resumes are my personal favorite when written well. They pre-answer a lot of questions I find myself asking when I am just looking at bullets on other resumes.

A short paragraph gives context, shows action, and delivers results. You’re not just listing duties; you’re showing impact.

Pro Tip: A well-written Narrative style resume already has you prepped on what data you need in your interview answers. It already tells the situation, tasks, actions, and results.

Weak narrative: “Responsible for supervising all office staff. Timekeeping, Contracts, Supplies, Logistics. Office did $500M a year in business, selling landscaping supplies wholesale.”

Stronger narrative: I manage all critical corporate administrative functions supporting a $500M a year wholesale supplier. Faced with 30% staff turnover, negatively impacting the company by an estimated $10M yearly, I implemented both mentorship and employee development programs, reducing turnover to less than 5% in the first twenty-four months.

That’s the scope of your responsibility, a problem, an action, and a result.

As a hiring manager, that makes me pay attention. Makes me want to interview you and hear exactly what these programs were, and how they were so successful.

The unspoken question is: Can you do the same thing for my business?

But narratives can go off the rails. If you write three chunky paragraphs for every job, you lose me.

Narratives work best as crisp 2–3 sentence stories that connect directly to the job you’re aiming for.

Pro: Shows how well you did the work. When it’s all said and done, it comes down to managing risk — cost, schedule, and performance — and how you handled each.

Con: Can ramble or look like a wall of text if not managed carefully.

What I normally see here are what I call "bloated bullets." Just paragraphs of "what you do" that do not tell any story. Often copy-paste sections right out of the job announcement.

Like the weak narrative example above, each job function listed would be surrounded by data that does not enhance the narrative, it only serves to make it hard to read and well, "muddy."

Example: “Responsible for supervising all office staff. Timekeeping, 4 people tracking 75 full-time employees, and up to 25 more seasonal employees, and the Contracts team, 6 people in 3 states $200M a year, Supplies 12 people also 3 states $100M a year, Logistics, 15 people delivery trucks, forklifts, delivery scheduling. Office did $500M a year in business with places in 3 states, selling landscaping supplies wholesale.”

I have seen this kind of rambling explode into half a page many times, with just data that doesn’t really tell me anything specific.

What I really want to know:

Did you hire, discipline, promote, develop any of these employees?

Did you do employee evaluations, counseling?

What part did you play in any of the analysis, finance, turnover, ROI, ROA, GP, NP?

In Short: How did you help this company be successful?

Depending on what you are applying for, understanding the skill set/s that the job you are competing for may need, will help you tailor your short narrative and present a problem, action, and result that speaks to the hiring manager and how you are the solution to their issue.

Pro Tip: “Think of each narrative like a movie trailer: just enough action and impact to make me want to see the whole film — in your interview.”

What Really Matters: Relevance

Here’s a secret most applicants miss: As a hiring manager, I don’t want your entire life story. (More is not always better.)

I get it, we all want to make sure we don’t miss documenting our experience.

But as a hiring manager, I need to be able to see quickly how your experience lines up with my need.

I need your resume to be one I remember.

I need your resume to be clear enough that I can either hire you or it makes me want to interview you.

If the job you’re applying for is covered by the last 5 years of your work experience, focus there. Give me details where it matters. For older roles, just give me a line so I can see there aren’t gaps.

“Shift Supervisor, McDonald’s, 1992–1995” is plenty. Don’t make me slog through your burger-flipping years if I’m hiring for an electrical engineer.

Hiring managers aren’t archaeologists — don’t make us dig through layers of history to find what we need now.

Your resume should show me what you can do for me now, not make me wander through what you did in high school, how you worked your way through college, etc.

Training, Education, and Extras

Education: Put your highest relevant degree first. Don’t bury me in every online course you’ve ever taken.

Training: List only what’s current and relevant. A certificate from 2005 that’s long expired doesn’t help.

Pro Tip: I see entire pages listed with classes. Especially for Federal Employees. Hiring managers are NOT looking through all of these.

We are not considering any class in Excel Spreadsheets from 2005 as relevant.

If it directly aligns and is current, list it.

If you have a professional certification, list it.

If you have a professional license that is relevant, list it.

Otherwise, don’t clutter your resume with noise.

Volunteer Work: Include it if it connects to the role — leadership, community service, technical skills — otherwise keep it brief.

The Bottom Line

There’s no one “right” format. The best resumes do three things:

• Match the job you’re applying for.

  
  

• Tell a story of impact (challenge → action → result).

  
  

• Respect the hiring manager’s time.

  
  

Bullets can work if they tell stories. Narratives can shine if they’re crisp and relevant.

The goal isn’t to fit into a template — it’s to stand out by showing not just what you did, but how well you did it.

Sidenote/foot stomp: I speak to format in this blog; it is the verbal format. There are many online templates, and resume companies like to use fancy paper, and all kinds of sections, and blocks, and lines, and colors, and more!

You get the picture!

I will say this confidently: I have never, not once, hired, or even interviewed someone based on the layout of the resume pages.

Often it actually makes it confusing, and if your resume is going through any electronic filters those things may actually interfere with it getting to human eyes.

Pro Tip: All of those fancy colors, and blocks, and boxes, highlights, and sections look nice, but none of it matters. NONE!

Simple, clean, direct, and relevant win every single time over artistic layout.

“Hybrid resumes mix bullets and short narratives, and executive resumes put more weight on leadership, strategy, and impact across organizations. We’ll circle back to those in another post.”

If you found value in this, please hit follow, sign up so you get notified when new posts come out. Consider buying a coffee to help support the site. Definitely reach out if you want resume, research, or interview skills support. Thank you.

Follow the Blog