Learn to write thumb-stopping resume bullets...

Estimated read time: 4 minutes

What’s in this letter 📧

• Job seeker’s question of the week: I lied about my current salary - what should I do?

• How to create resume bullets that pack a punch 🥊

Question from a Job Seeker

I lied to HR about my current salary during a job interview, and inflated it by 50%.

They’re now requesting a paystub to verify my salary. Currently, I receive below market rate pay, and if I tell them the true amount, they may take advantage of me and underpay me. What should I do?

Let me start by saying that lying, whether it’s on a resume or in an interview, is never the right move. If you lie, you risk putting yourself and the company in a tough spot now, or down the road, and could face serious repercussions such as a damaged reputation or even legal action.

You mentioned that you bumped up your salary by 50%. That is a lot. Let me me show you why:

• Say you’re a marketing analyst in Chicago, Illinois. The pay range for that job/location is between $52,346 and $69,436 (Source: Salary.com).

• If you’re earning on the low end of that, say $50,000 (since you mentioned you’re underpaid), a 50% hike would be $75,000 - well beyond the normal salary range.

What I’m guessing happened is that they didn’t believe you and called your bluff. My advice would be to walk away. Next time, please don’t lie.

Note: It’s illegal for employers to ask for current salary info in some US states. In Canada, there aren’t any laws that prevent them from requesting current salary information.

Have a question you’d like me to answer? Email [email protected].

Now to the good stuff…l’m going to teach you how to write bullets that pack a punch 🥊

This past Thursday, I posted about 8 metrics you can use to amplify the content on your resume 👇🏻

I also posted about how to structure your bullets for optimal impact 👇🏻

A lot of people think that standing out is a matter of using a fancy resume template. It’s not that at all. The way to stand out is with phenomenal content that recruiters just can’t ignore. I’m going to show you how to do that below 👇🏻

Use the C.A.R Technique…

A useful way to write your bullet points is by using the C.A.R technique, which stands for:

• Challenge: What challenges did you face in your current or past roles?

• Action: What action(s) did you take?

• Result: What happened as a result of your actions?

In order for this technique to work, the bullet needs to be specific and quantifiable (whenever possible).

🔴 Example of a non-specific, unquantified statement: “…improved customer loyalty.”

🟢 Specific and quantified bullet: “Improved customer loyalty based on a 10-point increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS).”

PS: NPS is a metric used by businesses to gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Tie your action to the outcome…

In the example I used above, ‘improved’ is a confounding variable. It doesn’t clarify how the outcome was achieved. It could mean anything!

🔴 Action not tied to outcome: “Improved customer loyalty based on a 10-point increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS).”

🟢 Action tied to outcome: “Planned and delivered a new customer-focused training program for all 100 staff that improved customer loyalty based on a 10-point increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS).”

When you tie the action to the outcome and clearly address the “how”, you leave no room for doubt, and make your content 10x better, ensuring you actually get to the first round interview.

And that’s a wrap folks! See you next week 👋

About the Author

I’m James, Cofounder of Final Draft Resumes. I’ve been in the career consulting space for 13 years, and before that, I was a recruiter for AECOM.

I’ve helped thousands of job seekers, from industries like software engineering, IT, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and more generate job opportunities through well-written resumes that translate unique backgrounds into coherent narratives.

If you’re struggling with your resume for whatever reason, reach out - I just might be able to help!

If you’re more of a DIY person, then check out Resumatic, my free-to-try resume builder.