Proof-First Resume Bullets: 15 Patterns That Stop You Sounding Generic

Generic resumes don't lose because they are "bad". They lose because they don't prove anything fast.

If your bullets mostly describe responsibilities, you're donating seniority.

The moment I started rewriting bullets to lead with outcomes instead of tools, recruiter screens got noticeably shorter.

This post gives you a proof-first mechanism and 15 rewrite patterns you can copy/paste.

Why "good wording" isn't the lever

Two bullets can use perfect English and still fail.

Bullet A:

• "Worked on data pipelines and dashboards."

Bullet B:

• "Owned daily pipelines end-to-end, reduced late data incidents by 60% by adding SLAs, alerts, and backfills."

The difference isn't grammar. It's proof.

The mechanism: Proof Tags

Every strong bullet contains at least two of these four tags:

• Action: what you did
• Scope: what you owned, scale, constraints
• Change: what you improved or changed
• Result: what happened because of it

If your bullet has only Action, it reads like a job description.

The artifact: 15 bullet patterns (copy/paste)

Use these as templates. Fill with your truth.

Results-first patterns

1) "Reduced X by Y% by doing Z."

2) "Improved X from A to B by redesigning Z."

3) "Delivered X in Y weeks by removing Z bottleneck."

4) "Cut costs by $Y/month by migrating/optimizing Z."

Reliability and ownership patterns

5) "Owned X end-to-end (tools), built SLAs/alerts/backfills, reduced incidents by Y%."

6) "Stabilized X by adding validation + monitoring, improving uptime from A to B."

7) "Led incident response for X, fixed root cause, prevented recurrence with Z guardrail."

Performance and scale patterns

8) "Scaled X to N users/requests by redesigning Z."

9) "Reduced runtime from A to B by optimizing joins/partitioning/indexing."

10) "Built X to handle N records/day with

Stakeholder and delivery patterns (still proof-first)

11) "Unblocked team by clarifying requirements and shipping X with measurable outcome Y."

12) "Partnered with stakeholders to define metrics, delivered dashboard that changed decision Z."

13) "Translated messy requirements into a reliable spec, shipped X with adoption by N teams."

Systems and data patterns (avoid tool lists)

14) "Built pipeline for X domain, implemented validation, reduced downstream data bugs by Y%."

15) "Designed model for X, improved trust by adding lineage/testing and removing manual steps."

If you catch yourself listing tools instead of proof, use this as your constraint:

• Mention tools only when they support a result.

Guide: https://hyperapply.app/docs/how-to-avoid-keyword-stuffing

How to rewrite a weak bullet (fast)

Take:

• "Built dashboards in Tableau."

Rewrite with proof tags:

• "Built Tableau dashboards for X stakeholders, reduced weekly reporting time by 4 hours by automating refresh and defining consistent metrics."

7–14 day execution plan

Days 1–2:

• Pick your top 10 bullets (the ones most likely to be read).
• Rewrite them using proof tags and patterns.

Days 3–7:

• Apply to 5 roles.
• After each application, add 1 missing proof bullet into your base resume so the next application gets better automatically.

Days 8–14:

• Build a "proof bank" of 30 bullets tagged by skill/domain.
• Stop rewriting from scratch. Reorder and promote.

If your base resume needs strengthening, start here: https://hyperapply.app/docs/add-your-base-cv

If your outputs feel generic, this fixes it fast: https://hyperapply.app/docs/common-output-quality-fixes

Where HyperApply fits

HyperApply generates a tailored draft from the job listing you're viewing, which can save time. But the real quality gain comes from having a strong proof bank in your base CV, so the generator has real material to promote.

You stay in control. HyperApply does not auto-apply or submit on your behalf.

How to generate: https://hyperapply.app/docs/how-to-generate-a-tailored-cv-from-a-job-post

How to improve match without exaggeration: https://hyperapply.app/docs/how-to-improve-match-to-requirements

Takeaway

Stop writing responsibilities.

Write proof. Build a proof bank. Then tailoring becomes reordering, not rewriting.