The C.A.R. method - upgrade your resume bullet points in 3 steps

Vroom Vroom! Let your C.A.R resume get you to your dream job!

Your resume tells a story about you and your professional development. One way to approach telling this story is through concise and results-focused bullet points that speak to:  

• Where you have been

• What you have done

• What you have accomplished

• The qualities that employers are looking for

  

The C.A.R method formula fuels your resume by helping you to develop strong resume bullet points that describe your achievements. Each point highlights a challenge, action, and result that frames your success in context.

• Challenge- The situation (problem or opportunity) that needed to be addressed

• Action- The step(s) that you took to address the challenge

• Result-The outcome and impact of the action you took to address the challenge

Step 1- Develop your stories

Formulate stories that focus on your achievements in your past jobs, volunteer work or projects.

Step 2-  Transform your stories into resume bullet points

Turn your stories into concise resume bullet points that pack a punch. Keep in mind the following tips for writing your bullet points:

• Describe your results using numbers whenever possible

• Start your bullet points with the action and result as they are the crucial points of your story 

• Use specific action verbs that describe how you took action

Example:

Story

Job: Production Specialist at Jay’s Bakery and Coffee House

• Challenge: Our vendor for vanilla extract was raising prices significantly

• Action: I obtained quotes from other vendors and assembled a cross-functional team to research whether it was feasible to make vanilla extract in-house

• Result: We were able to transition vanilla extract production in-house at a 20% savings compared to the vendor’s prices.

Resume Bullet Point

Increased savings by 20% by transitioning vanilla production from vendor to in-house

Consider this scenario:

You are creating bullet points in your resume that reflect your achievements in Sales & Marketing Management. Which of the following points is written using the C.A.R method?

A. Researched marketing approaches and strategies

B. Added $300K in quarterly revenue in 2019 by training new sales representatives in solution selling strategies

C. Finished the quarter 5% ahead of the department’s targeted marketing goal

Put your C.A.R in drive towards a winning resume and dream job by: