Interesting point. I just tried to make up an example where you might use a bullet list to break up the text (I was thinking of the tasks involved in day-to-day team management, but it could just as well be a technical example), but actually realised I couldn't find a way of doing it! I was just listing information which didn't really explain anything.


I was thinking of the type of thing where we see:

My responsibilities on this project included:

• Supervising day-to-day health and safety issues

• Signing off technical variation forms

• Setting daily tasks for the team

• Monitoring weekly time and cost expenditure

Yes, well, of course that's what the candidate did, it's not telling us that they knew how to do this competently. MUCH better to break these down into separate sentences so you can think about whether each statement has enough about how you did it, how you came to choose that approach, how you checked that approach worked, and possibly how you'd learned to do it in the first place, so that it actually shows the Competences. And then after you've written all that go through it again and take out everywhere where you've unnecessarily duplicated the same competence - this is much clearer to see if you've written it out as proper sentences. 


I've just thought of another common use to beware of for a slightly different reason, that is:

By using thermonuclear fusion technology in the flux capacitor I was able to:

• Increase charge density and so reduce our turnover of electrons,

• Reduce stock holding of neutron bombs by 53%,

• Increase exports to New Zealand by 3% and to Mars by 256%.

This is a bit subtle but: this is listing the effect of what you've done, not directly how competent you are. It's about the company and the product, not directly about you. So actually I'd say it's too many words, and so should easily fit in just one or two readable sentences. For your interview presentation that's different, you might use this layout there on your final slide.


I don't remember seeing a really good application with bullets in, and I've seen a fair few where I've advised the candidates to take them out - and I'm someone who loves bullet lists so much that one of our clients once said "I knew it was an email from Andy because it was written in bullet points"!


It's a good point, and worth discussing here because you're not the first, and won't be the last, who hopefully this helps.


Cheers,


Andy

Interesting point. I just tried to make up an example where you might use a bullet list to break up the text (I was thinking of the tasks involved in day-to-day team management, but it could just as well be a technical example), but actually realised I couldn't find a way of doing it! I was just listing information which didn't really explain anything.


I was thinking of the type of thing where we see:

My responsibilities on this project included:

• Supervising day-to-day health and safety issues

• Signing off technical variation forms

• Setting daily tasks for the team

• Monitoring weekly time and cost expenditure

Yes, well, of course that's what the candidate did, it's not telling us that they knew how to do this competently. MUCH better to break these down into separate sentences so you can think about whether each statement has enough about how you did it, how you came to choose that approach, how you checked that approach worked, and possibly how you'd learned to do it in the first place, so that it actually shows the Competences. And then after you've written all that go through it again and take out everywhere where you've unnecessarily duplicated the same competence - this is much clearer to see if you've written it out as proper sentences. 


I've just thought of another common use to beware of for a slightly different reason, that is:

By using thermonuclear fusion technology in the flux capacitor I was able to:

• Increase charge density and so reduce our turnover of electrons,

• Reduce stock holding of neutron bombs by 53%,

• Increase exports to New Zealand by 3% and to Mars by 256%.

This is a bit subtle but: this is listing the effect of what you've done, not directly how competent you are. It's about the company and the product, not directly about you. So actually I'd say it's too many words, and so should easily fit in just one or two readable sentences. For your interview presentation that's different, you might use this layout there on your final slide.


I don't remember seeing a really good application with bullets in, and I've seen a fair few where I've advised the candidates to take them out - and I'm someone who loves bullet lists so much that one of our clients once said "I knew it was an email from Andy because it was written in bullet points"!


It's a good point, and worth discussing here because you're not the first, and won't be the last, who hopefully this helps.


Cheers,


Andy