Action-Owned-Result Resume Bullets
Three bullets per role: what you did, that you owned it, and the number it produced.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 85%
Posner assumes every resume is already clean, clear and concise — that's table stakes. The differentiator is the three bullet points under each title: they must be actionable things you did that are relevant to the role you're applying to, framed as an action you took, that you owned, plus the result. He wants the shape 'I owned this piece of the process resulting in X number of sales, X number of conversions.' On cover letters he's contrarian: he has seen more people hurt by cover letters than by not having them, because people either regurgitate their resume or leave the previous company's name in — a detail-failure he will exclude someone for. The only valid use is explaining a gap or a career pivot. And never put a photo on a resume; it triggers unconscious bias.
Origin
Built from Posner's daily volume as a marketing/media/advertising recruiter scanning resumes in five to six seconds and watching candidates self-eliminate through cover-letter errors and job-description regurgitation.
Core principles
- 01Every bullet must be an action YOU took, that you owned, with a quantifiable result.
- 02Clean, clear and concise is the baseline, not the differentiator.
- 03A cover letter has one legitimate job: explaining a gap or a pivot.
- 04Your LinkedIn profile and Google results are the modern cover letter.
How to run it
- 1
Assume clean, clear, concise as baseline
Formatting and brevity are entry requirements, not advantages. Posner explicitly won't coach format — he's not a professional resume writer.
- 2
Make the title clear
The role title must be immediately legible so the scanner can place you in seconds.
- 3
Write three relevant bullets in action-ownership-result form
Each bullet: an action you took, explicit ownership, and a quantifiable outcome. 'I owned this piece of the process resulting in X sales / X conversions.'
Pro tip Pick the three bullets per role that map most directly onto the target job's requirements.
Watch out Do not regurgitate the job description — Posner says a lot of people fail exactly here.
- 4
Drop the photo
Never put a picture on a resume; it triggers unconscious bias, which everyone has whether they like it or not.
Watch out Hala Taha pushes back: with an unusual name she found she got no callbacks without a photo. Posner concedes it can cut both ways but errs against including it.
- 5
Skip the cover letter unless it explains something
Only write one to explain a career gap, a pivot, or something very specific. Otherwise omit it.
Pro tip Treat your LinkedIn profile and what Google says about you as the real cover letter.
Watch out Leaving the wrong company's name in a cover letter shows you're not paying attention to detail — Posner will exclude someone on that alone.
In the wild
Posner has repeatedly seen candidates reuse a cover letter and leave in the name of the company they applied to previously, or simply restate the resume. He reads it as a detail and care failure rather than a clerical slip.
→ He will exclude somebody based on that — meaning the optional document actively cost them the role.
Common mistakes
Bullets that describe duties, not results
Listing what the job involved tells a recruiter nothing about you. The bullet must name your action, your ownership, and a number.
Writing a cover letter by default
Posner has seen more people hurt by cover letters than helped. Absent a gap or pivot to explain, it's downside risk with no upside.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone submitting a resume into a recruiter-screened or ATS-screened pipeline.
Not ideal for
Roles where the portfolio or work sample is the actual screening artifact.
From the transcript
“Make sure that the three bullet points underneath are actionable things that you've done that are relevant to the role that you're applying to, and…”
“I've seen more people hurt by cover letters than not having them.”
“Never put a picture on your resume, that triggers unconscious bias.”
From the episode
Adam Posner: Land The Job
Adam Posner