Taming the Information Overload: How to Choose What to Include in Your Resume

Kyla Duffy
5 min readJun 18, 2023
Photo by FORTYTWO on Unsplash

Having too much information to draw from for your resume can be just as daunting as not having enough.

A good resume Experience section should have a brief overview of your role and the company (if it’s not a well-known brand), followed by no more than 5–7 “achievement” bullets.

These bullets should demonstrate how you’ve created value for the organization around the needed skills for the work you’re seeking through specific examples.

Let’s break that down.

Generate Specific Examples

Have you heard of the STAR format for interviewing?

“STAR” stands for “Situation, Task, Action, Result.”

The STAR concept helps you bring your example from beginning to end.

In my near-decade of experience as a career coach, I’ve found that regardless of how much I emphasize the importance of demonstrating outcomes, people’s examples often end with the “A.”

Think of that as a hamster running in a wheel.

Photo by Matt Bero on Unsplash

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Kyla Duffy

Energized by “A-ha!” moments, I’m a career coach and resume writer who helps people move toward happiness & fulfillment. Get help at https://kyladuffy.com.