Most CVs describe responsibilities.
Good CVs describe impact.
Compare these two bullets:
Responsible for improving internal reporting processes.
and:
Reduced monthly reporting time from 3 days to 6 hours by automating data collection and validation in Python.
They might describe the exact same person doing the exact same job.
But the second one tells you something the first one doesn’t:
what changed because that person was there.
That distinction matters.
The XYZ method
Laszlo Bock, former SVP of People Operations at Google, popularized a simple formula for writing stronger CV bullets:
Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].
In plain English:
What did you achieve? → How do you know? → What did you do to make it happen?
For example:
X — Accomplishment
Reduced reporting time
Y — Measurement
From 3 days to 6 hours
Z — Method
By automating data collection and validation in Python
Put it together:
Reduced monthly reporting time from 3 days to 6 hours by automating data collection and validation in Python.
You don't need to follow the formula mechanically.
The point is to move from activity to evidence.
Responsibilities are not achievements
A common CV bullet looks like this:
Developed machine-learning models for demand forecasting.
There is nothing wrong with it.
But it only tells the recruiter what you did.
Now add scope:
Developed demand-forecasting models used across 12 manufacturing sites.
Better.
Now add an outcome:
Reduced forecast error from 18% to 11% across 12 manufacturing sites by developing and deploying a new demand-forecasting pipeline.
Now we know what you worked on, how large it was, and whether your work actually mattered.
That is much more useful information.
Numbers make abstract claims concrete
Words such as:
- improved
- optimized
- led
- accelerated
- increased
- reduced
- scaled
sound good.
But they immediately raise another question:
By how much?
Instead of:
Improved API performance.
Try:
Reduced median API latency by 43%, from 420 ms to 240 ms, by introducing caching and eliminating redundant database queries.
Instead of:
Led a large engineering project.
Try:
Led a 9-person engineering team across three functions to deliver the platform two weeks ahead of the customer deadline.
Instead of:
Helped grow the company's newsletter.
Try:
Grew the newsletter from 4,000 to 11,000 subscribers in nine months through referral campaigns and content experimentation.
The number doesn't have to be money.
Useful evidence can include:
Time: 3 days → 6 hours
Cost: saved €120k annually
Revenue: generated €400k
Scale: 2,000 users → 35,000 users
Performance: 420 ms → 240 ms
Quality: 18% error → 11% error
Volume: processed 50,000 records per day
Team size: led 8 engineers
Geography: deployed across 14 sites
Frequency: monthly process → real-time process
Numbers help the reader understand the scale of the achievement.
But don't invent numbers
This is where people often take the advice too far.
Not every piece of good work produces a clean percentage or dollar value.
And a suspiciously precise number that you cannot explain in an interview is worse than having no number at all.
If you don't know the outcome, quantify the scope instead.
Instead of:
Worked with enterprise customers.
You might write:
Supported implementation projects for six enterprise customers across Australia and Southeast Asia.
Instead of:
Managed stakeholder communication.
You might write:
Coordinated weekly technical reviews between engineering, operations and three external suppliers during product development.
Still specific.
Still credible.
No invented “37% increase in stakeholder efficiency” required.
Ask yourself one extra question
When reviewing each bullet on your CV, ask:
So what?
You built a dashboard.
So what?
It replaced five manually maintained spreadsheets.
So what?
It saved the operations team roughly six hours every week and gave management same-day visibility into production.
Now you have the interesting part:
Built an automated production dashboard that replaced five manually maintained spreadsheets, saving approximately six hours of reporting work per week and giving management same-day visibility into production.
The technical work matters.
But the consequence of the technical work is usually what makes the bullet memorable.
A simple test for your CV
Go through your experience section and look at every bullet.
If most of them answer:
What was I responsible for?
you probably have a job description.
Try to make more of them answer:
What became better because I did this?
Then, wherever possible, add evidence of how much better.
Accomplishment → Evidence → How you did it.
You don't need a number in every sentence.
You do need to give the person reading your CV a reason to believe that you were good at what you did.
Don't just list the work. Show the impact.