Bullet points are easier to read than dense text because they break information into digestible chunks, allowing the eye to skim and scan quickly.

The brain can process bulleted text faster than a paragraph of dense text.

Each bullet point can highlight a key idea, reducing cognitive load and eliminating the need to sift through long paragraphs.

Bullet points also:

• Create visual separation between ideas
• Emphasize important details or action items
• Highlight achievements, skills, and responsibilities in a structured manner
• Improve readability for skimming or scanning
• Support logical grouping and structure
• Allow for consistency in formatting, which improves comprehension

In resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and presentations, bullet points help busy readers grasp the main points without getting lost in dense blocks of text.

Specific bullet points can also become unexpected wingdings unless you experiment with them.

Based on my research and experiments, I only feel comfortable using solid, round, black bullet points on client resumes.

Square black bullet points turn into wingdings when copied and pasted into a Google doc and also on LinkedIn, so I can only wonder what they might look like when a resume is uploaded to an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for an online application.

I never use open squares, checkmarks, stars, or arrows, either, as they may not be ATS-friendly. Wingdings can occur due to compatibility issues between file formats or Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

You can test your resume by pasting it into a plain-text editor, such as Notepad, and see if the symbol appears how you want it to. If not, then you may need to make adjustments.

Some ATS platforms do not recognize decorative or unique characters like ✓, ➢, ►, or ★ and may convert them into unreadable symbols or Wingdings.

Do your own testing and experiment with various styles of bullet points on resumes and LinkedIn to prove it to yourself. On the resume, you need to keep your lines together, but on LinkedIn, you should have bullet points, white space, etc., for ease of reading! White space can be your friend!

Did you read the article from last week? How to Verify Your LinkedIn Profile for Free

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