Framework
Use the framework below in any order for effective bullet points on your resume or statements in your online profiles.
Action
What did you do?
Task
How did you do it?
Impact
Why did it matter?
Quick Start
Action: Think about your experiences with these 3 questions – (1) What impact(s) did I have in this experience? (2) What BASK (behaviors, attitudes, skills, and knowledge) [link: subpage] did I show or use in this experience? (3) What of this is important of employers to know and I would want to talk about in an interview? Here’s a visual from a past student’s exercise. [link: Namisha’s mindmap]
Why It Matters: Hiring Managers and Recruiters want to know how you will contribute to their organization and accomplishments are an excellent way to provide clear, direct evidence.
Action: Choose a verb that accurately reflects the action you took and your responsibility. Avoid action verbs like worked and helped as well as the phrase responsible for.
- Here is an action verb list specifically for engineering graduate students.
- 500+ action verbs from JobScan
- 185+ action verbs from The Muse
Why It Matters: Showing the highest and truest reflection of your abilities through powerful verbs lets employers see the real you and why you belong on their team.
Action: Answer this question. How did I take action? Review your answer and decide what details the reader needs to know — they rarely need all of the details.
Why It Matters: The task gives the reader context about how you approached a task or challenge thus providing more understanding about your result/impact.
Action: Complete these two sentences. Based on your responses what was your impact or result? Provide quantified evidence when possible, always remaining honest with the information you include.
- “As a result of [what I did], __________ happened.”
- “Because that happened, the [team/project/organization] was able to __________.
Why It Matters: Your impact and results are an indication to the organization about how you will positively contribute to a project, team, office, and overall organization. They are eager to have this information!
Example Impact Sentences (resume bullet points)
- Executed design control processes and prototyped a central venous cathererization device adhering design for manufacturing (DFM) principles for injection molding using SolidWorks; reduced catheterization time 80% and designed assembly drawing for manufacturing.
- Conducted DFMEA and bench testing including finite element analysis to identify design failures and evaluate device robustness.
- Boosted efficiency 50% for processing water monitoring data by optimizing data transformation in Excel and R and analyzed database to produce monthly water quality monitoring reports for oil and gas companies
- Built an AI-powered chatbot for sustainable data center planning using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), sourcing renewable energy pricing, carbon emissions data, and equipment costs.
- Conducted literature review and prepared experimental protocols for a biomaterials lab course, contributing to a team presentation that proposed a novel application of hydrogel scaffolds.
- Created a Houdini asset generation tool using UE5 Scriptable tool to bridge Houdini and Unreal workflows; enabled object editing in UE5 editor.
- Automated 7 workflows and deployed Slack bots to crowdsource knowledge within organization in real-time saving 2+ hours/week for individual team members
- Optimized sample preparation protocols for microfluidic testing, increasing throughput by 30% and reducing error rates by standardizing calibration procedures.
- Designed and prototyped a mobile interface for a smart thermostat system, conducting 3 rounds of usability testing to improve task completion rate by 40%.
- Developed a machine learning model in Python to detect cybersecurity anomalies, achieving 92% accuracy on test data and reducing false positives by 15%.
- Improved drone launch efficiency 200%+ by constructing mathematical frameworks modeling grasshopper take-off trajectories, facilitating simulations that outperformed existing UAV propulsion systems.
- Facilitated 40+ in-depth user interviews with key stakeholders to identify and understand user pain points, preferences, and requirements in building GTM.
- Created data analytics and visualization dashboards in SEEQ enabling proactive mitigation strategies with real-time surveillance and early detection of potential operational issues.
- Synthesized actionable insights from user interviews and qualitative competitive analysis into roadmap and liaised with leadership to optimize user request demand perception, reducing response time 65%.
- Optimized scope development process, creating Excel based action & stakeholder engagement trackers; resulted in 20% improvement time management efficiency.
- Increased SHPE chapter graduate attendance by 60% through sourcing targeted speakers based on student interest and leading effective social media promotion
- Led a team of 60 to host a national makerthon event focused on sustainable innovation, securing $31k+ in sponsorship and overseeing all aspects of event management for three day experience
- Supervised weekly problem-solving sessions as teaching assistant for introductory engineering course, improving student attendance and feedback scores through clear explanations and collaborative exercises.
