The CV Mistake That Makes You Look Junior (and How to Fix It)
Senior CV bullets use Google’s XYZ formula: accomplished X as measured by Y by doing Z. Task lists (“responsible for APIs”) make you look junior. Outcomes make you look senior.
Google-style recruiters use a formula called XYZ to evaluate CV bullets: accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]. Task lists make you look junior. Outcomes make you look senior.
The Formula
- X is the result — churn dropped, latency fell, revenue grew, a process shrank from days to hours
- Y is how you measured it — a percentage, a time saving, a headcount, a dollar or euro figure
- Z is what you did — the tool, the method, the decision. This is where the stack belongs
If you do not have an exact figure, estimate honestly: from days to hours is better than nothing. Invented metrics are a failed reference call waiting to happen.
Junior vs Senior on the Page
Junior: Worked on the payments API and fixed bugs.
Senior: Reduced checkout failures 18% (X/Y) by adding idempotent retries and a dead-letter queue on the payments API (Z).
Same job. Different sentence.
Examples by Role
Software engineering
- Cut p95 latency on the search endpoint from 800ms to 220ms by adding a read-through cache and fixing an N+1 query
- Owned migration of 40 services to a mono-repo CI path, reducing mean merge time from 25 minutes to 9
Product
- Increased activation 12% in one quarter by cutting the onboarding flow from 7 steps to 3 and adding an in-product checklist
- Killed a roadmap item after a 200-user test showed no lift, freeing a squad for billing work
Data
- Built a weekly churn model used by CS; flagged 1,200 accounts and recovered an estimated €400k ARR
- Replaced a 4-hour manual report with a Hex/dbt pipeline that lands before the Monday standup
Common Ways You Still Look Junior
- Duties copied from the job description
- We instead of you with no scope (we built the app)
- Tools as a grocery list instead of a decision
- No time window (when did this happen?)
Fix the file format first if ATS cannot read you — <a href="/blog/ats-friendly-tech-cv">ATS-friendly CV</a>. Then tailor XYZ bullets to the posting — <a href="/blog/how-to-tailor-your-tech-cv-with-ai">AI tailoring</a>. If you are early-career in an AI-heavy market, also read <a href="/blog/rebrand-as-ai-supervisor-on-your-cv">AI supervisor bullets</a>.
Recruiters give you six seconds. Spend them on what changed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the XYZ formula for CV bullets?
Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]. Example: Cut p95 checkout latency 40% by adding a cache and removing an N+1 query.
What if I do not have metrics?
Use time saved, incidents avoided, users unblocked, or a before/after process. Do not invent percentages. Recruiters check.
How many bullets per role?
Three to five strong ones. Ten weak ones look junior. Put the visa-relevant and stack-relevant bullets first.