The One Mistake That’s Keeping You From Getting Hired
Most people don’t fail job applications because they’re unqualified.
They fail because they’re invisible.
Two people can live wildly different careers and still look identical on paper. Same titles. Same bullet points. Same “responsible for.” Same beige nothingness.
Somewhere along the way, we all accepted a strange lie: that your career should be summarized like IKEA instructions. That your work should be flattened into a list. That your story should be stripped of intention, struggle, and momentum.
So we do what everyone does. We open a CV template. We start listing duties. We slowly erase ourselves.
And then we wonder why nobody sees us.
The problem isn’t that you haven’t done enough.
The problem is that the format you’re using cannot carry a human story.
That’s why so many smart, ambitious, capable people sound… replaceable.
Which brings us to the most damaging phrase in modern career history:
The CV Format Turns Humans Into Furniture
If your CV still says “Responsible for…”, this article is about you.
Not because you’re wrong. But because you’re underselling yourself.
Recruiters don’t hire responsibilities. They hire impact.
The classic CV is a strange document. It takes messy, interesting, chaotic work and turns it into something that sounds like assembly instructions.
Two people can do the same job.
One sounds like a protagonist.
One sounds like a chair.
The difference is not skill. It’s language. It’s how they tell the story.
What Actually Works
Here’s the only rule that matters:
If I delete your name, can anyone else claim this bullet point?
If yes, it’s too generic.
“Responsible for managing social media” could describe half the internet.
“Grew an account from 3K to 40K in 8 months” belongs to one person.
The Only Verbs That Don’t Lie
You don’t need fancy words. You need honest ones.
If you built something:
Launched
Created
Developed
If you led people:
Directed
Guided
Inspired
If you fixed or improved things:
Redesigned
Implemented
Modified
If you made things faster, cheaper, better:
Reduced
Boosted
Conserved
If you owned something end-to-end:
Spearheaded
Integrated
Authored
These words do one important thing:
They imply movement.
The 6-Month Memory Scam
Here’s something nobody tells you:
You forget most of what you do within six months.
Not because it wasn’t important.
Because life is loud.
So when you finally sit down to “update your CV”, you don’t remember the real work. You remember the blur.
That’s why most CVs sound like they were written by someone who vaguely remembers being there.
Your Career Is Not A Document. It’s A Trail.
Your career is not something you summarize once a year.
It’s something you collect.
Projects. Decisions. Things you tried. Things you broke. Things you fixed.
If you don’t capture them while they’re happening, they disappear.
Why This Is Literally What Reelu Is For
Reelu isn’t a better CV.
It’s a place to keep your story while you’re living it.
Not just outcomes. The process. The thinking. The messy middle.
So when someone asks “what have you actually done?”, you don’t have to remember.
You just show them.
Create your free Storyboard on Reelu. Start collecting your real work.
