Sigh. I know a job search is a tough row to hoe especially in this job market and since there's so much bad information out there.
My opinion is my own, based on over 25 years recruiting at all levels up to C-level.
I'm not sure who you submitted your resume to for an "appraisal", but let's say the advice you received is not what I would recommend to a jobseeker.
No one should have 34 years of experience on their resume. No one should be able to tell you have 34 years of experience by looking at your resume. Ageism sucks hard but it is absolutely a for-real thing. No one is going to be hiring jobseekers based on what they were doing 34 years ago. It's standard operating procedure that anything over say, 10 or 15 years gets lopped off the resume - maybe 20 years if it's expecially relevant and you're a senior leader and it's showing career progression.
You should absolutely be using bullet points. Your resume should be easily readable - what more readable, one big paragraph or multiple bullet points.
I'm not sure why you seem to feel that, if you've actually done something, telling people you've done that is "fluffing" your resume. If you don't tell them, who's going to?
Your resume is a marketing document. It should clearly lay out your accomplishments and experience and make me say "I want to talk to this person".
I'm going to paste my recent response to another poster - my apologies if I'm repeating myself:
"It's pretty much standard operating procedure these days that anything over 10 or 15 years gets lopped off the resume. No graduation dates. No outdated technology listed.
Don't put your street address on the resume, just city, state and zip code. Don't put "references available upon request" on there. And please don't use Times New Roman - it's the sweatpants of fonts. There are plent of more modern fonts - Calibri, Ariel, Tahoma, Open Sans, etc. Don't use an "Objective" - by definition, I'll assume your objective is to get the best job you can - use a Summary instead.
Bullet points, not large paragraphs - in at least 10 point font with lots of white space so it's easy to read.
Personally, I don't care how many pages your resume is - within reason. No one wants to know your whole life story but your resume is a marketing document so make sure you put enough relevant info in there that makes me say "I need to speak with this person" - results are especially important.
Please don't cram everything onto one page because someone told you resumes should be one page. Unless you're a new graduate, that's probably not true."
I would recommend you go on places like LinkedIn and Indeed and run a search for the positions you want to apply for. Look at that job description - they're giving you the cheat sheet right there - do you have that experience? Can I tell that from reading your resume? You're not going for subtly in a resume, you want to clearly lay out how you have the experience they're looking for.
Showcasing your accomplishments and experience is not "fluffing" your resume.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
GOOD LUCK!
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