Your accomplishments can be promotions, awards, notable outcomes from projects, and much more. Here's how to write achievements on your resume.
No matter where you are in the job search, your resume is the first opportunity to make a good impression. In addition to skills, experience, and relevant education, there’s a good chance you have a few achievements you want to highlight too. Here are a few tips to get you going.
Achievements and accomplishments are quantifiable ways to demonstrate your commitment and performance in previous jobs or education. It’s how you show that all your experiences until this point have been more than enough to prepare you to take on the position you’re now applying for.
The more specific you can be, the better. When you’re thinking about your past experience, ask yourself if you have any of the following that you can list on your resume:
What you choose to note down will look different from someone else, but that’s what makes your resume unique.
Take a close look at the job description for the position you’re applying for and tailor your resume. You can use Teal’s Resume Builder for interactive assistance on how to tailor your resume and write about your achievements in an impressive way. The key is to show what kind of employee you would be for this new company and distinguish yourself from candidates who may have similar work experience.
As a current student or recent graduate, you might be concerned about what you can put down on a resume as an achievement or accomplishment. When you have little work experience, how do you show that you’ve made an impact?
Even without a formal work history in the industry you’re trying to break into, you can still pull from other life experiences and turn these into positive reflections of your character. If you’ve thrived in academia, call out making the Dean’s List, a stellar GPA or any merit-based scholarships.
You can also pinpoint moments during volunteering opportunities, internships, or even extracurriculars that show important skills like teamwork, leadership, and time management. Have you worked directly with customers in a retail store or as a server? Put that down to highlight your excellent communication and customer service skills!
On a resume for an entry-level position, example achievements may include:
While your accomplishments may not directly tie into the job you’re applying for, they clearly show various skills and responsibilities that any company can benefit from.
When you have several years of job history behind you, you should have at least a handful of accomplishments that you can add to your resume. These will look different depending on the industry you work in and the seniority you’ve had, so let’s look at a few examples.
For a marketing executive or account manager role, you should have several data-driven achievements to note, regardless of the type of marketing you’ve done before. Example accomplishment could be:
If you’ve previously worked in an administrative role, there are plenty of achievements you can list around time efficiency, organization, and productivity, including:
Manager or supervisor positions will require you to show high levels of responsibility and leadership. You should include accomplishments like:
Many of your past experiences will likely strengthen your resume, but you need to be mindful of what achievements are most relevant for the applications you’re submitting. Read through your resume carefully and pull out anything that could be irrelevant.
You may want to avoid potentially confidential details, like sales figures or annual revenue.
Once you’ve been in the working world for two years or more, most of your academic achievements can likely come off your resume and be replaced by job-specific accomplishments.
You also need to be sure that your data is correct. Employers may ask your references to confirm some of the achievements you’ve highlighted, so never embellish or over exaggerate results to make your resume look better. To avoid this, keep a record of any outcomes you might want to use during a future job search while in your current job.
It’s no longer enough to simply state that you know how to do something. With high levels of competition in the job market, employers are looking for candidates who go above and beyond the normal duties of their job.
Outlining your accomplishments is an ideal way to be specific about outcomes that impact the team or the company. It’s a tangible way to demonstrate your abilities in previous roles that can indicate what you might do in a new position since you have a proven track record.
Hiring managers will be looking for action-oriented verbs and buzzwords that are tied to these achievements. Words like “developed,” “led,” “improved,” “increased,” and “managed” are some of the most common. Any numerical data you can add to support will put you one step ahead of the competition.
Some people put achievements in a professional summary at the top of their resume. Your professional summary is a chance to talk about your career in aggregate and highlight particularly notable results that are directly related to the jobs you're applying for.
For most people, though, achievements should be integrated as bullet points under each of your previous roles. This gives your accomplishments more context for the hiring manager by showing them how these skills and outcomes were relevant to your work. Any academic achievements should be noted under your “Education” section.
When you’re formatting your resume, this could look like:
Job Title, Company Name
January 2021 - January 2022
It’s easy to overlook exceptional results and performance outcomes when going about your day-to-day work. But for your next potential employer, those details are evidence of your success and indicate what you could do as part of their team.
Using Teal’s Resume Builder tool, you can quickly and easily customize your resume to make your achievements stand out to hiring managers and applicant tracking systems. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished and let your results do the talking.
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by James Stevens
If you're looking to make a career pivot in 2022, you're in good company. The Great Resignation (a.k.a. the Great Reshuffle) has people rethinking the type of work they're doing.
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