How should I write achievements on my resume?


Highlighting your achievements is the best way to showcase your value to a prospective company.

Think of an achievement as a success you have had at work, school, or on your own time. The most powerful achievements are measurable. For example, take a success such as “Grew user retention.” To make it more powerful, we should quantify it to: “Grew user retention by 22% in 15 months.”

Some achievements will not be measurable, however. For instance, a good achievement could be “Improved the accuracy of forecasted budgets.” It clearly shows how you added value and solved a real problem.

If you are having trouble coming up with achievements, consider:

  • When your department and/or company thinks of you, what comes to their mind?
  • What would/did people miss about you if/when you left your current job?
  • Have you or your team won any awards?
  • Did you make something more efficient?
  • Did you fix a problem?
  • Do people always look to you to solve certain problems?

Examples:

  • Trimmed manufacturing costs by $1.9 million annually.
  • Developed new standards which improved quality control.
  • Improved user happiness by 20%.
  • Utilized modern teaching methods such as e-learning and team learning.

What if I do not have any achievements to put on my resume?

Evaluating yourself is one of the hardest things to do. That is why it makes it extremely hard to think of achievements. It can start to seem like you do not have any significant achievements.

The reality is that you do have achievements at work, school, and on your own time. You are most likely underestimating the value of your work and selling yourself short.

Achievements are going to look different for each person. By expanding your view of what an achievement is, you will discover you have many to include on your resume. For a simple exercise, look at each job or education point on your resume. Try hard to remember:

  • Compliments you received
  • Ways you left things better when you left
  • Times you made an angry customer happy
  • New processes your created to make things faster/more efficient
  • Any work you did outside the scope of your job
  • When you improved things without being asked

Write all of those down and use them as action points under each job or education point.

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