Career Advice
How To Write Great Achievements In Your Resume (with 20+ Examples)
It’s critical to include key achievements in your resume. This helps you stand out from other candidates who may have similar backgrounds and experiences as you. Resume achievements also establish your credibility by demonstrating how you’ve added tangible value to a team and company.
The primary purpose of your resume is to impress a recruiter or hiring manager enough to secure an interview. Although over 80% of the applicants may meet all the requirements of a role, less than 10% will actually make it to the next stage.
In this guide, we will answer the following questions about resume achievements:
- What are resume achievements (and what are they not)?
- How do you write and structure resume achievements?
- What are some types of resume achievements and examples you can use?
Let’s dive in!
What are Resume Achievements
Resume achievements are specific milestones and successes that you have accomplished in your previous or current roles. These make you stand out because they show evidence of how your skills and experiences have led to significant results and outcomes.
Here are 2 sample achievements for a Digital Marketer that show how the candidate has added value to the team and company:
| – Boosted organic website traffic by 20% in 6 months by writing and publishing weekly blog posts – Reduced Facebook Ads CPC by 10% in 3 months by enhancing asset design and optimising bids |
Achievements are not the same as work scopes or job descriptions, which are more generic, but still highlight keywords and phrases that ATS scanners will look for.
Here are 3 examples of work scopes for a Digital Marketer that show how the candidate has relevant experience to the role that they are applying for.
| – Led a team of 3 content marketers to ideate, write, edit and publish video and text-based content across 2 global websites – Collaborated with the Head of Marketing to strategise and design a quarterly social media calendar – Liaised closely with external agencies to organise media buying and ad planning schedules |
Achievements show the candidate’s abilities through milestones. Workscopes tell employers what the candidate has done in their prior roles.
How to Write Resume Achievements
Although there may be different ways to write down resume achievements, we recommend the following template:
| Achieved [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z] |
Resume achievements should be quantifiable, specific (e.g. time boxed), and tailored to the job that you’re applying for. This template starts with the result or outcome because it will immediately impress the recruiter or hiring manager when they read it.
Here’s one example:
| Boosted organic website traffic by 20% in 6 months by writing and publishing weekly blog posts. |
Keywords and phrases are also critical, and little tweaks can make or break your application.
| – Directed 30 staff to manage all APAC sales and marketing activities – Managed a portfolio of 80 clients with a total turnover of $25M USD per annum – Nurtured 25 sales prospects and negotiated with 8 C-Suite executives to sell enterprise IT products and services |
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7 Types of Resume Achievements (with Examples!)
If you are stuck on what type of achievements to include on your resume, refer to the following examples:
#1 – Meeting or Exceeding a Goal
Your individual role or team likely has goals and targets that need to be met on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
Highlight significant goals and achievements that you met or exceeded, and how you achieved them:
| – Surpassed monthly sales quota by 25% by using innovative cold-calling methods resulting in Sales Employee of the Month award – Managed a company-wide transformation project and stayed within the $1M budget by conducting monthly budget reviews with the Controller – Maintained a 95% customer satisfaction rating for 3 consecutive quarters through proactively reviewing and acting on feedback |
#2 – Managing a Team or Project
Demonstrating leadership skills is a great way to showcase your potential for taking on new roles and responsibilities in the future. If possible, emphasize results and outcomes.
Mention any teams or projects where you played a leadership or coordinating role:
| – Led a team of 5 volunteers to fundraise $40K for the annual charity event – Coordinated and executed the employee communications strategy for 4 executive stakeholders across 2K+ employees – Organized a virtual team event for 120+ employees to boost morale and highlight team achievements |
#3 – Driving Growth in Results
All teams and companies strive to grow their results over time.
It is important to highlight how you have played an active role in these efforts:
| – Achieved sales growth of 25% YOY; developed sales resources to keep track of clients throughout the buying process to ensure proper closing of deals – Grew social media following by 40% in 6 months by executing a marketing campaign that showcased customer love for the company’s Winter 2021 product line – Increased company event attendance by 52% by collecting feedback and introducing a points system for employee rewards |
#4 – Saving Time or Money
Cost savings and time savings are key to efficiently running teams and organizations.
Determine if you have helped your team or company in these areas:
| – Increased team productivity by 78% through automating a monthly progress report using advanced Excel functions and Power Query to pull and process data – Negotiated $12M+ of annual cost savings by liaising with the legal team to ensure the inclusion of exit clauses in long term supply contracts with vendors |
#5 – Solving Critical Problems
Every team has unique and different problems to solve each year.
Demonstrate how you’ve used your critical thinking to create meaningful solutions:
| – Implemented a technical solution to address customer complaints with the mobile app; increased customer satisfaction by 64% in 3 months – Resolved the team’s decrease in productivity by developing an automated tracker that sent weekly reminders on deliverables |
#6 – Helping Others Succeed
Beyond individual accomplishments, hiring managers look for great team players who can influence through others.
Highlight how you have helped or supported others in their success:
| – Trained 4 new employees on how to leverage company tools and resources to enhance onboarding effectiveness – Hosted a sales workshop to share best practices with 80+ employees at the Annual Sales Summit – Planned a 3-day orientation for 100+ new employees to understand the company culture, rewards and compensation strategy, and performance expectations |
#7 – Taking Initiative
Hiring managers want someone who will be proactive in solving problems or helping the team advance.
Discuss times when you have taken initiative to improve processes or problems:
| – Took initiative to host monthly social events to increase engagement and team morale – Developed the first training handbook to onboard new employees more effectively |
Conclusion
Now, you understand what resume achievements are, why they are important, and how you can include them on your resume.
A final tip for collecting these resume achievements would be to document them on a regular basis throughout your career. This document will be handy when the time comes to put together a stellar resume!
ResumeWriter Tip: For additional help and support, claim your free CV analysis and check out our other resources which have helped hundreds of clients below.