If you need to know how to add more resume accomplishments, you’re in the right place.
In this article, we’ll show you how to identify and optimize your top career successes.
Also included are 20+ resume accomplishment examples (below) that you’ll find at the bottom of this article.
So, why are accomplishments so important?
They’re important because they are the key notables that set you apart.
It’s one thing to claim you can do something.
It’s better to show how well you’ve done it (e.g. grew sales staff by 23% and expanded market share by 88.9%).
Listing professional accomplishments are advanced resume strategies that everyone should be using.
This is a key reason for including accomplishments within your resume.
Hiring companies want professionals who can improve the business/department/team.
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Resume accomplishments focus on core areas, such as:
- Sales & Revenue Increases
- System & Tool Introductions
- Cost & Overhead Elimination
- Staff Transformations
Here are several examples of “fill in the blank” accomplishments that you can use to identify accomplishments for your resume:
- Introduced ___ system, which reduced invoice errors by ___%.
- Cut costs by ___% by doing ___ and ___.
- Increased revenue by $___ after implementing ___.
- Built a recession-proof client portfolio by doing ___.
- Received ___ award for ___.
- Recognized ___% over quota in ___.
- Achieved ___ in annuity donations in just 6 months – first in non-profit history.
Here Are Tips on How to Best Write Resume Accomplishments & a Few Ideas/Examples To Help.
Start by writing your most obvious job successes with each employer.
For example, a sample achievement for your resume might look something like this:
When I joined Salco in the Fall of 2015, the company was a mess. The company had few systems, and it seemed like the company had way more employees than it needed. I introduced the SAP material management module. I then proceed to transforming their company inventory/supply chain. This saved the company a lot of money and cut warehouse staff.
With the above, you can now write an accomplishment more appropriate for your resume.
The above example could then transform into something like this:
Introduced SAP MM to Salco, which transformed the tracking of $79.3M in inventory. Cut inventory tracking time by approx. 13.5%, while reducing 9 WHS positions (8 FTE/1 PTE). Saved an estimated $1.58M in the 12 months through staff reduction and error elimination.
Not bad, right? 🙂
Of course, these big “wins” are easy to remember — though might take a bit of legwork to track down specific numbers.
Let’s say you don’t have any sizable accomplishments in your career.
In this scenario, highlight what you accomplished being part of a team.
So, a support-based achievement might be something like this:
Worked with the team during a merger with Xaneco in 2013, which upgraded sales volumes from $45.3M in 2012 to $67.1M by year-end 2013. Supported the on-boarding and training of 23 additional sales reps.
Whenever possible, focus on your BEST successes.
I realize this isn’t always doable, especially for those who aren’t within heavy “bottom-line driven” job roles.
If you’re not convinced it’s worth your time tracking achievements, there are additional reasons to do so:
1. Use your tracked achievements to flesh out your next performance report.
No doubt, listing your career accomplishments from the past year within your next performance report will be a huge win for you.
For employers, it’s all about performance metrics. The more you can show your peak performance, the faster you’ll excel.
Most often we focus on tangible achievements, such as revenue and sales increases. We can measure those.
But, don’t overlook intangible achievements as well.
Intangible achievements have to do with employee and customer satisfaction.
Things that can’t be measured, but are just as important to a company’s bottom line.
2. To set career goals for the next 30 days and 6 to 12 months.
Short and long-term career goals can be accomplished much easier when we measure our successes and our expectations.
What are your goals?
In marketing, there’s a saying: “What gets measured gets managed.”
We must measure and further assess our successes before setting future goals.
A list of short-term goals might look like this:
- Initiate new training to the customer service staff in the next 30 days; boost customer satisfaction levels by a minimum of 10%
- Boost revenue by $1.2M in the next 6 months by signing contracts with Jackson National Life and Toledo Engineering Company
- Finish content optimization certification in the next 12 months; boost website visitors by no less than 30%
Notice how these goals are VERY specific.
They contain dollar amounts or percentages with time limitations as well.
3. Project tracking
Project tracking is about identifying milestones and key metrics along the way.
There many great tracking software on the market, such as Asana.com, Monday, and FreedCamp.com (this latter PM solution is free).
Whether you’re using a tracking tool or tracking progress manually, you’re likely monitoring project successes and key milestones that were accomplished.
Examples of successful project management areas could include:
- Reallocation of tasks to a newly hired contract team; reduced project delays by 12%
- Introduced Agile methodology to eliminate outdated Waterfall techniques; streamlined client deliverables and utilized weekly sprints to deliver the project to the customer almost 8 months ahead of schedule
4. To support your job applications, resume, and candidacy during job interviews
We sometimes forget that despite the best-written resume, job interviews still want us to answer questions like these:
- What’s your greatest career accomplishment?
- What achievement are you most proud of?
- What would your current boss say about your successes working for him/her?
Career accomplishments can be defined as what you’ve performed that will have a lasting positive effect on the employer.
For example:
- A problem you identified/resolved
- Systems you put in place to improve staff efficiency/reduce overhead costs
- Special projects you’ve initiated to serve customer’s needs
- Procedures you’ve overhauled to streamline operations
5. Making an iron-clad case for a raise, promotion, or recognition
Hands down, this is the BIGGEST reason for tracking your career achievements.
You can’t just walk up to your boss and ask for a raise.
You need to prove your market value to your current boss and to future bosses.
And, proving your value begins with showing what you’ve accomplished while employed.
6. Give you a reason to “change the channel” in your mind when your day has sucked
It would be great if our lives were rainbows and lollipops all the time; but, we both know that’s not the real world.
We all have bad days. We need bad days those bad days so we better understand and appreciate the good days.
Makes sense, right?
Well, keeping an on-going list of career achievements (aka an accomplishment file) can give you something to gaze over when you hit a slump.
Having a list of awards, achievements, and other professional successes can help us change our negative moods (e.g. cranky and frustrated) to something more positive (e.g. calm, energetic, and peaceful).
How to Turn Job Duties Into Achievements
Today’s resumes should be achievement based — as much as humanly possible, of course.
Yet, this isn’t always easy.
Professionals in support roles in business may find themselves in a pinch with translating job duties to achievements.
With a little ingenuity, however, here are a few examples to consider:
- Supported the sales team during a new product launch, which resulted in a $2.8M revenue increase in Q4 of 2018.
- Volunteered to train 8 new accounting clerks on project tracking, financial reporting, and cost accounting. Saved the company an estimated $12,000 in training costs; received a bonus and recognition from the employer.
Let’s be honest.
There are career fields that don’t lend themselves well for collecting career achievements.
For example, statisticians come to mind. They are number-crunching professionals.
Sure, they may identify pockets of data that can be used by other teams (e.g. inventory/warehousing) to save money.
But, in the long run, statisticians and others within technical roles will struggle with identifying achievements for their resumes.
Keep Track of YOUR Job Accomplishments to Highlight & Use Later
Start by noting the easy stuff:
What has changed over the past year?
Focus on the significant career successes that are top of mind:
What project did you work on and complete successfully?
The key business issue you resolved?
Keeping track of your accomplishments can be done with these tools:
Notetaking apps.
Oh yes, I would be amiss if I didn’t talk about the best note-taking apps on the market today.
For example, there’s Evernote, Google Keep, and OneNote.
Post-it notes.
Okay.
I know what you’re thinking.
Post-it notes, really?
Um, kind of. I’m recommending the “sticky notes” (aka post-it notes) on your computer.
Yet, in a pinch, a paper post-it note works too.
Be sure to collect your paper notes and put them in a safe place, like a dedicated drawer or file folder.
Your Resume.
Of course … you didn’t think I was going to miss this one. Did you?
I am a resume writer … so, the best place to house your career achievements is by adding them to your resume.
In the resume writing industry, we know that resumes should be “live” documents.
Your resume is taking in and expelling data, much like breathing is taking in and expelling air.
You might feel that your resume needs to remain “road ready”?
This is not true.
Drop new data into your resume whenever you see fit.
You can finetune those added achievements now.
Or, mess with them later.
Go with whatever works best for you. 🙂
How often should you update your resume with new accomplishments?
Updating your resume (with achievements) 3-4 times a year is ideal.
You might find this excessive.
And, it may be for you. You may be better suited for 1X a time … or, maybe once every 2-3 years.
The biggest caution here is to NOT FORGET or OVERLOOK your most important career successes.
To avoid this, consistent resume updating is best.
Whether updating your resume yourself or hiring a professional resume writer, have your accomplishments collected and organized for easy use.
List of 20+ Example Accomplishments For Your Resume
- Consolidated warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing (previously 3 locations) into one location that improved shipping and production productivity metrics. Saved approx. $600,000 in overhead the first year.
- Joined the company when it was losing an estimated $500,000 per year — branch was being reviewed for closure. Completed an extensive revenue turnaround; expecting to generate a net income of $2.3MM in 2013. Secured many multimillion-dollar loans with retailers, schools, and commercial accounts.
- Leveraged project statistical analysis and probability by implementing evidence-based scheduling (bug tracking, customer management, project management), which taught developers how to better estimate time-to-completion of assigned tasks. Improved development timelines by 25% in some cases.
- Worked with the Finance Committee on $61MM bond refinancing that went to market in June 2014. Added $4.1MM of capital for much-need improvements to dining, wellness, and classroom space. Increased underfunded capital reserve account and reduced annual debt service.
- Saved an estimated $564,000/year by working with the CFO during the renegotiation and restructuring of contracts with Pharmacy and Food Service vendors. Outsourced housekeeping, laundry, and food/nutrition services, saving an additional 10%.
- Inherited a team that was 9% of YTD number after Q1 2012, clawed back to 102% of the budget by the 2012 year end and 122% to plan in 2013. Grew pipeline to 3X targets, up from 1.2X. Attracted several big-ticket deals after integrating solutions-based sales approach and customer engagement processes to field staff.
- Facilitated expansion of spend category expertise from 3 to 16 — 533% growth, which uncovered an estimated $50 million in additional savings for clients. Originated new client annual run rate from 2 to 10 as well.
- Grew asset holdings from a net loss to profitable multimillion-dollar operations within less than 3 years — revenue growth averaged 25% to 200%.
- Worked with consumers pertaining to loans (consumed, home equity, mortgage), starting with the interview process and application completion to addressing credit issues and maintaining loan closures. Achieved highest loan-funding rate in the branch; 52 loans totaling $4.84M in 2013.
- Led a sizable renovation of the Student Life Game Room budgeted at $65,000; increased space usage by 421% to an estimated 7,000 users. Oversaw project management tasks, from project proposal and contract management to overseeing the on-site contractors and tracking project progress.
- Recruited and hired a new HR Director and select staff to prepare for rapid business growth, the firm grew 320% — from 125 to 400 employees. Renegotiated new benefit program with a 0% annual increase in healthcare costs for the firm.
- Implemented effective performance testing and automated regression and black box testing; achieved more than 90% automation speeding time-to-market solutions and reduced operating costs by more than 85%.
- Led Scrum Agile Methodology that promoted iterative development and improved quality, throughput, and customer satisfaction by 50%; reduced time-to-market by more than 30%.
- Reduced the operating budget by 20% this year by utilizing video conferencing and web technologies to trim travel and training expenses and cut full-time employees (FTEs) by 10%. Leveraged lean management to improve document control, batch release, and deviation functions.
- Introduced re-branding strategies and a multi-pronged business plan, opening the company to nationwide franchises, adding millions in bottom-line revenue. Grew from $2 million in 2003; $4 million in 2004; $6 million in 2006. Secured estimated 50% to 100% revenue increases year-over-year.
- Managed intakes, triage, investigations, and closures. Created manufacturing/quality partnerships that reduced average deviation closure times by 25%. Reduced lost revenue from $500,000 to less than $100,000 (80% reduction) by 2011 through GEMBA tools and leveraging restructured teams.
- Led multimillion-dollar account management and customer relationship management processes. Consulted with executives on business vision, value addition, and planning for business development to ensure aggressive sales goals were met — grew team to an estimated $25MM in revenue.
- Improved cash flow, which deterred increases to lines of credit and provided the company with additional liquidity. Updated billing procedures that improved billing issuance and reduced the collection period of receivables by an estimated 50%.
- Eliminated 60% of the sales team for low performance and replaced with top-tier performers — grew monthly revenue from over $400,000 to $1.2M in 2.5 years. Restructured an under-performing team that finished 2012 at more than 86% to plan and 2013 at more than 80% to plan.
- Generated a 147% increase in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) by coaching and training 5 account managers and 1 sales engineer. Utilized selling incentive programs managed through KPIs and MBOs to promote drive and persistence with each rep.
- Slashed bank loan debt 42% (from $1.2M to $700,000) by controlling capital spending, sourcing better suppliers for raw materials, and splitting divisional capital needs.
- Improved rate of compliance with specifications by 20% on approx. 150 contractor projects that were quality checked by inspectors in 2011-2012.