Which Accomplishments do You Put on Your Resume?

By Lora Korpar

In Brief: (1) Accomplishments are important parts of a resume because they show you applied yourself at work and improved the company. (2) Focus on numbers, statistics and the job’s scope when adding accomplishments. (3) Highlight the accomplishments using bullet points and descriptive language.

A strong resume is vital to a good job application. And the best resumes don’t just provide a laundry list of duties you completed in past work experiences. They highlight concrete accomplishments that helped make the company more successful.

Why Add Accomplishments to Resumes?

Listing your responsibilities in a resume is useful, but including accomplishments adds more depth. The employer can see not just what you did, but how well you did it and the impact on the company.

"Many write their resume in a way they think is appropriate, which is putting in a list of responsibilities. ‘I'm responsible for increasing profitability, onboarding new employees,’ whatever it might be. And the problem with saying you're responsible for certain things is the reader doesn't get a sense of how you did in that responsibility. Because you could have been awesome, you could have been average, you could have been below average. Saying what you're responsible for doesn't convey how you did. Accomplishments put those responsibilities in context. Then they can understand not only were you responsible for that, but this is how you delivered on it.”

— Shelley Piedmont is a resume writer and job search coach.

Examples of Resume-Worthy Accomplishments

The best accomplishments to add depend on the industry. However, it is always important to provide as many figures as possible. If you are in sales, include the exact dollar amount of revenue you brought in. If you are a project manager, include how quickly you finished the project and how much budget remained.?

Defining your work’s scope is also helpful. It is more impactful to say “Managed a 150-person team” than just “Managed a team.”

“But one piece of advice I would give any job seeker is a cheat code — check global [key performance indicators] in your industry. So for instance, let's say you're in logistics. Google KPIs in logistics and you ultimately want to focus on putting those key performance indicators on your resume and talk about how you impact those KPIs. Those that are the accomplishments that are going to get you noticed.”

— Henry Bell is a professional resume writer and career consultant.?

Formatting Accomplishments in a Resume

Several resume sections are appropriate for an accomplishments list. You can add them to the work experience and education sections. Or add them at the top near the professional summary.?

No matter how, Bell recommends following the STAR method — situation, task, action, result. Describe the issue, your job, how you solved the problem and your work results.

Also, use spacing to highlight the accomplishments and ensure they look nice on the page.

“Don't bury [accomplishments] in a wall of text. Sometimes people will put in lengthy paragraphs and it is hard then for the reader to pick them out. Readers often are skimming, so it's easy to miss. I suggest you use a bullet point so the eye will find that information. It is best to be specific about the words you use. Sometimes, less is more, so start your achievement with an action word that really describes what you've done. Increased, decreased, achieved, orchestrated, facilitated, something like that, shows the actions that you took. That gives a psychological impression to the reader [that you are] active and engaged in the business. And then try as best as you can to frontload what that achievement is within the first words of the bullet point… so if someone's skimming, they will get the essence of what you're trying to convey right away.”

— Shelley Piedmont

Should You Use Visuals to Convey Accomplishments?

Sometimes visuals like graphs or pie charts can help present data in a more visually stimulating way. However, be aware of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Always reiterate the accomplishments from the visuals in other sections to ensure ATS can read them. Or omit visuals altogether.

“As human beings, we love to see numbers. But when it comes to the visual aspect of everything, you have to understand that you are at the mercy of the ATS. And these systems aren't as sophisticated as you'd like them to be. I see a lot of video files, photos or different graphs representing someone's hard and soft skills. All of that is going to trip you up. The system isn't going to properly read your resume. And of course, that's a technical hurdle that you weren't aware of and all you'll get back [from the potential employer] is just that you weren't chosen. And so it can be very misleading. So stay away from the visuals and stick to the descriptions and the numbers.”

— Henry Bell

Explore more

• Accomplishments for a Resume: Key Achievements & Awards by Michael Tomaszewski for Zety
• What Are the Biggest Dos and Don’ts of Resumes? by Lora Korpar for Get Hired by LinkedIn News
• 39 Resume Accomplishments Examples to Demonstrate Your Value by Paige Liwanag for Jobscan
• How to Write Accomplishments on Your Resume by Greg Faherty for ResumeCoach
• How to Rework a Resume for Each Application by Brandi Fowler for Get Hired by LinkedIn News
• Should You List Hobbies on Your Resume? by Lora Korpar for Get Hired by LinkedIn News

Meet the experts?

Henry Bell is a professional resume writer and career consultant. He spent three years as a hiring manager, then decided to use his knowledge to help others land jobs.

Shelley Piedmont is a resume writer and job search coach. She specializes in resumes, interview coaching, career coaching and LinkedIn profile optimization.?

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