Recruiters need to take different factors into consideration when trying to find a suitable candidate for a vacancy. Not only do these factors describe candidates, but they also offer credibility to their claims as well. One of these factors is accomplishments on a CV. A CV including a well-described and impressive accomplishments part will most likely stand out from the others.
What they are
Accomplishments are best described as something that you have contributed to with your daily tasks. It can also be an achievement that describes what kind of employee you are, or an award that you have received due to your efforts (e.g., employee of the month award). They are useful because they describe how you have dealt with a challenge or the results that you have achieved in an organisation(for example, introduced a new CRM system that improved sales by 20% within a year). Keep in mind that an effective accomplishment is one that is assessable. Using numbers is one way to describe your accomplishments as specific as possible. How was the situation at the beginning and how was it after you took action?
How to add them
There are different ways to add accomplishments to your CV. If there’s a single achievement that you really want to highlight, it makes sense referring to it in the very first paragraph; your personal statement. If you have a long list of accomplishments, then you can include an achievement segment to your cv template in which you can describe them. However, you can also add accomplishments to specific work experiences by describing them after listing all your responsibilities.
Responsibilities vs accomplishments
The most frequently made mistake is that applicants confuse responsibility with an accomplishment. For example, they mention that they were in charge of training new staff. Because accomplishments are the end results of your actions, it would have been better if it included numbers to show the positive impact of the actions taken, such as “trained just over 50 new recruits at 4 different branches across the country”.
Tips on including accomplishments
- Tailor your accomplishments to the job position. Make sure that the most relevant accomplishments are at the top.
- add numbers to your accomplishments so that the recruiter can see how your actions and skillsets have positively influenced the organisation
- if you lack job experience, you can use accomplishments achieved at an internship, a summer job or even class projects
- You can ask your supervisor or colleague if they can aid you in your search for your accomplishments.
- Accomplishments should not be too long and serve to attract the recruiter’s curiosity. Do not drift off and keep to the point.
