Let’s consider 7 examples of professional achievements that will help to figure out the best of the best in the staff of companies. On the one hand, this is proper and right, but on the other hand — the candidates must not only prove their competence, but also show really outstanding results of their labor.
It’s clear many people indicate their strengths on their CV: responsibility, trainability, stress resistance and other equally important traits for employers. It is impossible to confirm or deny all this at an interview. The real portrait of an employee will be obtained already during the first two weeks of work, when they get used to the new place. But that is not our topic.
A more substantive area is professional achievements. As a rule, they are expressed in specific performance results. They can be confirmed by the previous management, and the candidates themselves can explain how and wherewith they achieved such performance.
What are some examples of professional accomplishments listed on a resume?
It’s worth mentioning at once, the indicators that need to be flaunted will depend on the position and the requirements of the particular employer. It is pointless to show your achievements in optimizing sorting algorithms if you are applying for a managerial position. A potential employer will not be interested in it in any way (well, only if the company has an open vacancy for a programmer).
General criteria for selecting professional achievements for a CV:
- The results of your achievements should be closely related to your speciality (job duties and functions).
- Achievements should be measurable (even if they relate to intangible processes or characteristics, they should be related to numerical performance indicators that have been achieved).
- It is perfect, if you or one of your past employers can attest your achievements (as proof that they weren’t just put on paper or made up by you to get a new position).
That’s enough theory, it’s time to give more practice!
Examples of professional achievements for different professions
7 pieces, as promised. For good luck!
Winning prizes and winning profile competitions
Example 1: Took first place in the regional Maths Olympiad
It’s not just a strong argument for students and job applicants with no experience, it’s a trump card game. Of course, it is very difficult to get a job without relevant experience. Many former students spend months going on interviews in the hope of getting at least some kind of position. Even though companies often write in their requirements for candidates the desired experience of 2 years and more.
But if you have a such vantage, employers will likely line up for your candidature. Of course, as long as it matches the area of business.
Instead of prizes and victories, other similar achievements may be suitable: patents that belong to you, red diplomas (for graduating with honors), scientific publications or presentations at relevant conferences.
Increase in client base and sales growth
Example 2: Brought 7 VIP clients to the company in the last year
You cannot think of a better formulation for sales managers. It kills three birds with one stone: the first is that the manager brings in clients, the second is that these are VIP clients, and the third is that the manager has worked for the company for more than a year. Stable. Challenging. Cool.
As smaller achievements for salespeople are excellent: increasing sales volume (in per cent), expanding the client base (also possible in per cent), personal support of large deals (here you can use the number), solving difficult (conflict) situations with clients.
Passing audits
Example 3: Successfully passed 4 audits
The CEO will personally come to give you tea at your interview and ask you to stay with the company for at least the next 5 years. There’s a joke in every joke. Such a fact would be pretty cool for any accountant.
No less effective in an accountant’s CV will look like: successful cases of resolving litigation disputes on core business, results of tax audits (passing with ‘little blood’ will also be a success somewhere), practice of implementation of profile accounting software, experience of staff reduction/optimization, availability of certificates of profile training.
Statistics of won cases and litigations
Example 4: Won 25 litigations with a total amount of compensation of about $100,000
It sounds extremely convincing to any employer. Yes, there is no information about lost cases, but the mere fact of money gained or saved for the company is a significant achievement of any in-house counsel. Everyone knows that what is saved is as good as what is earned.
As other achievements of lawyers, the employer will be interested in the following facts: total length of service/practice, number and type of documents developed for the company, document examinations performed, facts of checking counterparties, etc.
Number of interviews
Example 5: Conducted 235 interviews with candidates for the post of seller, 80% of those selected successfully completed their probationary
Every company manager expects roughly such results from the HR department. Of course, the actual practice may be worse, but with the right reasoning, any numerical indicators can be justified. The main criterion in the formulation is the success rate.
Other professional achievements may also be useful for HR specialists: the number of trainings conducted, successful experience in search and selection of top or middle managers, reduction of hiring costs (reduction of expenses on personnel search), experience in working with problem employees, passing profile inspections by regulatory authorities, etc.
Reduced time of order delivery from the warehouse
Example 6: Reduced the average time to delivery goods on request from 30 minutes to 15 minutes
Quite an achievement for a warehouse supervisor/manager. It could also be suitable for the CV of a storekeeper responsible for a certain category of goods.
It can be referred to no less important achievements, worthy to be included in the resume of a warehouse manager: the transition to electronic document management, reducing the level of scrap or the development of methods that contribute to this achievement, optimization of procedures for unloading/receiving goods, the introduction of a system of address storage, successfully conducted inventories (here you can use numerical and percentage indicators of identified problems, of course, the lower they are, the better).
Optimization of delivery routes
Example 7: Optimized 7 key delivery routes, transport time reduced by 10%, costs reduced by 5%
Time is money. Any manager knows this. And the faster goods reach the warehouse, the more efficient the work of a logistics specialist.
Other professional achievements of logisticians include: building a carrier base and getting discounts/preferences for transportation services, experience in solving problems with suppliers (complaints, returns, dealing with overdue goods, etc.), development/application of mathematical models for ordering goods, experience in implementing profile software, normalization of delivery schedules, etc.
Tips
Even if you think you don’t have anything to brag about in your working life, you are sorely mistaken. Think back to your responsibilities and the work you’ve done, there’s probably a lot to be proud of!
A simple example from life.
In one interview, a candidate left a field with his professional achievements blank. The organization asked a standard question in such cases:
‘Was there anything in your life that you could be proud of?’.
The answer was something like this:
‘Yes, there is such a thing. I had a broken spine, but I got back on my feet on my own through exercise and regular strength training’.
Such an achievement emphasizes the fact that a person has incredibly strong character and motivation. A more purposeful employee could hardly be found. Of course, he was hired even without experience.
When writing your CV, don’t use generic phrases that will clearly map to your direct responsibilities. You don’t need to say that you worked with customers. This is already obvious if you worked in sales. Use facts! Specify how many customers you served, what sales volumes you generated, etc.
The idea is as simple as possible: take your job descriptions and see what you managed to achieve on each of the points. You’ll probably find something.
The Projecto team does not help with the search and recruitment of personnel and cannot influence the professional achievements of candidates. But we do offer a product that can increase the productivity of your managers and employees!
Projecto is a flexible and efficient project management system. It works in the cloud and is always available. It has all the necessary tools for working with schedules, tasks, planning, discussion, document storage, etc.
Don’t know if you need such software or not? Just try the service in action — works without registration and entering any data.
