How to Write Achievements in Your Resume [+Tips & Examples]

achievements in resume
Created by Cake

Resume achievements are work successes that are both measurable and unique to an applicant’s experience. Achievements in resumes are often undermined as many applicants struggle to think of key achievements to list on their resumes.

Adding achievements or awards on resumes can show your prospective employer how well you have performed in the past. Additionally, most employers who seek out particular talents are aware of your experience and previous job descriptions. Therefore, listing achievements on your resume can increase your chances of getting noticed by recruiters.

🔎 What are the differences between achievements and accomplishments? 

An achievement is a set of unique skills, activities, and measurable results or benefits. An example of achievement can be revenues you generated for the company. On the other hand, an accomplishment refers to an individual’s internally motivated target. For example, a fresher accomplishment can be elected leader in the environmental club.

Where & How to Write Achievements in a Resume/CV

How to write achievements in a resume?

Writing resume achievements for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. One of the most detrimental mistakes applicants often make is listing old and irrelevant achievements in resumes. Moreover, some achievements may reveal sensitive and exaggerated information, which can cause rejections from recruiters or prospective employers. 

🧠 To avoid the above mistakes, you can start by generating ideas from the following questions: 

  • Have achieved something for any companies?
  • How did you reach the goals?
  • In what timeframe have you achieved the goal?
  • How often did you surpass the goal?  

The purpose of answering these questions is to demonstrate your past successes in measurable and quantifiable metrics. 

Where to include achievements in a resume?

1. Work Experience Section

Listing your work experience in quantifiable accomplishments can help employers see why you are a successful candidate to be considered for the job. 

Example of the work experience section:

BeautiB | Chicago, IL
Graphic Designer 
2017 - current 

  • Led a FinTech project and boosted at least 50% revenue for the client.
  • Contributed to in-house webpage and received 2018 Shopify Design Award.

Ldd inc | Miami, FL
Management Consultant 
2015 - 2018

  • Created new CRM roadmaps that increased task productivity by 20%.
  • Improved business strategies and raised revenue by $3 million in one year. 

Biyer | Brunswick, ME
Customer Assistant 
2017 - 2020 

  • Responsible for $50,000 revenue per annum.
  • Developed a new customer success protocol and increased customer satisfaction rate by 45%.

2. Resume Summary/Objective

Resume summary or objective is the first section recruiters look at, so it can be a great place to include your key achievements in this section. 

Example of the resume summary: 

  • Recent graduate student with a Masters of Science in Psychology and 3+ years of on-campus counseling experience. Seeking a position as an occupational counselor at X company to improve industry culture and problem-solving skills.
  • Sales manager with 5+ years of experience in international sales. Recently made a 50% revenue increase at Z Company. Looking for new challenges in a diverse salesforce to bring  leadership and passion.
  • Creative graphic designer with 3 years of experience creating 200+ logos, website designs, and storyboards. Excelled in Adobe and Figma. Awarded Best Graphic Design Elements by Interactive Design Foundation in 2020.

3. Projects Section 

The Projects section highlights your past projects, and therefore it is a great section to implement your key achievements.

Example of the projects section:

Project: Supervised a team of front-end developers with Scrum
MeSystems | October 2020

  • Add 5 new website features with scrum and kanban practice. 
  • Transformed the project that was stagnated for 3 years with 40% improvement of KPI.

Project: Marketing campaign for organic coffee
CoffeeMe | September 2020 - December 2020 

  • Adopted strategic marketing initiatives and improved eight different organic coffee products.
  • Hired and trained five team members to achieve 85% audience engagement on SoMe platforms.

Project: Updated finnflow.com content internal system 
Finnflow | October 2019 - December 2019

  • Created a new system and improved content management system speed by 50%.
  • Rebuilt the internal system and improved the error rate by 69%.

4. Education Section

You can add academic achievement examples in the education section to highlight your key achievements as a fresher. 

Example of the education section:

Windows High School | Windows, VA
Diploma, 2019 (GPA: 3.8)

  • The lead of the Marching Band
  • Honors Student Award in 2018

Iowa State University | Iowa, IA
B.A. in Accounting (2017 - 2021) 

  • President of the Environmental Club from 2018 to 2020
  • Member of the student council from 2018 to 2021

California State University | Long Beach, CA
B.A. in Literature (2017 - 2021) 

  • Certification in Poetry Writing, Coursera (2019).
  • Chief Editor of the University Newsboard from 2017 to 2020

5. Awards & Achievements Section 

The awards and achievements section is useful if you have a handful of impressive achievements to show the recruiters and prospective employers. 

Example of the awards & achievements section:

UI Designer 

  • Visual design & packaging award (2015)
  • Program representative at Long Beach Design School (2015 - 2016)

Product Manager 

  • Implemented Waterfall methodology resulted in a 200% increase in company revenue.
  • Launched five new products in 2 years at XY company.

Career Coach

  • Featured in Best Career Coaching Service in International Coaching Federation.
  • Developed a career program at Employee Special School from 2015 to 2016.

10 Personal Achievements Examples

Personal achievements can be awards, competitions, volunteering, and any sports events you have achieved in the past.

Here are 10 personal achievement examples for your reference:

  1. Completed 200 hours of prison mentoring service for Prison A Service.
  2. Completed 3 marathons for breast cancer.
  3. Learned 2 different programming languages independently.
  4. Elected captain for the local soccer team.
  5. Leader of the local feminist active group in the past year.
  6. Helped with 2 different political campaigns.
  7. Taught the English language at an orphanage without costs.
  8. Received 2 college scholarships for excellence.
  9. Ran a FinTech startup for the last 6 months.
  10. Learned to dance the Tango in 6 months.

15+ Academic & Sport Achievements Examples

Many freshers worry that they do not have enough experience to make a list of meaningful achievements. However, achievements in resumes for freshers can be any activities, projects, or team sports applicants have experienced during their college years. These achievements to put on resumes don’t have to be medals or awards. It can be an experience where you demonstrate growth, leadership quality, and teamwork.   

Here are 10 examples of academic achievements in resumes

  1. Elected member of student council between 2012 to 2014.
  2. Won The President’s Award, 2004.
  3. Won the Foreign Language Award for the Spanish language.
  4. Delivered outstanding presentations that were awarded for Outstanding Class Participation.
  5. Participated in a local college science fair between 2014 to 2017.
  6. Developed a case study for Changing the Environment with Advancing Equal Rights now regularly adopted by the local environmental club.
  7. Published my undergraduate thesis in Nature, titled “the moral implications of the pandemic”.
  8. President of the college student board from 2015 to 2018.
  9. President of the college debate team.
  10. Chief Editor of the college newspaper from 2015 to 2016.

10 examples of sports achievements to put on resume:

  1. Captain of the college football team and attended the university football tournament from 2014 to 2015.
  2. Played tennis from 2014 to 2016 and was elected co-captain by the tennis team in 2016.
  3. Received full Alabama Golf Association Women’s Scholarship Fund.
  4. Devoted 20 hours per week to coach local school girls tennis.
  5. Gained valuable team-building experience by becoming a member of the local female soccer team from 2015 to 2018.
  6. Led 5 tours of athletic facilities to prospective student-athletes and their families.
  7. Trained junior co-captains of the college football team in 2016.
  8. Committed approximately 20 hours per week to training ping-pong with the college ping-pong team.
  9. Hosted and organized events for Doe College Athletic Department from 2016 to 2018.
  10. Volunteered to lead yoga classes for beginners without charge.

30+ Professional Achievements Examples

1. Project Manager Achievements

  • Led Unique Talent Acquisition Team and saved $5000 in operation costs.
  • Developed three database management programs.
  • Hired and trained three new team members based on various project needs. 

2. Accountant Achievements

  • Identified and fixed recurring accounting problems and saved $1.2 million a year. 
  • Performed detailed cost analysis and saved the company $1.5 million from 2014 to 2017.
  • Prepared tax returns for 100+ clients. 

3. Customer Service Achievements 

  • Reorganized warehouse design and reduced inventory time by 20%.
  • Made 15% more retail sales from the previous year. 
  • Improved customer satisfaction rate by 20% in the last 6 months.

4. Sales Representative Achievements Examples

  • Maintained 50+ customer relations to improve company image.
  • Exceeded sales target by 20% and gained 20 new clients. 
  • Made 100 cold calls daily to expand customer database.  

5. Achievements of an Administrative Assistant

  • Developed new administrative policies and reduced 50 hours on scheduling appointments for the company.
  • Trained two new interns in various office tasks. 
  • Maintained and organized 5+ meetings every week. 

6. Human Resources Accomplishments Examples

  • Led a talent acquisition team and made 50 successful new hires for the company. 
  • Developed a new hiring protocol and saved the time for the hiring process by 20% for the company.
  • Researched and adapted new benefits programs for employees and increased employee satisfaction rate by 7%. 

7. Marketing Achievements Examples

  • Successfully carried out Y marketing campaign and decreased the budget by 5%.
  • Managed marketing campaigns for 4+ SaaS clients in FinTech.
  • Created 10 different marketing strategies for company X.

8. Teacher Achievements Examples

  • Created two new teaching methods and improved students’ overall exam records by 20%.
  • Guided and supported over 20 SEN students to improve special needs program.
  • Reinforced and maintained classroom management by incorporating 5 seminars per week.

9. Nurse Achievements Examples

  • Supervised intensive patient care unit 3 days per week. 
  • Earned the Best Nurse Award at X Hospital from 2015 to 2018.
  • Assisted and supported two different teams to provide care to residents at all times. 

10. Graphic Designer Achievements Examples

  • Developed 300+ new logo designs for various in-house and international projects. 
  • Boosted customer satisfaction rate by 20%.
  • Trained and guided three new interns for in-house design tasks.

Cake provides the best resume templates & examples for talents to demonstrate your qualifications. Let us help you land the dream with a strong resume (free download)!

5 Tips for How to Write Achievements in Resume

💡 Use descriptive resume adjectives.

Descriptive resume adjectives are action words that can describe your resume achievements in a short and powerful manner. 

💡 Use quantifiable results.

Use metrics such as time, money, and percentages to quantify achievements in your resume.

💡 Mention any relevant awards.

Make sure to include relevant awards that can complement your work experience as achievement examples. 

💡 Know the difference between achievement and responsibilities.

Resume achievements describe how well you did the task or project, while responsibilities plainly describe what you did. 

💡 Use powerful keywords for your resume achievements. 

Recruiters often use keywords to search for their ideal candidates and thus conducting a keyword search can benefit you from standing out in their search.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

In this article, you learned that adding achievements to resumes is a good way to emphasize your success. Importantly, resume achievements should be quantifiable and relevant to the job description. If you are struggling to add achievements in the correct format, check out Cake’s templates to see how others did it. 

--- Originally written by Diana Shih ---

3 lợi ích khi đăng ký nhận thông báo từ Cake

  • Không bỏ lỡ tin tức nổi bật
  • Cập nhật thông tin nghề nghiệp
  • Khám phá việc làm mới nhất
Newsletter

Resume Builder

Build your resume only in minutes!

Các bài viết khác bạn có thể quan tâm

Bài viết liên quan mới nhất

What to Write in an Email When Sending a Resume [+ Examples & Tips]

Looking for guidance on writing an effective email to send resume? Discover expert tips and email examples to maximize your chances of landing that dream job!