By India Purnell, Faculty Assoc., School Of Social Work
No matter what experience you have, well written accomplishment statements are key to every successful resume. What may seem at first an inconsequential task, can into a true highlight of skills to prospective internships and employers.
Accomplishment statements communicate that you have achieved results and that you have developed transferable skills and professional competencies necessary to be career and internship ready. Accomplishment statements should be composed of the following: action verb, project, positive outcome.
Three quick tips:
- Write down your accomplishments
- List your previous jobs, from the most recent to the first job you had
- Use this section to give ample space to write down your list of accomplishments
- List all your contributions to these companies regardless of how small or big they are
- Quantify your outcomes when possible. (i.e.: trained more than 20 newly hired employees over a three-month period resulting to increased sales/revenue)
- Highlight and transform three areas
- Using the formula, “Action Verb + Project/Task + Evidence/Outcome = Accomplishment Statement”, emphasize descriptive wording to accurately portray your role and the positive result of your involvement
- Look at the following statement for a great example: Led (Action Verb) a group of 20 volunteers in preparing and distributing backpacks to underprivileged students at the local community center (Project) resulting to increase manpower and service by 25% (outcome)
- Choose accomplishment statements relevant to the desired position
- Use action verbs that will describe your contribution versus your responsibilities
- Include information on the scope of activities, including but not limited to: the size of budget managed, number of employees affected, or percentage of increase in sales
- Emphasize the positive result of the action you have taken along with measurements, such as amount of money or specific knowledge and skills gained
For more examples and information on crafting successful accomplishment statements please follow the links below for additional resources.