Describing Your Accomplishments
Accomplishments are an important foundation for communicating what you have done, why
you fit, and what you offer an organization.
• Accomplishments indicate specifically what you have achieved during your career. For
example:
– A task you performed on a regular basis.
– A project you managed.
– A team in which you participated.
– A sale for which you were responsible.
– A portfolio you managed.
– An award you received for a specific process.
• Accomplishments are used throughout the career development process.
– Foundation of your resume to highlight skills, capabilities, and results.
– Bulleted or described in your letters to identify what you can do for the organization
and why you are a good fit.
– Summarized and spoken in your 60-Second Commercial, interviewing, and other
networking situations.
• In thinking about which accomplishments to highlight, consider what you want to do in
addition to what you did.
– Orient your accomplishments toward your desired audience and the skills they need.
– This requires a clearly articulated sense of purpose plus an understanding of the
needs of the individual, industry, position, or sector.
Six general guidelines can help you in writing your accomplishment statements.
• Begin with stimulating action verb (see List of Power Action Verbs)
• Write in the past tense.
• Show result gained from your action.
• Be brief, yet stimulating.
• Demonstrate what you are proud of.
• Suggest what skills you used
It may be helpful to refer to job descriptions and your performance appraisals to recall what
you did in each position.
Accomplishments are compiled in three parts.
• Situation: Why did you take the action?
– It was inefficient.
– It was too slow.
– I wanted to learn a new skill.
– Other.
• Action: What did you do under that job description?
– Did I create something new?
– What tasks did I perform?
– Did I train someone?
– Did I coordinate something?
– Other.
