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Video Transcript: Achievements
Narrator: In this video employers discuss what they look for with regard to achievements in your CV.
Sarah McNulty, Director of Customer Value, Homeserve: So when you’re writing about your achievements on a CV, the thing that we look for really is not just what the achievement was, but how you actually went about it and what difference it made.
Chris O’Connell, Co-founder, Timothy James Consulting: What stands out for me in terms of a compelling achievement on a CV is a descriptive scenario where it quantifies exactly what you’ve achieved. So, for example, an individual may well have saved a company x amount of millions by streamlining a particular process or an individual responsible for enhancing the growth of a division; so it has to be descriptive and quantifiable and a point of reference whereby the individual [employer] can actually see the impact that you’ve made.
Natasa Patterson, client Services Manager, Call Britannia: Candidates approach their work history differently and I’ve seen some very good, some very bad ones. But I’d say compelling evidence always works in terms of achievement. If there is enough evidence about the work that has been done and that can be substantiated by facts or figures or awards or promotions or anything that’s quantifiable within that achievement, then that is crucial for the employer to try to get that essence from the candidate and in that respect I’d say evidence, evidence, evidence.
Dan Harris, MD, 1st Place: Too many CVs I see have a job description about what they did in their last position it tells me nothing about their capability to do the new role they’re going for. At the very least you should explain your key responsibilities and then set some time aside for some bullet points around the key achievements you made during that role. Ideally you want to make your achievements tangible, something specific that can ideally be measured in pounds and percentage changes. If you can do that, that to me is a good achievement.
Narrator: So make sure you separate out your achievements from your responsibilities: list them separately; give some explanation as to how you went about achieving something and most importantly provide some evidence of the achievement: give tangible results.
Audio Transcript: Writing Effective Achievements
With your CV it is no longer enough just to tell people what you have done i.e. your responsibilities. You need to tell them where you have made a difference and added value to your previous employers i.e. your achievements. This will help to bring your CV to life, and show why you are a better candidate.
Separate out your responsibilities from your achievements and use the Feature / Action / Benefit model to structure your achievement sentences.
(F) Feature: The way you did something. E.g. consistently
(A) Action: What you did. Use a verb e.g, increased followed by a few words describing what you did.
(B) Benefit: State the benefit to the company, customer or team
Highlighting a few of your strongest and most relevant (key) achievements helps a time-pushed employer understand what you offer and how you are likely to perform if hired.
Example responsibilities and achievements
Responsibilities
Example: “Responsible for cash handling, stock control and opening store accounts”
Example: “Supervised a team of 10, including organising and facilitating weekly team meetings”
Example: “Managed relationships with suppliers, ensuring service levels were continually met”
Notes:
- Explain the responsibilities and tasks you performed that are relevant to the role you are applying for
- Do not repeat responsibilities from job to job, even if you did perform a similar task
- Anecdote each point with an example or specific description
Achievements
Example: “Proactively organised fund-raising activities for charity ABC, generating over £5,000 per event”
Example: “Continually exceeded monthly personal sales targets, helping the team to perform over target for the first time in 5 years”
Example: “Successfully organised all travel arrangements for overseas conference, ensuring budgets were kept to and director’s minimised time wasted”
Notes:
- Explain the way you did something (e.g. consistently, actively, continually, efficiently)
- Then, explain what you did (e.g. maximised, minimised, exceeded, created, coordinated) followed by a few words describing what you did
- Finally, state the benefit to the company, customer, colleague, team, group (etc), using statistics or figures wherever possible to quantify the impact you made