Use Accomplishment Statements
Accomplishment statements create a more powerful resume. They highlight achievements, quantify results, and show impact. Each of the job, internship, or student club/involvement descriptions on your resume should include at least one impactful accomplishment statement. For example, the accomplishment statement could be:
- Financial: Help the organization to save money or increase profit, reduce expenses/inventory, loss/employee turnover.
- Enhancements to the workplace: Increase productivity, efficiency, profitability, safety, employee morale, or client satisfaction.
When writing accomplishment statements think about the following: What skill am I trying to illustrate? What were my results? What did I achieve? What impact did this have? How did the employer benefit? Can I quantify for additional impact? What was the purpose of my task?
The key elements of an effective accomplishment statement are actions and results:
Actions: Describe the specific actions you took to achieve an objective or solve a problem using power verbs. Focus on transferable skills and technical skills that directly relate to your intended field. Include key words from the industry.
Results: Describe the results of your efforts. Quantify whenever possible, using percentages, dollars, or volume. Accomplishment statements may begin with
the action or the result. However, leading off with the result has greater impact. Consider the examples below:
Good |
Better |
Best |
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P.A.R. Approach
Use the P.A.R. Approach to highlight keywords, accomplishment statements, and transferable skills, as well as to quantify your achievements:
P—Problem/Situation: What is a situation, issue, or problem that you or the organization faced? For example: Assisted in troubleshooting customer service problems in a high profile depar tment store to address a 30% decrease in business and 50% increase in unresolved customer complaints.
A—Action: What actions did you take? Use power verbs to describe your actions. For example: Analyzed the entire customer service process and created, designed, and implemented an efficient customer tracking and information system for over 1,000 client accounts using Microsoft Excel.
R—Result/Benefit: What was the positive result/benefit of your action for the organization? Quantify, if possible, and describe any benefits. For example: Increased business by 20% in a 6-month period via targeted digital marketing campaigns on Instagram and Facebook.
If you are unable to quantify using specific statistics, consider detailing the purpose of your work and how it is used to assist the organization or other individuals. For example: Conducted 15 psychosocial intake assessments per day to evaluate mental health status, ensure patient safety, and provide accurate referral to therapeutic resources.
