Putting professional accomplishments examples on a resume is the key to making every employer want to hire you. Most candidates only outline duties and responsibilities. But the employer knows what you did from your job title. If you create a list of your accomplishments for a resume, though, you’ll show how well you performed and achieved.
Is it hard for you to think of examples of accomplishments? Don’t know how to describe your achievements in a resume? You’ve come to the right place to learn all you need to know!
This guide will show you:
- 90 achievements examples to put on resumes (you’ll find examples for your profession!)
- How to list resume accomplishments to impress every recruiter.
- How to find your most relevant accomplishments to put on a resume.
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Need other ideas to improve your resume? Check the guides below:
- How to Improve Your Resume in 12 Easy Steps
- How to Update Your Old Resume
- How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
- How Can I Edit My Resume?
- The Best Things to Put on a Resume
Or if you need a resume for a specific profession, check our collection of 500+ resume samples for various jobs.
Navigate through our article quicker, by clicking the link to a section that interests you below:
- What Are Accomplishments for Resume?
- Which Accomplishments to Put on a Resume?
- Where and How to Put Resume Accomplishments?
- 90 Examples of Career Achievements for a Resume
What Are Accomplishments for a Resume?
Accomplishments for a resume are your work achievements that you use to impress the recruiter with your job application. They work better than listing your duties and responsibilities because achievements are measurable by numbers, unique to your experience and relevant to the job you’re after.
So instead of writing what you were taking care of in your previous work, use some resume action verbs and describe what you achieved. Because let’s face it, every worker has responsibilities. But recruiters are not looking for them. They seek candidates with work accomplishment examples to prove their education, experience, skill, and knowledge.
And that’s because no company improves with simple doers. A company grows with achievers onboard.
Describing your work achievements the right way can help you beat ATS bots. Learn more: What Is an ATS-Compatible Resume?
Which Accomplishments to Put on a Resume?
Did you know that 73% of recruiters struggle to find relevant candidates? In order to be as relevant for your future employer as possible, you need to prove you have not only great and relevant skills but also that you achieved something applicable in their company.
Achievements in a resume can come from many areas of your life. You might want to highlight work accomplishments examples, but they can also be related to your education, especially if you’re writing an entry-level resume.
You can also think of personal accomplishments examples, such as being awarded a professional award, receiving a job promotion or earning a new degree. The main rule here is: the best resume achievements examples are those that are relevant and impressive.
Pro tip: If you’re unsure which of your accomplishments will work best on a resume, revisit the job ad and investigate exactly who they are looking for. Visiting a company’s social media ad website can also give you a great update on what they’re currently facing.
Where and How to Put Resume Accomplishments?
You can put your resume achievements in different sections of your resume. It all depends on where those accomplishments are coming from.
1. Include Your Achievements in the Work Experience Section
The work experience section of your resume is the most important part. Employers read resumes pretty much for the sole purpose of reviewing your work history.
That’s why you need to pack this part full of standout achievements. Here’s how:
- In every entry in your work experience section, use up to 6 bullet points. Focus only on what’s relevant for the position.
- Begin every bullet with an action verb. Instead of writing you were “responsible for the design of a new payment system,” say “designed a new payment system.” This way, you’ll come across as an achiever, and not just a doer.
- To make every sentence count, focus on the business outcome of your actions.
- Quantify your achievements whenever possible. Numbers pop!
- At the bottom of each work experience entry, add a section entitled “Key Achievement.” Describe the proudest, most impressive professional win.
To make sure your best accomplishments grab recruiters’ attention, use the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) formula.
Let’s say there’s a job for a Software Engineer, and one of the key requirements is proficiency in testing automation.
A resume achievement example relevant to the position could read:
Key achievement: Optimized the testing process by developing an AI-based test automation tool; reduced testing time by 55%.
- Problem? Testing took too long.
- Action? New test automation tool.
- Result? Testing time cut by 55%.
You can use this method to make every responsibility on your resume sound like an accomplishment.
But what you also need to learn is how to quantify yourresume accomplishments. There are a few proven methods to plug in numbers to your resume accomplishments:
Resume Accomplishments Based on Frequency
- How many times a week/month were you able to do certain tasks?
- How much work were you able to complete within a given period of time?
- How long and how complicated were the projects you’ve completed?
Your resume should answer all such questions!
See these examples of achievements based on frequency:
- Resolved 50+ user tickets daily.
- Designed social media posts: 3 per week on LinkedIn, 3 per week on Facebook, and 6 per week on Instagram. Reached 30,000 customers/week with a monthly social media budget of $300.
- Coordinated an internal newsletter sent every day to 60+ coworkers.
Accomplishments Based on Scale
- How many people were there on your team?
- How big were the budgets you’ve handled?
- How many countries/regions was the company active in?
Again, look at how it works in practice in these scale-informed accomplishments:
- Collaborated with cross-functional project teams of 24 colleagues from sales and operations departments to provide tailor-made customer experience to the clients.
- Trained and mentored 8 associate-level employees to reach a specialist position.
- Spearheaded the branding consistency across 8 national markets.
Resume Achievements Based on Range
If you can’t figure out the exact numbers, it’s okay to estimate, as long as the range you enter is well-informed (because you will be asked about the reasoning behind your estimate during a job interview.)
Example:
Negotiated with office supplies vendors, saving the company $12,000–$17,000 annually.
As this study has shown that positions in large companies attract as many as 250 resumes. To stand out from such a crowd of applicants, you really need to focus on your achievements instead of duties and responsibilities, so make sure to include some glowing professional wins.
2. Add Your Achievements to the Education Section
If you’re a new graduate, if you’re still a student, if you’re looking for an internship or if you don’t have relevant work experience, including your achievements on the resume education section can be a great idea. Especially, since that’s the more important part of your document in this scenario.
Here’s a list of accomplishments for the resume education section:
- Making the Dean’s list
- Achieving an exceptionally high GPA
- Graduating with honors
- Taking part in extracurricular activities,
- Being a Phi Beta Kappa
- Being involved in a study abroad program
- Finishing relevant coursework
- Participating in academic projects
As you can see, there are plenty of education-related resume achievements examples that can (and will!) impress your recruiters.
No accomplishments and contributions at work examples, but plenty of resume education accomplishments? Learn how to make it work in your favour: How to Make a Great Resume Education Section
3. Use Extra Sections to Show Other Accomplishments Examples
You might have some personal accomplishments examples in your life that are relevant to the position you’re trying to land, but don’t quite fit the experience or education sections of your resume. In this case, use the additional sections to include those achievements.
Which additional sections of your resume can contain relevant achievements?
- Awards on a resume are an impressive achievement, that shows you’ve actually won something and followed your career goals. Make sure not to include a breakdance duel tho, unless you’re writing a dance teacher resume.
- Certifications and licenses on a resume are those resume achievements that show you’re a skilled pro who’s gained some knowledge and is ready to work.
- Attending conferences as a listener might not be seen as one of the impressive accomplishments examples, but it shows you’re really passionate and eager to keep developing, so it would be a shame not to mention that.
- Publications on a resume are examples of accomplishments. They basically position you not as a pro, but as an authority in your field. Someone the company can show off with.
- Hobbies on a resume are a bit tricky but achieving something, i.e., leading an amateur junior soccer team to the 1st place in the state, can prove you’ve got some great leadership skills. So that’s an achievement that backs your soft skills great!
Now that you know where to place your accomplishments for a resume, let’s see where you can sum them up neatly.
4. Make Your Best Accomplishments Prominent in the Resume Profile
A resume profile, also called a resume heading statement, is that short paragraph at the very top of your resume, just below your contact information. It’s the very first thing your future employers will put their eyes on. It has to work like a trailer for the rest of your resume.
Grab their attention, and they will read on. Fail to make a good first impression—you’re not getting the job.
If you have lots of relevant experience, the heading statement of your resume will be a resume summary. If you’re not that experienced, you’ll need a career objective.If you’re a very experienced candidate with many relevant accomplishments, you might consider writing an extensive summary of qualifications—a heading statement used in combination resumes.
It’s best to write your resume profile after you’ve written the rest of your resume.
Once you’re done with your work history, re-read all the entries and identify the most impressive and only those achievements that match the requirements of the job you’re applying for. Make sure to include all those glowing accomplishments in your resume profile.
See this example for reference:
Summary of Accomplishments Examples
Skilled customer service representative with 6+ years of experience. Received 98% favorable customer ratings at Second Level Industries. Customer retention for regular callers was 41% above the company average. Seeking to use proven service and sales skills to grow customer loyalty for Verizon
So now you know where and how to list accomplishments on a resume let’s see some examples listed by the industry.
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90 Examples of Career Achievements for a Resume
Here are the types of professional wins that recruiters expect to see on your resume to consider you as an attractive candidate:
List of Professional Achievements for Resume
- Revenue or sales you increased for the company
- Money you saved for the company
- Time you saved for the company
- Problems you identified and solved
- Ideas or innovations you introduced
- Procedures or systems you developed, implemented, or optimized
- Special projects you worked on
- Industry awards you won (i.e., Best Digital Marketing Campaign Award)
- Work-related awards you won (i.e., Salesperson of The Year)
- Promotions to higher positions you got in your job
- Additional training you completed and professional certifications you received
- Funding, grants or scholarships you received
- Popular publications, reports, or presentations you (co)authored
- Blogging and influencing on social media
- Media coverage you gained for the company
- Other accomplishments such as volunteering or achievements in sports
Now, let’s see how that works in practice on resumes for different professions.
You can copy the examples below, paste them into your resume and make minor adjustments: enter your actual metrics and KPIs and list projects and initiatives in which you participated.
Keep reading if you want to know exactlywhere and how to put achievements on a resume to grab the attention of decision-makers. Plus, we’ll share some great hacks for coming up with achievements if you think you have none—I guarantee you actually do!
Resume Accomplishments for Administrative Jobs
Administrative Assistant
- Managed busy schedules and travel plans of 3+ corporate executives while performing general office administration duties.
- Saved $3,000 a year in office supplies after negotiating a new deal with the current supplier.
- Commended for creating the in-house newsletter to communicate management’s vision. Reduced email back-and-forth by 20%.
See more examples: Administrative Assistant Resume Writing Guide
Receptionist
- Managed training and travel schedules and budgets for an organization with 300+ employees.
- Implemented a new CRM with reporting capabilities. Cut costs by 30% and improved efficiency.
See more examples: Receptionist Resume Writing Guide
Office Manager
- Oversaw eight office assistants in a high-volume tech business. Led the team to grow new contracts by 22% per year.
- Built all daily work schedules. Grew the team through direct performance feedback and annual appraisals.
- Decreased clerical errors by 55% by sourcing new data entry automation software.
See more examples: Office Manager Resume Writing Guide
Professional Accomplishments Examples for Sales and Customer Service
Sales Representative
- Developed relationships with 110 new clients and typically exceeded sales goals by 20%.
- Maintained 99% accurate product knowledge in a high-volume retail store.
- Closed average 5 sales per day in outbound telemarketing.
See more examples: Sales Representative Resume Writing Guide
Customer Service Officer
- Maintained customer retention rate 45% above company average.
- Boosted new customer NPS scores by 10%.
- Placed and canceled an average of 200+ orders from customers, distributors, and agents a week.
See more examples: CSR Resume Writing Guide
Cashier
- Achieved Employee of the Month 3x through efficiency and accuracy, with 2nd highest sales rate for store rewards cards.
- Successfully trained and coached 3 junior staff members.
- Achieved 20% higher accuracy rates than all other cashiers store-wide.
See more examples: Cashier Resume Writing Guide
Examples of Professional Accomplishments for IT and Programming
Software Engineer
- Increased code efficiency of XYZ Corp customer portal by 55%.
- Reduced security breaches by 73% for all customers company-wide.
- Built security into new product features to achieve 100% compliance with industry best practices.
See more examples: Software Engineer Resume Writing Guide
Web Developer
- Increased user experience scores by 55% for XYZ, Inc.
- Prototyped an average of 25 new product features per year.
- Drove best practice implementation for 22 employees across multiple departments. Decreased rework by 23% and costs by 15%.
See more examples: Web Developer Resume Writing Guide
UX/UI Designer
- Completed all projects within deadlines, securing at least 90% client satisfaction scores.
- Created a mobile note-taking app that got 8000+ downloads.
- Deployed new features with 10% higher performance than the historical average.
See more examples: UX Designer/UI Developer Resume Writing Guide
Accomplishment Examples for Students and Recent Graduates
Entry-Level Candidate
- 2x Dean's List 2017–2019
- Chief Editor of the University Blog from 2016 to 2018.
- My article in the school paper on mobile computing was linked to by Techdirt.
See more examples: Entry-Level Resume Writing Guide
Internship Candidate
- Completed two study abroad experiences and a semester-long research internship with XYZ Corp.
- 1st Place, 2017 Innovation Award: awarded $10,000 for the best senior project (out of 400+ projects) by faculty vote.
- Completed a two-month internship with Adobe. Commanded by the internship supervisor for resourcefulness and attention to detail.
See more examples: Internship Resume Writing Guide
Work Accomplishment Examples for Education and Teaching
Teacher
- Increased standardized test scores in Math (30%) and Science (24%) by implementing creative coursework into the curriculum.
- Received Teacher of the Year Award in 2010 after demonstrating strong skills in teacher/parent communication.
- Developed AP Chemistry curriculum and helped 43 out of 50 AP students receive 3 or a better score on the AP Chemistry exam.
See more examples: Teacher Resume Writing Guide
Tutor
- Maintained 95% positive feedback from clients, and raised grades by one letter grade for most.
- Raised SAT scores 40% on average for SAT retest clients.
- Tutored three different students for the SATs. All final scores were higher than 1500.
See more examples: Tutor Resume Writing Guide
Research Assistant
- Identified cell changes under microscope, determining cell counts on hemocytometers and Coulter counters with 98% accuracy.
- My article, "Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology," was published by Chronicle.com.
- Delivered on-campus presentation on the impact of sex, conflict, and pathogens on modern genomes during the Annual Molecular Biology Conference.
See more examples: Research Assistant Resume Writing Guide
Academic Professor
- Supervised 22 BA theses, 9 MA theses, and 2 PhD dissertations.
- Published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
- Member of the Postgraduate Studies Board from 2014 to 2017.
See more examples: Academic CV Writing Guide
Achievements in a Resume for Healthcare
Nurse
- Implemented initiatives to reduce incorrect medication administration by 78%.
- Functioned as a mentor and resource to incoming nursing staff, students and LPN/PCA staff.
- Recognized for providing top-class total patient care in an L&D unit with about 4,000 deliveries yearly.
See more examples: Nurse Resume Writing Guide
Medical Assistant
- Received 95% positive reviews in post-visit patient surveys.
- Conducted proper and concise EHR documentation for all visits. Maintained 22% fewer errors than average.
- Managed inventory and supplies. Sourced a better vendor and saved 15%.
See more examples: Medical Assistant Resume Writing Guide
Dental Assistant
- Given three commendations for efficient 4-handed dentistry from Dr. Hampton.
- Decreased setup time for dental procedure preparation by 50%.
See more examples: Dental Assistant Resume Writing Guide
Examples of Resume Achievements for Finance, Business, & Human Resources
Financial Analyst
- Saved HUDA Inc. $2.7 million by identifying low-margin projects.’
- Used MS Access to identify and improve low-performing portfolios. Increased average client revenue by 19%.
- Maintained standard costs within 1% deviation year over year. This saved the jobs of five employees who had been marked for downsizing.
See more examples: Financial Analyst Resume Writing Guide
Business Analyst
- Implemented a customer service process that reduced refund requests by 32% and direct labor costs by $2.5 million.
- Completed in-depth analyses for business optimization projects boosting revenue by 11.8%.
See more examples: Business Analyst Resume Writing Guide
HR Specialist
- Cut lead time for recruiting by approximately 50%.
- Raised employee effectiveness by 18%, and training participation by 15%.
See more examples: Human Resources Resume Writing Guide
Banker
- Worked on and closed 20+ sell- and buy-side M&A deals each worth about $1B.
- Assisted and supported a deal team on a successful $3.5B acquisition of a public company by a large private equity firm.
- Generated over $50K in revenue by targeting high-net-worth clients.
See more examples: Investment Banker Resume Writing Guide or Personal Banker Resume Writing Guide
Resume Accomplishments for Management
Project Manager
- Managed the highly successful Lean Training project for three years. Improved quality by 32%, cut lead times by 21%, and cut costs by 48%.
- Created our popular supply room relocation project. Cut wasted foot traffic by 88% across all nursing staff.
- Wrote an article on advanced organizational scheduling techniques for “Northeast PMP Weekly” magazine. The article was linked to by “Forbes” magazine.
See more examples: PM Resume Writing Guide
Team Manager
- Implemented an employee engagement program to slash food costs by 15% and cut turnover by 25%.
- Boosted my department’s internal NPS scores by 25% in 6 months.
See more examples: Managerial Resume Writing Guide
Executive
- Handled full sales cycle. Grew business by 77% through creative strategies.
- Effectively managed a team of over 270 employees in 12 locations in 3 countries.
- Spearheaded communication with clients to understand pain points. Increased customer retention by 35%.
See more examples: Executive Resume Writing Guide
Resume Achievements for Marketing and Advertising
Marketing Specialist
- Enhanced the open rate for customer online campaigns by 28%.
- Increased landing page conversion rates by 22%.
- Grew a marketing blog from zero to 25,000 visits/month in eight months.
- Increased Facebook conversion rate by 35% with a new copywriting strategy.
- Led 7 cross-functional product teams to 25% efficiency improvement and $1.2M cost savings.
See more examples: Marketing Resume Writing Guide
Graphic Designer
- Developed 200+ graphic design projects (logos, brochures, advertisements, infographics) for 7 clients in a year.
- Contributed to a customer site that won a 2016 Shopify Ecommerce Design Award.
- Won the 2016 Leibowitz Branding & Design Award.
See more examples: Graphic Designer Resume Writing Guide
PR Specialist
- Managed multiple PR and marketing annual budgets ranging from $5,000 to $300,000.
- Lead a project team in designing and implementing a comprehensive social media relations strategy for a new line of lifestyle products—grew Facebook fan base from 0 to 19,000 in 4 months.
See more examples: PR Resume Writing Guide
Examples of Accomplishments in Engineering
Mechanical Engineer
- Planned, designed, and developed tools, engines, and mechanical equipment—achieved an 18% uplift in efficiency.
- Increased workflows by 10% in year one.
See more examples: Mechanical Engineering Resume Writing Guide
Electrical Engineer
- Upgraded XYZ’s old test system to a new system running on C++, cutting average testing time by 58%.
- Redesigned machine arrangements for improved efficiency. Increased production efficiency by 35% over the previous arrangement.
See more examples: Electrical Engineering Resume Writing Guide
Civil Engineer
- Completed 8 $3 million+ projects within budget and specs.
- Found three design flaws in ongoing projects, preventing catastrophic failure.
- Headed local playground design and project management for a $60,000 project.
See more examples: Civil Engineering Resume Writing Guide
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Key Takeaway
Well done! Now you've seen some great accomplishment examples, and you know how to describe your achievements on a resume. Remember that recruiters want to see an achiever who will contribute to the company's success. Your previous achievements can indicate how you'll work for them. So the better your achievements, the bigger your chance of getting hired!
Here’s how to highlight your achievements on a resume:
- Include your achievements in the work experience section, where you describe past jobs.
- Quantify your best results whenever possible.
- Include a sneak peek of your best accomplishments in your resume summary statement or a career objective.
Thanks for reading! Now I’d love to hear from you. Do you have any questions about how to include achievements on a resume? Still find it hard to describe your accomplishments? Drop me a line in the comments, I’ll be happy to help.
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