Professional achievements in the bank. How to describe professional achievements

24 Sep 2012

A person who is seriously looking for a job is waiting for a call with an invitation to an interview in order to demonstrate his skills and knowledge. However, in order to be called to a meeting, your resume must be of interest to the employer. To do this, the applicant must fill out all the points correctly and competently.

As a rule, the “major achievements” item in a resume raises many questions among applicants. Candidates are at a loss for fear of appearing immodest. As a result, in best case scenario In this paragraph, one line will be indicated, in the worst case there will be a dash. Let's take a closer look at what to write in your achievements and why it is necessary.

Why does an employer need to know about your achievements?

To begin with, it is worth noting that if the employer is interested in this, then it is important and this point should not be left empty. Of course, your experience and skills play a major role in your resume. However, from this information it is impossible to understand how proactive a worker you are, how successfully you coped with your responsibilities and whether you are able to evaluate your successes.

The word achievement means setting a clear goal and obtaining the final result. This point will tell you how goal oriented and conscious you are. If your professional achievements have been recognized by management, please include this information in your resume. Emphasize that you were noticed, you were able to stand out among your colleagues.

It is also useful for candidates themselves to evaluate their achievements at work. From time to time, evaluate your experience and think about what you really did for the company, for your professional development. This will help you determine your future career path.

So, the main responsibilities of the “resume achievements” function are as follows:

How much have you improved your skills as a professional during your career;

Are you able to take responsibility;

Can you evaluate your progress;

Are you a goal-oriented person?

It is advisable that your answers correspond to the specified points.

How and what achievements should I list?

As you begin filling out this item, answer the following questions:

How much benefit have you brought to the company since you started?

Which interesting experience what did you get out of it?

Think about what significant project you have completed?

Are you trusted with work that goes beyond your responsibilities?

What were you praised for at work?

What successes did your management note?

Even in the most routine work, significant events can occur. Demonstrate your willingness to solve all tasks until the final result. For example, using effective words and expressions: not “I made successful reports on working with clients,” but “I made the work of creating reports on working with clients as effective as possible,” not “implemented” but “implemented.” In other words, describing a completed process.

Also, employers evaluate results presented in numbers more effectively. For example, he increased the number of transactions by 100%, brought 20% of new clients to the company, conducted 50 trainings for new staff, etc.

Don't write vaguely. The “achievements” section of your resume should be clearly structured, like other points. For example:

Trained 10 new sales managers;

Established office life support from scratch. Concluding contracts for the supply of water, lunch, and also with a cleaning company.

Created a database for maintaining incoming and outgoing mail, where recipients and senders could track the status of their letters and documentation. As an achievement, I can note that not a single document was lost during my work.

Please note that if your achievements at work are a trade secret, and you cannot indicate indicators and figures, then you should indicate the information more vaguely, without violating your agreement with your previous employer. When trying to impress a recruiter, don't break the law. And even at an interview you shouldn’t say, “Actually, this is a secret, but I’ll tell you.” How can you be trusted after this?

If you want to get a position at a level higher than your current one, in other words, you want your career to grow vertically, focus on the following:

Independent decision making;

Substituting for a manager during his business trips/vacations/illnesses;

Experience in planning, strategy development and management of ____ staff.

If you would like to horizontally develop your career, expand and change responsibilities and functions, then it is worth indicating the following:

Solved problems beyond the scope of my duties;

During my work, I learned programs (name the skills and knowledge that you acquired).

Phrases that should not be included in achievements

Increased the efficiency of the department. If this is your merit, describe in more detail how you did it, using numbers. This wording is vague;

Set up work from scratch;

He did his job well. These are not achievements, but your work responsibility;

I did not receive a single reprimand while working. Of course, you can be proud of this, but this information is definitely not for a potential employer;

Ensuring sales. Everything related to sales must be presented in numbers.

Such formulations convey that you simply went to work and carried out your duties, even without reprimands or tardiness. In your achievements, you should highlight the most striking moments and describe them.

What achievements should a retail employee write, sample

Retained clients during the crisis by developing an individual system of discounts and offers;

Increased the company's profit by 20% by expanding the network in the market;

Increased sales volume by 30%;

Four times became “Best Seller of the Month”;

Over the past year, he brought 50 new customers for our products to the company.

Of course, what exactly to write is up to you to decide when evaluating the result of your work. Our tips will help you formulate your thoughts correctly. After you have compiled a list of achievements, look through the eyes of a recruiter, would you be interested in such an employee? Or you will have questions and something remains unclear to you. Then you will understand what points need to be changed to attract the attention of a potential employer.

A well-written, informative, interesting resume can guarantee successful employment in a prestigious company. Among the components of the relevant document, which many HR specialists consider key, is information about achievements. How to correctly reflect them on a resume? What types of facts must be included in a document?

Priority of facts

Experts recommend that achievements in your resume should be supported by facts and figures. It will be more convincing than anything beautiful words. The main thing is to correctly correlate the indicators with the positions that the candidate held at that moment, and not to confuse anything. Because, for example, a record like: “The client support specialist increased the department’s sales by 20% in a year” would look quite strange.

There is no need to be shy about artificially increasing the number of feats by reflecting personal achievements in your resume. That is, for example, you can classify those same sales of 20% (if you are really an expert in them!) into separate product groups. How? As an option - “increased department sales in the office supplies segment by 30%”, in another line - “increased software sales turnover by 10%”. The arithmetic mean will remain the same, but in fact there will be more achievements.

Non-disclosure principle

At the same time, when reflecting achievements in your resume using numbers and facts, you need to know when to stop. The fact is that in the activities of almost any company there is It, meanwhile, can be contained in the very figures and facts that the candidate wishes to cite in his resume. Perhaps the leak of such and such data will not be critical for the former employer. But the managers of the company where the person is going may not like the fact that the candidate easily takes secret information outside the employing company. Experts advise those who work in retail to be especially attentive. Achievements in a sales consultant's resume certainly require numbers (like no other document of this type). But in many cases they will constitute a trade secret.

Reliability instead of numbers

What to do if, due to the specifics of the position held, the candidate cannot provide specific figures and facts? It is quite difficult, for example, to reflect this kind of achievements of an accountant in a resume. Or, for example, an office manager. They don't sell anything, but perform functional work. How should they be?

In this case, experts recommend focusing on the precise implementation of functional operations. That is, list job responsibilities with comments like “performed without errors.” And if there were some shortcomings, then that might even be good. If they were corrected, then the fact that there were errors can be turned into an achievement. It is enough just to enter a small explanation in one line with information about the defect: “I solved such and such a problem.”

Templates are useless

Achievements on a resume are an important aspect. But an equally significant factor is the form of presentation of information. It often happens that there are plenty of achievements, but for some reason the HR manager ignores them. The summary should be made in such a way that the person reading it has a desire to at least become familiar with the facts contained in it, and not just skim at one glance. How to do this?

Experts recommend, as an option, to focus on reflecting the uniqueness of previous experience. So that when viewing the resumes of candidates with the same track record, the manager can see that this person really benefited from past work something useful. And therefore there is a high probability that he will do the same in the new company. How to do this in practice?

Very simple. When listing previous jobs and positions (with achievements), give small accompanying comments. Such as, for example, “mastered the art of cold selling.” Or, let’s say, “learned the 1C program.” An employer always wants to see effective specialists in its ranks. One of the criteria for this is the desire to learn and master new tools in work. However, this quality must be reflected in the resume.

At the same time, HR specialists do not recommend experimenting too much with appearance resume. It happens that candidates present information about themselves in the form of pictures, and sometimes even in poetry. Of course, this kind of resume may be in demand if a person is applying for a job in a company for a corresponding creative position. Of course, this format of presenting information will be a positive factor for the candidate. However, this is rather an exception. As a rule, due to his profession, he is conservative. In his attitudes, the invariable rule is that if the candidate is worthy of the desired position, he will find a way to present facts about himself within the framework of a standard, but at the same time informative scheme.

Achievements in resume structure

How to reflect achievements in a resume in terms of the structure of this document? Experts recommend not delaying the presentation of facts in accordance with the algorithm for presenting information. Personal achievements in a resume should go immediately after information about responsibilities at previous jobs. Regarding the content of the relevant section, as we said above, specifics, numbers, facts. No general phrases like “gained invaluable experience while solving assigned tasks.”

What would be a sample scenario for highlighting accomplishments on a resume? For example, a sales consultant? The facts can be reflected this way. First we write: “Work at such and such an enterprise, in such and such years.” The line below: “Developed an algorithm for communicating with customers, which allowed us to increase smartphone sales by 20%.” Even lower: “Sold more than 300 iOS devices in 4 months, while the department average was 100 devices.”

If the task is to reflect the achievements of an accountant in a resume, then the algorithm may look like this. First - place of work, position, deadlines. A line below: “Ensured error-free reporting.” Even lower: “Transferred accounting completely into electronic format using digital signature.” What about problem solving? And we also reflect this: “We made adjustments to the mechanism of interaction with the Federal Tax Service, which allowed us to avoid errors in recognizing file formats.”

Types of achievements

What other examples of achievements can be on a resume? There are a lot of options. Both exclusively professional achievements can be reflected in the resume, and, for example, those that are related to the business development strategy of the employing company. At the same time, achievements of the first type may well predetermine the second. In the first case, you can write: “I have mastered three such and such programming languages.” In the second: “I created an IT product that allowed the company to enter the international market.”

When achievements are still ahead

Of course, it is possible that it is problematic to give examples of achievements in a resume due to their small size or because there is nothing special to brag about yet. In this case, experts recommend that the document at least reflect a sincere desire for numbers that are worth talking about out loud. For example, if we are talking about describing achievements in the resume of a retail salesperson, then it is quite acceptable to comment previous experience work like this: “I regularly practiced sales using Neil Rackham’s SPIN method.” The very desire to master effective technique can be almost a greater advantage for a future employer than the successful results of its application. Therefore, if a person has not yet decided what achievements can be reflected in a resume, what to write as an alternative, we now know.

Reliability is the main criterion

When presenting facts, especially those related to regalia, the candidate is obliged to write the truth. Even if there is a temptation to paint inflated figures, for example, on sales. Or the pace of implementation of such and such solutions. An experienced HR specialist can check the achievements that a sales manager reflects in his resume without any problems. And therefore, experts advise candidates: it is better to forget to enter some facts than to indicate unreliable ones.

Incorrect wording

Experts note interesting fact. Many candidates are confused by the terminology that requires the correct presentation of information about achievements on a resume. What types of cases are most common? Many HR specialists believe that this is either a conscious or an involuntary substitution of the concept of “achievement” with another, which sounds like “job responsibility.”

Let's study a few examples.

Many candidates write comments in their resumes like: “I performed high-quality work related to the timely sale of goods.” Or, for example: “Stably performed tasks related to software compilation.” Essentially, this is a reflection of the positions held. It is extremely important, therefore, to distinguish between responsibilities, functions, and achievements in your resume. Subjectivity in determining performance criteria is undesirable. It is necessary that the HR manager shares the candidate’s vision that such and such a fact is an achievement, not a description job responsibilities.

There are other interesting points of view regarding this aspect. Some experts, for example, believe that one of the criteria for recognizing a person’s achievement may be going beyond the scope of one’s job duties. Of course, if in this case we are not talking about a direct violation production instructions. Good example: if a person, working, for example, as an office manager, encourages colleagues to take advanced training courses and organizes a joint trip to them after work. A new employer may well like this. And a manager may well reflect this fact in his resume. Achievements of this nature can significantly influence a positive decision on the selection of this candidate by the employer company.

Achievements must be relevant

An important aspect is the relevance and relevance of the facts that the candidate presents in the relevant documents. It is also important to consider from the point of view of how to correctly present achievements in a resume. What should a candidate write so that the HR manager considers the information relevant and up-to-date?

First of all, you need to pay attention to the timing. Many skills tend to be forgotten over time. For example, if a person managed to master the 1C program, for example, 4 years ago, but did not reflect in his resume the fact that he had used it until recently, then the HR manager may not count the corresponding skill. Likewise, there are skills that require practice to master reliably. That is, if a person, relatively speaking, studied the 1C program in courses literally a month before submitting a resume, then he, most likely, simply did not use it in a real production environment. And in this case, the relevance of the skill is low. The manager probably won't count it either.

Of course, information about achievements should be as closely related to the intended position for which the candidate is applying. That is, the corresponding section of the resume should be targeted. By the way, the candidate’s ability to correctly place emphasis in presenting facts relevant to work experience is a significant plus for the HR manager. Even if, perhaps, some information about achievements seems rather modest to an HR specialist, the very fact that they are applied to the place is likely to play a positive role for the candidate. In turn, undeniably high-quality results, but not in line with the vacancy profile, will quite possibly make the HR manager doubt the prospects of hiring the person who reflected the relevant information in the resume.

Evidence of realism

Let's study one delicate nuance. We talked above about the fact that it is unacceptable to indicate lies in your resume. However, close to the presentation of false information is the tactic of reflecting in the relevant document facts about achievements that may seem dubious to the HR manager due to their amazing effectiveness. And this despite the fact that the candidate writes the pure truth. Moreover, the remaining components - responsibilities, functions, achievements - are built into the resume very competently. How can this be?

Here everything comes down to the subjectivity of the perception of facts. The fact is that a person, working, for example, as a sales manager, increased the sales dynamics of a certain product not by 20%, but by 320%. And if he indicates the second number, then it is quite possible that the HR specialist simply will not believe him. What if this type of achievement is true? Experts advise: there is no need to be modest in any case. Facts of this kind cannot be excluded from labor achievements. But they must be accompanied by a primary evidence base - one that, at a minimum, will force the HR manager not to put the resume aside as containing clearly fictitious information.

What are the options here? It is quite acceptable, for example, to accompany a phrase that reflects figures of 320% with a comment like: “Due to the successful implementation of a combined sales technique using the SPIN method and Steve Shiffman’s strategies, it was possible to increase the company’s turnover by 320%.” It will be more believable.

Another great option is to accompany your resume with a recommendation. Ideally, from a former boss or a well-known specialist in the industry, which will reflect praise for the candidate for precisely that same 320%. Then any HR specialist, even the most conservative ones, will believe what is written in the resume. Recommendations, by the way, are an excellent addition to the corresponding document in all cases. So it won't hurt to stock up on them anyway.

For recent years standards for writing a resume have changed: if previously it was a description of the duties and responsibilities of a person in a certain position, now the emphasis is on what successes and results the person holding this position has achieved. Employers select candidates based on the characteristics that make the candidate stand out from others and the benefits that the candidate can bring to the new employer or company. In other words, successes and achievements result oriented your activities and indicate that the candidate is able to evaluate his or her contribution as a whole.

The purpose of completing this document is to help you (and by extension us) highlight and highlight your specific successes and accomplishments in every position you have ever held.

In other words, Successes and Achievements measure the distance between a goal or task (what you should do) and the end result (what you did). A person can complete a task, exceed a task, or come close to solving a task.

Anatomy of Success/Achievement

1. Definition/description of the task/goal/your responsibilities.
2. Describe the result obtained when solving the problem:
   1. A) Did you manage to exceed the target? How exactly: (by time, budget, etc.)
   2. B) Were you able to complete the task? How exactly: (by time, budget, etc.)

If possible, try to provide specific facts that confirm your Successes and achievements, for example:

“Nikolai Ivanov installed and adapted software... at ... at 80 personal computers. According to the first budget estimates, this led to savings of nine man-months and 80 thousand hryvnia.”

Below are examples of resumes in which the candidates' successes and achievements are properly described.

EXAMPLE 1

Part 1(Describe the task/goal/your responsibilities)

“When developing the system... I was entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the functioning of the three main modules to strict certain period- January 2010, that is, three months.”

Part 2(Describe the result)

“I was the manager of this project, and my team of 6 people completed the task on time. The modules have been working smoothly from day one. No major changes had to be made, and users sent our company a letter of thanks for a job well done.”

EXAMPLE 2

“I removed our company's product, completely redesigned it, and then installed it again at the user's site. This has fundamentally changed the customer’s attitude towards the product, and he now recommends our product to other customers.”

“I analyzed the problems that customers had that required technical support from our company. I have identified the root causes of these problems and created working groups to address these causes. This made it possible to increase staff productivity by 100%, since each employee now served not 15 points, as before, but 30”.

“I ensured that the number of users grew: when I started there were 30, now the number has grown to 700 and continues to grow.”

Above are examples of successes and achievements taken from the resumes of candidates we have. When describing your Successes and achievements, think about how your actions influenced the task and what results were obtained, always keeping in mind the benefit that the employer wants to receive from you.

List those results of your work that you yourself consider to be your highest achievements:

• Implemented systems implementation on time and on budget.
• Conducted analytical work and designed a device that is used in the system, which is now in production, meeting the deadline and budget.
• With a limited time and budget, I wrote all the software specifications for the control and inventory system.

SAMPLE SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENT FORM

Instructions for completing the form:

1. Based on your resume, consider what results you have achieved in each position you have held that you consider a success or achievement.

2. Write a description of your Successes and achievements, looking at 2 pages for inspiration. entitled “Professional characteristics of a specialist in information technology” and “Keywords”.

Start each phrase with the words “improved”, “modified”, “designed”, “reduced”, “eliminated”, etc.

Describe the results of your activities like this. so that it is absolutely clear in which position you achieved certain results.

3. After filling out the form, please return it to the reception. The consultant will be informed that you are ready for the interview.

4. Your successes and achievements will be included in your resume and will be used to find potential employers to apply your knowledge and skills.

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PROFESSIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST

Below are the key areas on which employers evaluate information technology professionals:

• Deadlines.
• Budget execution.
• Difficulties.
• Inspection/control strategies.
• Documentation writing skills.
• Compliance with standards.
• Analytical potential.
• Knowledge of structural methodologies.
• Understanding consumer needs.
• Learning ability.
• Compliance with code conditions.
• Specific knowledge.
• Introduction of systems into production.
• Breakthroughs.
• Personnel training.
• Problem solving.

LIST OF WORDS TO DESCRIBE SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Below is a list of some words that will help you describe your successes and accomplishments in each position. Your successes and achievements can then be added to your resume.

The “Achievements” column confuses many applicants. What are achievements, how to correctly write them down on your resume, and then present them at an interview?

“Expanding the customer base”, “monthly fulfillment of the plan”, “overcoming work difficulties” - theses are often used to fill out the “Achievements” column in applicants’ resumes. But if you look at it, all of the above successes are, in fact, work responsibilities. Vera Ignatkina, managing partner of the AimToAction career development center, says that candidates often substitute the concepts of “achievement” and “job responsibility.”

For example, applicants write among the main results of their work the following phrases: “Carrying out telephone sales, working with potential clients” or “Good performance of job duties, no complaints from management.” This is not true. If the employee did not fulfill his job duties, he would soon be dismissed at the initiative of the employer after observing the procedure specified by law (clause 3, clause 5, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore this is not an achievement.

So what are these achievements? What, according to experts, does this concept include?

According to Anna Kuraeva, leading recruitment consultant at the Recruitment Agency of Unique Specialists, applicants themselves determine what constitutes an achievement for them: such can be professional success ( completed projects and tasks, receiving bonuses and certificates, fast career growth), and personal (strong family, children, hobbies) or public (participation in social events, promotions). For HR, what is primarily important is the candidate’s professional successes, but, unfortunately, many applicants do not describe them in their resumes.

Irina Zotova, Deputy General Director of the Stupeni consulting group, considers an achievement to be something that goes beyond the scope of a specialist’s job responsibilities: these are those moments where the applicant showed initiative, which allowed the company to reach another level, or brought it additional income etc. It could be self-study some programs, their further implementation and application, creative proposals, the most bright projects, awards, titles that the specialist was awarded.

Achievements are understood as the actions of applicants, completed or implemented projects that led to an increase in the financial performance of the company (department) or to any other positive change in the work of the company (department). For example:
- increase in market share (from 25% to 34%) due to an aggressive advertising campaign in 2009;
- increase in territory coverage - development of a branch network (from 5 to 21 cities) in 2005–2007;
- keeping the company afloat during a crisis;
- winning a tender for 5 million rubles, etc.

Correctly formulating your achievements is half the battle. You also need to correctly fill out this item in your resume. Otherwise, the ill-fated column may turn out to be a fly in the ointment and spoil the impression of a perfectly composed self-presentation.

Anna Kuraeva advises not to forget that a resume is a document that forms the first impression of an HR specialist about an applicant: “The more clearly and clearly you present your professional skills, knowledge and experience in your resume, the greater your chances of success.

The ideal option is to briefly indicate the main achievements after describing the responsibilities at each place of work. This way HR will be able to more accurately assess the level of your professionalism and experience. For example, if you are looking for a job as an accountant and indicate in your resume in the “Achievements” column the transfer of the company from the “1C:7” program to “1C:8”, then it is important to show the scale of the company. After all, it’s one thing to implement such a project in a small enterprise, and another thing in a large company with a staff of 30–40 accountants.”

List of nuances that should be taken into account when describing achievements:
- Achievement results (i.e. numerical parameters) must be indicated in percentage(by 5%, from 10 to 13%, etc.), or you need to use the words “in... times” without indicating absolute numbers - in this case it is impossible to determine them, but percentages will show the degree of your effectiveness.
- It is imperative to indicate the period in which these successes were achieved. As a rule, this is either a year or a couple of years, if the implementation of something was long-term and it was not possible to immediately evaluate the result.
- Achievements must be justified and reasonable. For example, you write that you “conquered 50% of the market from your competitors,” but this result could not have been achieved thanks to your efforts, but simply because the competitor went bankrupt and all his clients became yours.
- Your resume should include 3-5 achievements, depending on the position you hold.
- If there is nothing to write in the “Achievements” column (or you are a young specialist or student), then it is better not to write anything at all than to indicate false information - it is very easy to check the accuracy.

If you list in an accountant's resume the achievements that took place in previous jobs, this will significantly increase the professional value of this candidate in the eyes of the personnel officer who selects the resume for a potential employer. We tell you what accounting achievements we can talk about, give examples, and also what to do if there were no achievements.

Concept

By general rule Professional achievements in an accountant’s resume are the results of the specialist’s work in past positions, which:

• talk about the successful fulfillment of professional goals and objectives;
• reflect the economic benefits received by the enterprise where he worked.

It is important to understand that it is not so much the responsibilities and functions, but the achievements in an accountant’s resume along with a description of professional experience that will distinguish your candidacy from competitors for the position in question.

So, as examples professional achievements The resume for an accountant should include not just the functions that he successfully performed, but:

• special actions beyond general framework work;
• work results that can be measured (i.e., they are compelling).

How to act

First of all, the responsibilities and achievements in an accountant’s resume must be clearly divided and listed in different sections.

In the “Achievements” section, it is necessary to describe the successes achieved in the accounting field. This must be done as specifically as possible. In this case, it is advisable to use some kind of counting indicators.

It’s always easier for the chief accountant. It is usually not difficult to include achievements in a resume when occupying such a position. It is more difficult for novice specialists or accountants in lower positions. What to do in this case?

In the end, you can omit the block with examples of achievements in the accountant's resume. And the responsibilities in this document will then play a decisive role when considering such a resume. However, there is no need to rush in this matter: certificates, diplomas, etc. are also achievements! More on this later.

Example

We list the most common examples of accountant achievements on a resume:

• successful completion of audits on taxes, insurance premiums, labor issues, etc. with a mandatory (!) indication of their number (you can specify the types of taxes);
• successful completion of litigation (on taxes, insurance premiums, labor issues, etc.);
• successful completion of an external audit;
• transition to new version accounting software;
• transition to more profitable and convenient accounting software for the enterprise;
• increasing the efficiency of document flow by converting it into electronic form (including for the purpose of exchanging documents);
• automation of calculations, which made it possible to reduce the staff of economists by 2 times;
• managing several legal entities at the same time, which are on different tax regimes and systems;
• career growth within the same company;
• the presence of diplomas, diplomas, awards, certificates, etc. related to the accounting profession;
• Availability of publications on accounting topics, interviews.

As an example of an achievement in a chief accountant’s resume, one can cite other people’s mistakes that he had to identify and eliminate.

EXAMPLE

Revealed the fact that the cost of production was incorrectly calculated, due to which the selling price was inflated, which made the product less competitive. Elimination of this error made it possible to re-evaluate the cost and successfully resume sales.