Creating An Achievement-Based Resume

These days, it's almost impossible to make an impact with a resume that simply features a list of jobs, skills and degrees. Job recruiters are bored with these types of resumes, as they're pretty mundane and don't make the applicant shine. Stand out among other applicants with an achievement-based resume. This type of resume instantly draws the attention of recruiters, as it provides concrete examples of your accomplishments and emphasizes your value as an employee.

Quantify Your Accomplishments

Recruiters are interested in workers who produced solid results in previous roles. An achievement-based resume allows you to quantify your accomplishments, breaking them down in terms of numbers, percentages, dollar amounts and specific amounts of time. Avoid using bland statements such as "led a large sales team" or "helped to increase holiday revenue" on your achievement-based resume. Be specific and use actual data. Describe how you were able to increase sales in your department by 25 percent in just three months or how you implemented a sales strategy that brought in an extra $100,000 in holiday season revenue. Let recruiters know how much of a budget you were given and how you used that budget to increase your company's bottom line. This information makes recruiters view you as a valuable asset to the company rather than just another applicant.

Briefly Describe Challenges and Results

It's important to keep your resume as short as possible, so don't tell each accomplishment story in its entirety on your achievement-based resume. Instead, use one-sentence statements that describe the challenge you or your department faced and explain how you took action to address the issue. Make sure you describe the results of that action using actual data. For example, if your company had a large number of customers cancel their product or service in recent months and you helped to turn that around, include this type of statement on your resume: "Implemented a rewards program designed to encourage cancelling customers to remain with the company, resulting in a 60 percent decrease in cancellations."

Use Action Verbs

An achievement-based resume must have ample action words. Action words leave a more powerful impression with the reader than a resume filled with passive-sounding terms. Begin the descriptions and bullet points on your action-based resume with terms such as "developed," "managed," "designed" or "created." These words give the impression that you're a leader and an action-oriented individual who gets things done.

It's not uncommon for job recruiters to receive dozens of resumes for a single job posting, so your document must stand out if you want to make the cut. Creating an achievement-based resume is one of the best ways to outshine your competition. This document cuts to the chase by letting recruiters know exactly what you accomplished in previous positions and how you can accomplish the same, or even more, for their organization.

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