Your Achievements And Accomplishments Make For A Stronger CVAchievements, Skills and Accomplishments For Successful Career ChangeAchievements are the tangible results that you brought about while carrying out your job role. They are not the same as duties or responsibilities that you performed that are listed in your job description. Everyone that has the same job also has the same duties and responsibilities. You need to be able to identify those extra things that you did which benefited or added value to the organization. Almost the worst thing you can say in your cover letter or resume is: "I was responsible for..." because that doesn't tell the prospective employer whether you actually did anything, whereas an achievement clearly defined does! Try describing exactly what you did AND its outcome because that outcome will differentiate you from others who have the same job as you. Achievements are your richest source of information providing concrete and tangible evidence of what you have done so far. They are also the best indicators of what you might do in the future – if you’ve done it once, you can probably do it again! Above all, what you will need is to have the desire to do it again.An achievement is something that you have done which has made a difference to you or to others. You may have done it on your own or with and through others. It is not necessarily momentous or world-shattering, but will be something that you feel good about. It doesn't matter whether the achivement comes from your "official" job or some other activity in work or at play. If you've achieved something you have used a level of skill which could be a valuable job skill elsewhere and help sell your skills and accomplishments to win a new job. Now I know that most of us “freeze up” when asked about achievements, but you must do this exercise if you are serious about getting where you want to be; so no excuses! For example:
These can relate to unpaid as well as to paid work and also to leisure activities. Ask yourself this: do your successes tend to involve just your own work or other peoples? In other words are you most effective when in a team? Are they mostly to do with work or are there some from other parts of your life? Can you detect a theme to your accomplishments and if so what is it? Your significant achievements help to show your true value!Start to list at least your top ten in the way shown above by using an active verb at the beginning of the phrase; you’ll hear how much more powerful it sounds when described this way. It's important to remember the hard work you put into getting to the position you're at. You shouldn't take your current position for granted, ensure you secure your success with a liability insurance policy to provide cover whilst your out and about working with clients. Analyze what you did and think through to what skills you used when you did the thing you achieved i.e. how did I do that? What did I need to do it? When you've done this, try this acid test - ask "So what" to each of your statements. How do they look now? These self describing skills also make a great interview introduction, because your achievements are the basis of job winning personal descriptions. This can apply to your interview itself, the words you use in a cover letter, or the way you write your CV or resume. The other obvious point is when it comes to your annual performance appraisal. Here's how to Analyse your skillsLooking for something specific? An answer to an interview question? A CV or Resume layout? How to start Networking? Or some ideas of your options? Just enter your keyword in the search box below to find your answer on this site or anywhere else on the web. You will see some adverts that may be of interest since Google targets ads to your particular interests, but your results will be below that. Achievements to Career Options page   
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