A well-written, informative, interesting resume can be a guarantee of successful employment in a prestigious company. Among the components of the relevant document, which many HR experts consider to be key, is information about achievements. How to correctly reflect them in the resume? What kind of facts should be included in the document necessarily?
Priority of Facts
Experts recommend that: describe achievements in the resume should be supported by the figures and facts. It will be more convincing than any beautiful words. The main thing is to correctly correlate the indicators with the positions that the candidate was holding at that moment, not to confuse anything. Because, for example, a record like this would look rather strange: "A customer support specialist increased department sales by 20% per year."
No need to hesitate to artificially increase the number of exploits, reflecting personal achievements in the resume. That is, for example, you can classify those same sales in 20% (if you are really an expert on them!) For individual groups of goods. How? As an option - “increased sales of the department in the stationery segment by 30%,” in another line - “increased software sales turnover by 10%.” The arithmetic mean will remain the same, but in fact there are more achievements.
Non-disclosure principle
However, reflecting the achievements in the resume with the help of numbers and facts, you need to know the measure. The fact is that in the activities of almost any company there is a trade secret. It, meanwhile, may be contained in the very figures and facts that the candidate wishes to bring in his resume. Perhaps for a former employer the leak of such and such data will not become critical. But the managers of the company where the person is going to get a job may not like the fact that the candidate easily takes secret information outside the employer. Especially attentive experts advise to be those who work in retail. Achievements in the CV of the seller-consultant, of course, require numbers (as in any other documents of this type). But in so many cases, they will be a trade secret.
Instead of numbers, reliability
What should be done if, due to the specifics of the position held, specific candidates and facts cannot be cited? It is difficult enough, for example, to reflect this kind of accountant's achievements in a resume. Or, for example, an office manager. They do not sell anything, but perform functional work. How to be?
In this case, experts recommend focusing on the precise implementation of functional operations. That is, to list job responsibilities with comments of the type "performed without errors." And if there were any shortcomings, then this may even be good. If they managed to be corrected, then the fact of the presence of errors could well be turned into an achievement. It is enough only to write in one line with the information about the defect a small explanation: "I solved such a problem."
Stereotyped to nothing
Achievements in the resume - an important aspect. But no less significant factor is the form of presenting information. It often happens that there are plenty of achievements, but the HR manager for some reason ignores them. The summary should be made in such a way that the person reading it has a desire, at least, to get acquainted with the facts contained in it, and not just look at it with one glance. How to do it?
Experts recommend, as an option, to focus on reflecting the uniqueness of previous experience. So that when viewing the resume of candidates with the same track record, the manager sees - this person really did learn something useful in his previous job. And therefore, it is highly likely that he will do the same in the new company. How to do this in practice?
Very simple. Listing previous places of work and positions (with achievements), give small related comments. Such as, for example, "mastered the art of cold sales." Or, say, "learned the 1C program." The employer always wants to see effective specialists in his ranks. One of the criteria for this is the desire to learn, learn new tools in the work. However, this quality must be reflected in the summary.
At the same time, HR specialists do not recommend experimenting strongly with the appearance of the resume. It so happens that candidates present information about themselves in the form of pictures, and sometimes even poetry. Of course, this kind of resume may be in demand if a person claims to find a job in a company for an appropriate creative position. Of course, this format of presenting information will be a positive factor for the candidate. However, this is rather the exception. The HR manager is usually conservative by virtue of his profession. In his attitudes, the rule is invariably that if the candidate is worthy of the desired position, he will find a way to present facts about himself in the framework of a standard, but at the same time informative scheme.
Achievements in the resume structure
How to reflect the achievements in the resume in terms of the structure of this document? Experts recommend not delaying the laying out of facts in relation to the algorithm for presenting information. Personal achievements in the resume should go immediately after the information on the responsibilities at previous places of work. Regarding the content of the relevant section, as we said above, are specifics, figures, facts. No general phrases of the form "received invaluable experience in solving entrusted tasks."
What could be an exemplary scenario in which achievements are summarized in a resume? Sales consultant for example? Facts can be reflected in this way. First we write: "Work at the enterprise such and such, in the years such and such." A line below: "Developed an algorithm for communication with customers, which allowed to increase smartphone sales by 20%." Even lower: "I have sold more than 300 iOS devices in 4 months, while the department average is 100 devices."
If the task is to reflect the achievements of the accountant in the resume, then the algorithm may be like this. First - the place of work, position, terms. The line below: "Ensured error-free reporting." Even lower: "Translated accounting completely into electronic format with the use of electronic digital signature." But what about solving problems? And this also reflects: "Made adjustments to the mechanism of interaction with the Federal Tax Service, which allowed to avoid errors in the recognition of file formats."
Types of Achievements
What other examples of achievements in the resume can be? There are a lot of options. Only professional achievements in the resume can be reflected, and, for example, those that are related to the business development strategy of the employing company. Moreover, the achievements of the first type may well determine the second. In the first case, you can write: "I mastered three such programming languages." In the second: "Created an IT product that allowed the company to enter the international market."
When achievements are yet to come
Of course, it’s possible that it’s problematic to cite examples of achievements in the resume because of little work experience or because there is nothing to brag about. In this case, experts recommend at least reflecting in the document a sincere desire for numbers, which are worth talking out loud. For example, if it is a question of describing the achievements in the resume of a retailer, it is perfectly acceptable to comment on previous work experience like this: "I regularly practiced sales using the Neil Rekham SPIN methodology." In itself, the desire to master an effective methodology can become for the future employer almost a big plus 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
Outlining the facts, especially those related to regalia, the candidate is required to write the truth. Even if there is a temptation to add overestimated indicators, for example, on sales. Or the pace of implementation of such and such decisions. A sales manager will be able to verify those reflected in his resume, the achievements of an experienced HR specialist will be able without any problems. And therefore, experts advise candidates: it is better to forget to write some facts than to indicate unreliable ones.
Fallacy of wording
Experts note an interesting fact. Many candidates are confused in terminology, which assumes the correctness of reflection in the summary of information about achievements. What kind of cases are most regular? Many HR specialists believe that this is either a conscious or involuntary substitution of the concept of “achievement” by others, which sounds like “job description”.
Let's study some examples.
Many candidates write in the summary comments of the form: "I performed the work related to the timely sale of goods with high quality." Or, for example: "Stable performed tasks related to compiling software." In fact, this is a reflection of the posts held. It is extremely important, therefore, to differentiate responsibilities, functions, achievements in the resume. Subjectivity in determining performance criteria is undesirable. It is necessary for the personnel manager to share the candidate’s vision that such a fact is an achievement, not a description of job responsibilities.
There are other interesting points of view regarding this aspect. Some experts, for example, believe that one of the criteria for recognizing an achievement by a person may be just going beyond the limits of official duties. Of course, if this is not a case of a direct violation of production instructions. A good example: if a person, working, for example, as an office manager, campaigns for colleagues to take advanced training courses and organizes a joint trip to them after work. This may well appeal to the new employer. And this fact may well be reflected in his resume by the manager. Achievements of this nature can significantly affect the positive decision about the choice of this candidate by the employing company.
Achievements Must Be Relevant
An important aspect is the relevance and relevance of the facts that the candidate sets out in the relevant documents. It is also important to consider it in terms of how to correctly state achievements in a resume. What to write to the candidate so that the HR manager considers the information relevant and relevant?
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 in his resume did not reflect the fact that he used it until recently, then the personnel manager may not count the corresponding skill. Similarly, there are skills for the reliable development of which practice is required. That is, if a person, relatively speaking, studied the 1C program in the 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 small. The manager also probably will not count him out.
Of course, information about the achievements should be as much as possible related to the alleged position for which the candidate is applying. That is, the relevant section of the resume should be targeted. By the way, the ability of a candidate to correctly place emphasis in presenting facts related to work experience is a significant plus for the HR manager. Even if, perhaps, some information about the achievements will seem rather modest to the 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-class results, but not on the profile of the vacancy, it is quite possible to make the HR manager doubt the prospects of hiring a person who reflected the relevant information in the resume.
Evidence of realism
We will study one delicate nuance. Above, we talked about the fact that it is unacceptable to indicate a lie in the summary. However, the presentation of inaccurate information is closely bordered by the tactics of reflecting in the relevant document facts about achievements that may seem dubious to the HR manager because of their amazing performance. And this despite the fact that the candidate is writing the truth. Yes, and the other components - responsibilities, functions, achievements - are built into the resume very competently. How can this be?
Here everything rests on the subjectivity of the perception of facts. The fact is that a person, working, for example, as a sales manager, raised the sales dynamics of a certain product not by 20%, but by 320%. And if he indicates the second digit, then it is quite possible that the HR specialist simply will not believe him. What if this type of achievement is true? Experts advise: in any case, one should not be shy. Facts of this kind cannot be excluded from labor achievements. But they must be accompanied by a primary evidence base - one that at least forces the HR manager not to put the resume aside as containing obviously made-up information.
What options can there be? It is quite acceptable, for example, to accompany the phrase, where 320% figures are reflected, with a comment of the form: "Due to the successful implementation of the combined sales technique using the SPIN method and Steve Schiffman’s strategies, we managed to increase the company's turnover by 320%." It will be more believable.
Another great option is to accompany the resume with a recommendation. Ideally, from a former boss or a well-known specialist in the industry, which will reflect praise for the candidate just for the very same 320%. Then any HR specialist, even of the most conservative views, will believe what is written in the resume. Recommendations, by the way, are a great addition to the corresponding document in all cases. So stocking them will not hurt in any case.