Last Updated on April 18, 2023 by Admin
A resume is one of the most important things to do (and update!) in one’s career. Moreover, it is the very first thing an employer sees while making an acquaintance with a potential candidate. And the right impression isn’t that easy to achieve. Therefore, it can increase or conversely decrease the chances of a successful job interview.
We often hear that first impressions are misleading, but it has nothing to do with resumes. First impressions are crucial here, and if you don’t know how to present yourself properly, job search will keep ending in failure time and again.
It is a well-known fact that the world of work is an extremely competitive place. There can be literally thousands of candidates for popular vacancies, which makes the job search a challenging task.
Then there comes a question – what can I do to make my resume attractive to a potential employer? How can I present myself? Self-presentation is exactly what we are going to talk about, and achievements are the core element of it. To smooth things down, we strongly recommend using our Resume Builder. We are going to give you a sense of it right now.
Table of Contents
How our Resume Builder Benefits Your Success
Is it that difficult to compose the perfect resume and create the right impression? Not anymore. We know an easy solution to this problem and can’t wait to share it with you. Nowadays, everything is possible with the help of the Internet. You can make a resume online with the help of Resumist.com, a professional resume builder.
This easy resume builder boasts a collection of various resume samples that fit every taste and will suit even the most captious employer. The standardized templates instantly build your resume and make it perfectly comprehensible, as they fit all the needed information in just one page. You don’t have the chance to include unnecessary information or violate the order of sections.
Registration on ResumeBuilderPro, as well as steps in creating a resume, is made in just a series of clicks. It will not take you more than 20 minutes to complete a resume. Making a resume has never been so easy!
One more important point – every single step in a template is supplied with step-by-step instructions on how to fill out the resume correctly. All the templates have a built-in structure. All you have to do is fill the appropriate section using a ready-made formula. ResumeBuilderPro has all you need to build the perfect resume.
Now we are going to continue giving guidelines on including accomplishments in your resume.
What Is Meant By ‘Achievements’
Achievements are all possible records of your success, professional, personal or educational. The list of professional achievements in your resume comes as follows:
- Income and sales you increased
- Money and time you saved in the most efficient way
- Problems you could detect and/or solve
- New ideas and innovations you successfully implemented
- New algorithms and systems implied, developed, or optimized by you
- Special projects and events where you participated
- Awards you won (The Best ELT of the year 2021)
- Promotions of all kind
- Additional training you completed and professional certifications you received
- All kinds of grants, fundings, or scholarships you received
- All printed or online publications you co-authored
- Social media blogs
- Additional media coverage
- Volunteer work
- Sporting achievements
It may seem strange, but the demonstration of achievements is the gravest flaw of unsuccessful candidates. The main difficulty is that not only should you describe your strengths correctly, but also present them in an appropriate way.
Unsuccessful candidates either omit this section or don’t say much about their achievements. They may describe their personal qualities in great detail but forget to mention such details as their academic degrees, foreign language level, or driving license category.
Such descriptions aren’t bad themselves, but they’re much more effective if supported by the facts and numbers. All of them should be put in the corresponding category. It will save employers much time and will be greatly appreciated.
As you may have guessed, the more relevant your experience to the vacancy you apply for, the higher is the chance to get the job of your dreams. Read the vacancy very carefully to see which achievements are preferable – and try to indicate them in your resume. This surely will impress the employers and increase the chances of success.
STAR Technique
One more important point to be mentioned – the question about your greatest accomplishment might be asked orally, right during the interview. Employers do it to learn more about your general values and work examples.
To answer it successfully, you can prepare the model answer in advance or use a special technique called STAR, which is transcribed as:
- Situation (where you provide a background for your accomplishment, e.g., In my experience as a teacher in a language center),
- Task (where you give more details on your duties, e.g., while I prepared my students for an IELTS examination),
- Approach (the means of reaching success, e.g., I proposed my innovative training program)
- Result (the final result, e.g., 70 percent of my students passed the exam with the results ranging from 8.0 to 8.5 and successfully entered the Ivy League universities)
Now, we are going to give more details on the structure of a resume.
How to Compose a Resume
Summary
A summary is usually the first thing an employer sees, as this is the very first section. All information on your rewarding experience and skills is stored here. It is a perfect place to start describing your goals:
- Recent graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music and five years of tutor experience.
- Helped 25 students to enter The Conservatory and pass the entrance examinations.
- Passionate about my subject and ready to broaden my experience.
Professional Experience
This is a vital component of your resume. Here you describe your overall work experience. You have to give a sense of your qualifications and skills concerning the desired position.
In this section, an employer can evaluate your skills and decide whether they match the position. The best way to describe your skills and experience is to provide exact data – numbers, facts, etc. It is best to present it with a numbered or bulleted list.
Sum up the results, explain the value of them, why they were important and how they helped the company or solved the particular problem:
As a result of my lessons, 65 percent of my students got an excellent mark, 35 percent got a good mark on the examination. All my students have successfully entered the Conservatory.
Accomplishments Section
This section is important if you have goals outside your current position. Another option is to create a whole new section called ‘Career Highlights’ and place it at the beginning of your resume and describe all the goals in the course of your career. Stick to the common rules of composing a resume, don’t forget about the numbers, and be concise:
May 2015 – October 2020: Solfeggio and Piano Tutor
- Prepared more than 20 people for an entry examination
- 100% of my students successfully entered the Conservatory
- 100% of my students got ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ marks for their entry exams
Now it is time we presented a list of things to avoid in your resume.
Things You Should Never Include in a Resume
Outdated achievements
While composing a resume, you should be attentive and elective. Choose wisely, as some of your old achievements might seem outdated and out of place.
However, if you only left the university, you can include some achievements from that period, notably awards, scholarships, and victories in contests. If several years have passed, it is better to concentrate on your work-related goals.
Personal topics
It may seem obvious, but still – your views towards politics and religion have nothing to do with your working achievements and therefore should be avoided. To get the best result, you have to include information about your hobbies. It is ideal if stated hobbies are work-related.
Distorted and exaggerated information
Looking on the bright side doesn’t at all mean lying. You should always be ready to prove exactly what you have written in the resume. Moreover, employers might contact your former employees to confirm the information you stated.
If you provide some false information, there is a fair chance of losing your face. Even if a potential job is not so important, who knows what happens next and where you might meet these people again?
Accomplishments concerning the vital information
It is worth repeating again – be careful with all the information you’re going to include. Avoid privileged and restricted access information. As soon as you leave a workplace, discuss with the management which information should not be told under any circumstances. If you haven’t discussed it, leave only the general information.
The bottom line
We will keep it brief: decide why you need a resume, Include your achievements and qualifications, be accurate, exact, concise, and stay confident. Good luck with your interview!
