Achievements in the resume: how to describe the result of work, even if there are no numbers

To describe an achievement in the summary, choose a specific work situation, name your action and explain what result you obtained. If there are measurements, add them. If there are no measures, show the observed change: the team adopted the new work order, the user was able to perform the required action, the test confirmed the correction of the error.

Below is how to find such facts in your experience, choose the wording for the vacancy and prepare its continuation for the interview. Let's discuss the achievements in regular work, team and educational projects, and then present one case in several ways: in the resume, in a short story about yourself and in a detailed answer.

All situations, characters and numbers in the examples are for educational purposes. They show how to describe the experience; use only your own facts in your resume.

What is the difference between achievement and obligation

Duty explains what you were responsible for: testing the program, preparing the report, helping users. Skill shows what you can do. Achievement describes the result and your role in it. This can be a useful change or a completed work within the normal responsibilities.

Let’s imagine a tester who checked the loading of documents. “Tested the loading of files” is his duty. “I can find errors in file handling” is a statement of skill. Here is a specific episode:

I discovered that a document with an incorrect date was loaded without warning. I described the error conditions, passed them on to the developer and checked the fix: now the user receives a message, which date needs to be changed.

The correction was made by the developer – this part is not attributed to the tester. To show the value of the work, here is enough to understand the behavior of the program before and after the fix.

If there is no individual achievement for a task, describe the work and the degree of independence. The phrase "kept a weekly report" is more accurate than "significantly improved reporting" without explaining the changes.

Where to look for the results of your work

First, gather the facts in a separate draft. Remember the last draft or several months of work and answer the questions:

• What have you done to get ready: report, audit, program, instructions, transfer of cases?
• What was done manually, repeated or refined before, and after your work started to do differently?
• What error or ambiguity did you find? What happened to it next?
• For what specific result have you been thanked by colleagues, users or managers?
• What can other people do now because of your decision?
• Where did you need your own decisions and where did you implement part of the overall plan?

Check memories on the available records of tasks, discussions, own work notes or feedback. For example, the message "instructions were useful" can be specified: who, for what task and whether it was possible to complete it without further explanation. Collect facts that are allowed to use; transfer closed work materials to a personal document is not necessary for this.

For each episode, write down four things: source task → my actions → result → how do I know about the resultThe last item helps to distinguish observation from assumption. The list below will suggest what kind of evidence you already have.

The number of tasks, team size, and frequency of reporting explain the scale. To claim improvement, one more fact is needed: what has changed. “Handled many requests” and “reduced response time” are different claims; the first does not in itself support the second.

How to describe an achievement without numbers

Instead of saying “made the work more convenient”, explain who can now perform a certain action. Instead of saying “increased quality”, explain what problem was solved and how it was tested.

Let us look at one case in more detail. Anna is a software product support specialist. Unclosed requests were forwarded to the next shift via messages in the general chat. In some messages it was not clear what the client was waiting for and who should continue work. Anna proposed a single template for forwarding the request.

1. Task. Make the status of the unclosed request understandable to the next shift.
2. Personal contribution. Anna analyzed examples of unclear transmissions, created the fields “state”, “next step”, “responsible” and discussed the template with colleagues.
3. Check. Anna agreed with her colleagues to try it out. They passed on requests using the template and noted missing information; Anna made corrections.
4. Result. After discussion, the manager included the template in the shift handover order. Response time to customers was not measured separately.

The Anna draft "supported and improved processes" can be replaced with the following line:

Prepared and finalized with colleagues a template for transferring unclosed calls between shifts; after trial use, the manager included it in the working procedure.

If asked in an interview about time savings, Anna can explain the limit: “We didn’t measure time. I can tell you what information we were missing before and how we checked the new transmission.”

If you have only just prepared a template, the wording will be different: "Compiled a template for referrals and submitted it to the manager for approval." This is a completed intermediate result. Its relevance depends on the vacancy and whether you have a stronger example of completed work.

1. 01Restore the case

   What was the task and what did you do personally?

2. 02Check the result

   What happened and how did you know that?

3. 03Shorten for summary

   Leave the action, important conditions and the sum.

4. 04Prepare a sequel

   Explain the choice of solution, the verification and the contribution of colleagues.

Four ways to formulate an achievement

The word order depends on what you want to emphasize. Below are four options. Choose the one that makes it easier for the reader to understand the value of your case; one summary can combine different ways.

1. Action → result

This is useful when it is important to show immediately what you have done. For Anna, this is the preparation and testing of a new template. If the job is especially important to work with colleagues, you can start with joint testing:

Tested its call forwarding template, collected shift feedback and refined fields; the manager approved the template for further work.

The facts are the same, but the first action was the one of agreeing on changes. "Organized" is only appropriate here because Anna was actually responsible for the trial. If the manager was doing it, you should name his real part.

2. Result → measurement → method

This is useful when there are comparable measurements. It is often described by the formula XYZ: what was achieved, what was measured and what action was taken. Consider another case study: an analyst set up weekly reporting and kept time measurements on the same data set.

Reduced manual weekly summary preparation from 50 to 20 minutes on tested data set: configured table merger and brought out disputed rows in a separate list for testing.

The candidate should prepare an explanation: what was included in these minutes, how he carried out the measurement and whether the completeness of the check remained. If only two starts were compared, so it should be said; this result does not yet describe the average savings over the year.

If the records allow you to recover the range, mark it as an estimate and explain the calculation. If there is no reason, return to the confirmed action and the result without the percentage.

3. Problem → action → tested result

The compressed structure is sometimes called CAR or PAR; for a draft, three Russian questions are enough: what was the problem, what did I do, what did I get.

In the following example, the developer was fixing the table loading: because of an incorrect line the loading stopped, and the user had difficulty finding the reason.

When the table loading was stopped, users had difficulty finding the error. I added a report of invalid rows with the reason; when testing, the support staff found and corrected the source data without reading the technical logs.

The test confirms the scenario described. Data on the reduction of support calls is not here, so this effect is not included in the row.

4. Team result → my part of the work

The overall result helps to understand why your task was needed. Next to it, name your own responsibility. For example, the team moved internal instructions to a new knowledge base section, and the specialist was responsible for finding them:

The team moved internal instructions to the new knowledge base section. My part of the job is to create categories and test the search for common employee questions.

The word “participated” is appropriate when after it is clear what the candidate was responsible for. For the manager, his management actions are important: how he set priorities, distributed work, agreed on disputed decisions and checked readiness. The overall team result does not mean that the manager personally completed every task.

Examples for different roles and levels of experience

The examples below show different grounds for achievement. These are individual learning situations; choose the appropriate way of describing and reconstruct the facts from your own work.

Analyst: agreed on the meaning of the indicator

The two departments were counting completed applications differently, so their reports differed. The analyst clarified the counting rules and agreed on a common interpretation.

Agreed with the departments on a common definition of completed application and updated the calculation in the report; on the control dataset both departments received the same result.

The phrase “increased the accuracy of the analysis” would be less clear: it does not explain what exactly the problem was solved.

Support Specialist: ensured quality of routine work

The employee responded to users regularly and was tasked with checking old response templates after the product was changed.

Updated the response templates after changing the product settings: checked the steps described in the new version and agreed on the instructions with the responsible specialist.

If the result was only the prepared revisions and the conciliation is still going on, this state should be kept in the wording.

Manager: organized clear transfer of responsibility

In the team some user questions were delayed because there was no responsible person for them. The manager has introduced a procedure for handling such cases.

He agreed with shift managers the procedure for processing requests without a responsible person: he determined who decides on disputed cases and introduced the verification of open questions when transferring a shift.

This is a description of the implemented procedure and the manager's own decisions. If the accounting showed a reduction in the number of pending requests, you can add the indicator and the period. Without accounting, it is enough to describe the adopted change.

Junior Professional: completed and tested the training project

The candidate is learning data analysis. For his independent project he took an open learning set of orders and checked how repeated entries affect the total amount.

In the training project prepared a report on orders: highlighted the repeating records, described the rule of their processing and reconciled the total amount with the manual calculation on a small sample.

This is where the candidate's work and the method of testing are shown. The project remains a training project; real users and commercial effects may not be present. interview analysis without experience.

When changing profession: demonstrated applicable skill

The training coordinator wants to move to software support. In his previous job he helped teachers use the new schedule form. After preparing the explanations he asked them to fill in the disputed fields again and observed if additional hints would be needed.

I collected the difficulties of teachers in filling the schedule and prepared explanations of disputed fields. When re-checking, teachers filled these fields according to the explanations without my hints.

The episode demonstrates the ability to identify the user's problem and verify the explanation. The resume retains the current position and field of work. The interview can link this experience to the new task, separately indicating what else needs to be learned in product support.

If the project is not completed or details are closed

Project stopped before implementation

Name the stage reached and the finished result within it. Suppose that the analyst prepared the requirements for a new order form, but the launch was postponed:

Described the requirements for the order form, agreed on mandatory fields with users and prepared test scenarios. Project stopped before implementation.

For a job where the collection of claims is important, this experience can be useful. The candidate can explain how he has reconciled disagreements and checked the completeness of the description. The reduction of order errors is still referred to as the expected effect, not the results.

Cannot reveal project metrics or design

Sometimes you can name the type of task, your role, and the result achieved; sometimes you need to choose another example. Replacing the amount with a percentage does not in itself confirm that the information is allowed to be disclosed.

For example, if you are allowed to describe only the general way of working: “I prepared the check of the required fields before sending the internal report and agreed on the procedure for correcting errors”. In the conversation you can mark the border: “I cannot reveal internal indicators, but I can explain my task and the way of checking within the allowed limits”.

You remember the praise, but can not restore the result

Specify what you were rated for. "I was valued for my responsibility" does not give a ready line of summary. Maybe behind this is a specific transfer of cases, completed in the agreed deadline, or an error found. If the episode cannot be restored, save only a reliable description of the work. How to search for facts for personal quality assessment, more detailed in the article about strengths in the interview.

What to choose for a vacancy and where to put

If you are preparing the first document entirely, use resume template without work experience: it will help you to place skills, projects and education, while retaining the genuine nature of your experience.

Open a job opening and highlight the tasks that will take up a significant part of the work. Next to each one choose an episode from your draft. If you need to communicate with users and clarify their difficulties, start with this example. If it is important to independently check the reports - from the result, where you can explain the method of checking.

For several similar vacancies, you can simply change the order and detail of the matching cases. If the tasks differ significantly, it is better to compile separate versions of the resume. Positions, dates, results and boundaries of your role are retained.

• In the section “Experience” Specify the position, period and briefly the subject of the work. Place achievements in separate paragraphs under the workplace where they were obtained. This helps understand the context and your responsibilities.
• In the section "Projects" show the study or independent work: goal, own part, achieved stage and check. Mark the nature of the project.
• In the "About Me" section you can briefly link the experience to the chosen role and highlight one confirmation. All details of the achievement will remain in the experience or projects.

For example, if Anna is looking at a position where support needs to be improved, a short block could look like this:

Software product support specialist. In addition to working with requests, I deal with the transfer of information between shifts: prepared and tested with colleagues a template, which the team took into use. I want to develop in the company of users and improve work instructions.

If it is more important to show other experience, change the example and the purpose. Statements like "strong organizer" require confirmation in the body of the summary.

The number depends on the importance of the experience and the size of the document: a long list of identical results makes it difficult to choose the main one. Hintsage section “Working with resumes” you can analyze the final text and compare the proposed improvements; check each new wording against your facts.

Different options of self-presentation at the interview

The summary line gives the interlocutor a starting point. The oral answer can be expanded to his question. Below we use the same case of Anna with the transfer of addresses: the facts are kept, the beginning and the degree of detail change.

Option 1. What I am doing now → appropriate experience → goal

It is suitable for entering “tell about yourself”. Name the role, give one example and explain interest in the vacancy.

I work in the support of the software product: I analyze user requests and pass unresolved questions to the next shift. Recently I prepared a template for such a transfer, checked it with colleagues and made changes. After that, the manager included it in the work order.

I am interested in further support and improving the work instructions. In your vacancy there is such a task, so I want to know how it is distributed in the team.

The achievement takes up part of the introduction, and the rest of the information helps to understand the direction of the search. exercise to tell about yourself.

Option 2. Needed skill → confirmation episode

Useful when asked what you can bring to the team. Start with a specific skill that relates to the job and immediately show its application.

I can understand what information is missing from my colleagues to continue the task. For example, when transferring calls between shifts, we did not always understand the next step and who is responsible. I collected such cases and proposed fields for a common template.

We tested it on shifts, I made comments, and the manager approved the new order. Such experience will be useful wherever you need to agree on the clear transfer of information between people.

When changing profession, add the connection with the new task and the limit of experience. For example: "I have yet to master your team's product, but I can already find out the difficulties of users and check the clarity of explanations" - if this is confirmed by your case.

Option 3: Detailed analysis of one achievement

If the interviewer asks for more details, the STAR structure is useful: situation, task, action and result. It has enough space for reasons for choice and participation of colleagues.

We passed on unresolved requests by message in the general chat. In some cases, the next shift did not understand what answer has already been given to the customer and who continues to work. I had to offer a clear form of transmission.

I analyzed several such cases and highlighted the missing information. I made a template with the status of the request, the next step and the responsible person. Then I agreed with colleagues on trial use. After their comments, I clarified the fields and showed the result to the manager.

The manager included the template in the work order. My part was to analyze cases, prepare and refine the form; colleagues checked it in shifts. The response speed to clients we did not measure, so I can say that the process change was accepted.

Prepare answers for the follow-up: why these fields were chosen, what had to be changed after comments, who made the final decision. analysis of behavioral interview and STAR method.

A short introduction and a detailed example solve different problems. You can practice the introduction for about a minute, and then reveal the episode on a follow-up question. This is a guideline for rehearsal: in the meeting the amount of answer depends on the question and the interlocutor's reaction. Prepare the background facts and transitions between them to calmly change the detail.

How to prepare your formulations

1. Select a job. Write down two or three tasks for which you can give an example from your experience.
2. Restore the episodes. For each, specify the task, own action, result and reason for the withdrawal. Immediately mark the contribution of colleagues.
3. Compile a summary line. Choose a convenient order: from action, result, problem or team task. Remove general assessments that do not explain anything.
4. Check the borders. Are the project stage, measurement conditions and permitted level of detail maintained? Has the goal become an already achieved effect?
5. Tell the case out loud. First briefly, then explaining the solution. Ask the listener to recount what you did and how you checked the result.

If the listener can only name a position or a general "improved work", add the specific action and the result. If he attributes you the work of the whole team, clarify your part. If there is a question about measurement, prepare an explanation of the conditions or replace the number with what is actually known.

Start with one verifiable achievement. Keep a short summary and detailed notes for the conversation. Then, in the same order, examine the other cases. The good result of this work is a text that understands your contribution and that you can calmly explain in your own words.