Quintessential Careers Press:
The Quintessential Guide to Words to Get Hired By
Chapter 7: Track and Leverage Your Accomplishments
Page 166
What special things did you do to impress your boss so that you
might be promoted?
And were you promoted? Rapid and/or frequent promotions
can be especially noteworthy.
How did you leave your employers better off than before you
worked for them?
Did you win any awards, such as Employee of the Month honors?
What are you most proud of in each job?
Is there material you can use from your annual performance
reviews? Did you consistently receive high ratings? Any glowing
quotes you can use from former employers?
Have you received any complimentary memos or letters from
employers or customers?
What tangible evidence do you have of accomplishments --
publications you've produced, products you've developed, software
applications you've written?
Think of the "PEP Formula," Profitability, Efficiency, and
Productivity. How did you contribute to profitability, such as
through sales increase percentages? How did you contribute to
efficiency, such as through cost reduction percentages? How did you
contribute to productivity, such as through successfully motivating
your team? Read more about the
PEP Formula and see samples.
Quantify. Employers love numbers. Examples:
Increased sales by 50 percent over the previous year.
Produced total meal sales 20 percent higher than those of the other
servers in the restaurant.
Supervised staff of 25.
Served a customer base of 150, the largest on firm's customer-service team.
Use superlatives. As Donald Asher notes in his excellent resume
reference for college students,
From College to Career, you can
impress employers with words such as "first," "only," "best," "most,"
and "highest." See more examples in our
Cover Letter Tutorial.
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