Accomplishment Statements

Accomplishment statements describe your past and current achievements in bullet points on a resume. These statements provide proof of your relevant skills and highlight your accomplishments in a clear and concise way.

Formula for writing accomplishment statements:

Action Verb + Context = Results

  • Action Verb: Planned, initiated, coordinated, etc. For ideas, review job descriptions or see our list of suggested action verbs.
  • Context: Interesting details such as timeframe; number of people; size of budget; size of caseload; type of issues or population; research topics, etc.
  • Results: The positive outcome or intended outcome of your efforts. Quantify results whenever possible.

Examples of changing job responsibilities into accomplishment statements:

Note: bold, italics and underline are for illustrative purposes; do not use these formatting elements in your resume.

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:
Watched children at elementary school

ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENT:
Supervised children between the ages of 4 -11 years old during recess, lunch, and afterschool program, building strong rapport with children, teachers, and parents

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:
Responsible for cleaning bathroom, tables, and chairs

ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENT:
Maintained clean facilities for customer use by cleaning restrooms and sanitizing tables, leading to positive customer service experience.

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:
Tasked with helping the team make phone calls

ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENT:
Called 25+ constituents per week for 50 weeks regarding local propositions and registration to vote, contributing to 15% increase in Sacramento area voter registration

ORIGINAL STATEMENT:
Responsible for presenting findings at the end of the quarter

ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENT:
Presented findings on destruction of bee habitats in the Central Valley to an audience of 50+ undergraduate, graduate, and faculty attendees

Brainstorming questions to get you thinking about your accomplishments:

  • What problems did you solve?
  • Did you save the company money?
  • How did you stand out among coworkers?
  • Did you ever consistently exceed goals?
  • How did your individual efforts contribute to larger company/organization goals?
  • What did you do above and beyond the normal job duties?
  • Did your company recognize you or your team through awards?

Connect with the Career Center for further support in developing the content of your resume.