Your resume is no place to be humble. When it comes to highlighting accomplishments or qualifications for your resume, the real question is about how to include them, and in what frequency. Depending on the resume format that you select to use, you will adhere to different standards for presenting your career highlights and standout achievements.
Here's how to present your resume qualifications.
how to format your accomplishments on your resume
- Regardless of format, your career highlights, or resume qualifications section, should be found at the top of your resume, directly beneath your contact information.
- Use the same header sizing and font as for your other major sections.
- Title this section Career Highlights or Career Qualifications.
- A summary paragraph of career highlights is the best format to use with a skills-based resume or if you are relatively new to the workforce.
- Listing your resume highlights in bullets works well if you have lots of qualifications or relevant work experience.
- Bullets allow you to choose the most important pieces of information based upon the position for which you are applying.
- your resume qualifications section should go at the top of your resume, regardless of format.
example of career highlights paragraph
Sometimes referred to as a summary of qualifications or a statement of qualifications, your career highlights paragraph provides the perfect forum for you to give decision-makers a quick glimpse of who you are as a professional. Look at the example below for guidance on what to write:
Experienced manager with over two years’ experience leading a sales team. Provide elite customer service and training to companies with technical and accounting issues. Top performing employee on regional quarterly performance reviews. Proficient with various programs, such as Microsoft Excel. Currently looking for a position with upward mobility; my modus operandi is to always improve my skill set and inspire my colleagues to make similar improvements.
example of career highlights bullets
You want key qualifications on your resume to stand out and catch the eye, and bullet points are the best tool to use for accomplishing that goal. If you have a significant amount of work experience, consider formatting your qualifications section like this:
- Nationally recognized and award-winning designer and UX developer.
- 15 years’ experience leading data development department.
- Guided and managed 30+ clients through two major corporate mergers.
- Expertise in 10+ data development systems and servers.
A great resume is all about readability: use bullet points to help your accomplishments stand out.
don't forget about keywords
- Find keywords by seeing which qualification or experience words appear most often in the job descriptions.
- Incorporate these keywords throughout your resume. Computers and recruiters quickly scanning your resume will detect these buzzwords and phrases.
- Use synonyms for those keywords as well, because your resume must still read well to hiring managers.
It's easy to get overwhelmed when writing your resume, but if you break it down into steps, and follow the directions above, you'll have all you need to create a great career summary section that displays your resume qualifications in the best light.
Need more resume-writing help? Check out the next installment in our resume-writing series, which focuses on how to write and organize skills on your resume.