As a job seeker, do you find it challenging to toot your own horn? Many clients tell us that they can do it for their companies, but when it comes to talking about themselves, that’s a different story.
Describing and quantifying your accomplishments is integral to every successful job search. Employers want to know about the tasks you performed, your previous experiences, and that you did a great job, possibly even exceeding expectations. At Life Working®, the resumes that our writing experts see (and clients ask us to renovate) include listings of job tasks and that’s just not working hard enough for them. Employers want to see what you’ve done and proof that you did it well. That way, they can imagine that if or when you join their team, you will provide the same impressive results for them.
Accomplishment statements demonstrate your skills and experience. It’s one thing to claim you can do something —another to prove you’ve done it well.
When collecting and documenting accomplishments to create the foundation for your job search, consider the key areas and competencies required for success in the positions you are targeting. What are your most significant achievements from your current or most recent job? Are you able to identify and articulate accomplishments directly related to your expertise?
To craft meaningful and impressive accomplishment descriptions, look at your past performance reviews and consider any honors, awards, or recognition you’ve received. These can include articles you’ve published; presentations you’ve given; panels you participated in; special projects you contributed to; training, mentoring, or coaching you provided; and any other noteworthy experiences.
Think about and document experiences that demonstrate the qualities people often praise you for and the keywords and key phrases for which you want to be known.
Quantifying your results is the most crucial part of each accomplishment statement. Be sure to include either qualitative or quantitative metrics and impact. To be most effective, however, you must provide context for your accomplishment. There are several different formats that will help.
Here are three standard formats: STAR, CAR, and PAR.
STAR
Situation
Task
Action
Results
An example of a STAR statement
I was recruited to revitalize an underperforming sales territory with significant account attrition. (Situation) Tasked with reacquiring lost accounts that left the company within the last six months, (Task) I developed a contact list for lapsed accounts and contacted decision-makers at each company. (Action) We recovered 22% of former customers, generating $872,000 in revenue. (Results)
CAR
Challenge
Action
Results
An example of a CAR statement
The manufacturing plant recently had its third accident, leading to a line shutdown. (Challenge) My team updated the internal safety plan and instituted a new training program for production employees to reduce accidents and injuries. (Action) The plant has been accident-free for the past nine months — the longest it has been without accidents in plant history. (Results)
PAR
Problem
Action
Results
An example PAR statement
Nursing home employee morale was at an all-time low, and long-time employees left in droves. (Problem) I identified that new hires and long-time staff members disliked the new scheduling system resulting in significant dissatisfaction. I instituted a new “employee choice” scheduling system that increased employee cooperation in determining ideal staffing schedules and improved employee morale. (Action) This reduced turnover by 15%, saving more than $12,500 in hiring and training costs in the first three months after implementing the new system. (Results)
Quantifying your accomplishments and shining a spotlight on your impressive successes also helps you stand out from others who do similar work — whether you’re using the information for a raise or promotion request or when seeking a new job opportunity.
If you need help quantifying your accomplishments or could use job search strategy guidance, or resume advice, check out Life Working® career coaching services, resumes & writing services, and schedule your free consultation.