Why is describing achievements and performance important?

• The labor market today is not in favor of the job seeker: there are few good vacancies, but there are many times more competent candidates. It is the results of work and achievements that help you stand out from the crowd.
• In most companies, employees solve the same problems. Consequently, the description of responsibilities in the resume of different candidates is almost the same. It is the different work results that give a resume its individuality.
• The level of competence of a particular candidate can be determined at the stage of reviewing a resume only by the description of his work. And achievements here are the best proof.

How to properly reflect achievements:

1. remember KPIs (they are individual for each position) or assigned tasks;
2. described in active verbs: introduced, developed, initiated;
3. we make a logical connection between our actions and results: implemented - it allowed;
4. We use numbers, preferably in comparison: it was - it is now.

Let's look at examples for positions with frequently encountered KPIs.

Examples of achievements for positions where it is difficult to digitize work results.

№	job title	Key KPIs	Examples of achievements
1	Financial Director	Accounting setup	Organized accounting, tax, operational and management accounting from scratch.
		Setting up a budgeting system	Implemented a budgeting system by business area, which increased accounting transparency.
		Optimization of the financial flow management system	She introduced a payment calendar based on 1C UPP and carried out a number of measures to strengthen payment discipline, which made it possible to obtain financial resources to generate additional income.
2	Purchasing Director	Optimization of procurement activities	Organized procurement activities without involving additional Money, this was achieved through successful negotiations with suppliers to increase deferment and improve other conditions.
		Automation of business processes	Initiated and led a project to automate the order generation system, which allowed to reduce labor costs for information processing.
3	Chief Engineer enterprises	Modernization projects	Implemented a number of projects to modernize and reconstruct the enterprise: modernization of the access control system and installation of a fire extinguishing system, alarm system and video surveillance.
		Development of regulatory documents	Developed and implemented everything regulations on occupational health and safety, fire safety, environmental safety, security traffic, which made it possible to reduce the legal and financial risks of the enterprise.
4	Lawyer	Development of document forms	Developed forms of contracts: contract, supply, purchase and sale, etc., which made it possible to minimize labor costs for preparing documents.
		Experience judicial practice	Case No.... - collection of debt under a supply agreement in the amount of 500 thousand rubles. (In this paragraph, it is advisable to describe several diverse cases, but no more than three for each place of work.)
5	Secretary-assistant	Projects or additional responsibilities	Initiated the company's participation in charitable events and sponsorship. Implemented the manager's project for office floral design.
		Document flow optimization	Initiated the creation of a document management database based on Excel, which made it possible to systematize work with documents.
6	Sales Analyst	Development of reporting forms	Developed a reporting system for tracking orders and sales of goods, which made it possible to systematize work with documents.
		Development of analysis tools	Developed mathematical models sales planning based on the performance of sales personnel.

Business partners are sometimes interested in each other's achievements. Anyone who has at least once acted purposefully at his workplace will always have something to say. The main thing is to understand what achievement is. Here we will answer a number of questions that specialists most often encounter. What are significant achievements? How to define and formulate the main, main, highest or outstanding achievements? Personal and professional achievements - what to write on a resume? What achievements are best to highlight? We answer in order.

Can you talk about your goals? professional activity? We hope you can - everyone site materials to help you. Goals tell what results a person wants to achieve. This is information about the future. The question about achievements involves talking about what results were achieved. This is information about the past, what has happened, what has already been achieved to date. If you have at least once set clear, precise goals for yourself and at least once successfully achieved them, getting the result that you originally planned, then you know the main thing. In general, an achievement is a previously planned result that has now been successfully achieved.

There are many similarities between work goals and work achievements. The significant difference is time. Goals reflect numbers and facts that need to be obtained over a certain period (or by a certain date), and are usually stated in the future tense. Achievements reflect figures and facts that were obtained by a specialist during a certain period of his activity, and are declared, as a rule, in the past tense. The principles for formulating messages about goals and achievements are very similar. Want an example? Let's take two sentences as an example. Assignment: try not to guess where the planned result is stated and where the result is obtained.

• by the third quarter of the current (2006) year, develop a technical warning system for concentrations in the air... above the maximum permissible standards;
• in the second quarter of the current (2006) year, a technical warning system was developed for concentrations in the air... above the maximum permissible standards.

Did you complete the task? No? Great. You probably have excellent knowledge of how to correctly formulate information about the achieved result. Now let's note the main thing.

When a question about achievements arises on a resume or in an interview, it means that they are asking you to talk about the results that you obtained in your work over a certain period of time. For example, at a previous workplace or in a previous position, in the course of working on a certain topic or as a result of solving certain problems and tasks - depending on what specific period is asked about. Sometimes in a question about achievements such a period is not clearly indicated. This means that the requested period is your entire work activity.

Preparing a preliminary list of achievements

To understand what achievements you have today, you can do simple thing. Take a list of previous goals that you set for yourself during the requested periods of professional activity. Select the achieved ones from them. Rewrite their wording in the past tense. The first part of the material is ready.

Now remember, have you ever, on the way to a planned result, received unplanned, but unexpectedly important results that are significant for someone or something? - for whom or what exactly is still indifferent. Happened? Then write them down too. The second part of the material is ready.

Essentially, you have a list of the results obtained in different periods your professional activity. Why are such lists declared? Your business partner is interested in how you can be useful for him, the organization, target groups. What internal wealth and active resources are you the owner of? It is the active ones that have already allowed you to achieve certain results. Passive resources - which “theoretically” seem to exist, but are not actually used - are not always of interest to real business partners. Why?

From the fact that you possess, for example, some knowledge and skills, to your colleagues, clients, etc. neither hot nor cold. You own it, and it’s great. Your knowledge and skills become interesting when you can use them to achieve the desired result. Then you demonstrate the presence, quality and usefulness of your resource - a resource that really exists, which you enjoy using and which is constantly being honed through experience. Then it's about the specialized knowledge and key skills that allowed you to achieve what you're talking about. Information about achievements says much more than it might seem at first glance.

By listing your accomplishments and highlighting them on your resume or in an interview, you communicate two things to your current or potential business partner. About what results you were able to achieve yourself or helped others achieve (what hopes can be placed on you, in what ways you can be especially useful). About how activeresources (abilities, capabilities, knowledge, skills) you have to achieve similar or other results needed by the company.

Selecting significant ones

So, we have compiled a preliminary list of professional results. Now we will look for real achievements among them. Ready?..

What is it and what are the significant achievements? People assess the significance of a particular result in their work differently. Therefore, each specialist independently decides which of them is worth talking about. However, when talking about achievement, it is worth remembering two things.

1) . This should be the result which was useful for someone - important, necessary, having a certain meaning for a specific person, group of people or company as a whole.

Depending on who exactly the result of the work you are talking about brought more benefit(turned out to be more important), it can be classified into one of two categories:

• personal achievement;
• professional achievement.

2. Results that may, but have not yet, benefited other people. Even if we are talking about a unique discovery, knowledge, invention or creation of something that gives you a sense of professional pride and potentially has great importance for others, but has not yet been claimed by them, has not yet brought them specific benefit, such a result is this moment time should be called a personal achievement in professional activity. Remember that the question of achievement is about what has already been achieved. Here it is important not to fall into illusions, but to objectively assess what you really have today. IN in this case You have something today that can help someone tomorrow. Key phrases: “you have” and “may help someone.” Despite the fact that such work results fall into the category of personal achievements, for your potential partners they can prove to be an important competitive advantage.

We will be glad to see information about your professional achievements in the comments.

“Give an example of your achievements” is one of the questions asked in a competency interview. This type of interview is a reliable and widely used method in personnel selection, which makes it possible to verify professional competencies candidate to successfully perform the job.

For those who have no experience with this type of interview, the main thing is to understand the basic concept:

In a behavioral interview, you should give specific examples. successful application skills and abilities from past work experience.

This type of interview is based on the fact that based on the employee’s past behavior in a given situation, it is possible to predict his future behavior at a new job. And all the candidate needs to do is is to give convincing examples, that clearly demonstrate the required competencies specified in the job description.

The most commonly tested competencies are:

• communication skills
• teamwork
• initiative
• leadership
• problem solving skills
• analytical thinking
• stress resistance
• time management
• negotiation skills
• planning
• result-oriented
• process oriented

For example, if the job profile requirements indicate that the candidate must be able to analyze, then the interviewer will definitely ask you to give an example of when you used this skill in your work and what results you achieved.

Competency questions begin with:

• Tell me about a time when you...
• Give me an example...
• What steps have you taken...

Here are examples of the most popular questions:

• Give an example of your achievements.
• Describe a time when you had to overcome a major obstacle to achieve a result.
• Tell me about a time when you had to juggle several important projects.

Most often, candidates do not pay due attention to competency issues. And in vain. After all, if you manage to pass and then fail the first behavioral question, you will still leave the interview empty-handed. Even if you have many years of experience labor activity, but without prepared examples you will not be able to make a favorable impression and confirm your competencies. It is quite difficult to answer such a question, because in your daily activities you cannot highlight or remember immediately without preparation something really worthwhile that you should tell a potential employer about.

Unfortunately, more often than not, it is candidates who are less competent, but with good training, who bypass more experienced employees. And to prevent this from happening to you, it’s time to remember everything and create a good story from your past work experience.

I recommend having at least three examples of the competencies listed in the vacancy in stock to highlight your strengths during the interview. The easiest way to effectively answer any behavioral interview question is to prepare three shining examples of your main achievements. Remember the most interesting projects, difficult tasks, problematic situations. If you have little experience, you can use examples during your studies or internship.

As always, we'll use the STAR method as a basis for storytelling, which will help you focus on key details and make your story structured, concise, and memorable.

3. R — results

Formulate the results of your actions: what happened, what was done, what you learned. Finally, it is very important that your good story according to the STAR method always had a happy ending, it's like a fairytale. The last part of your answer should describe the positive results of your actions. Specific results are always particularly impressive, for example: an increase in sales by 32%, a halving of the budget, etc. But you can also refer to positive result due to emotional evaluation, especially from the boss or clients. It will be the best way convince the interviewer that the story you tell is real. For example: m My client was very pleased, my manager appreciated my contribution to the final result and highly appreciated my work, etc.

Sample answer:

When I presented the new and improved reporting to my manager, he was so impressed that he couldn't believe I had done it all myself in such a short period of time! I also received high praise from senior management and was included in our company's Talent Bank program.

6 tips: How to answer the question: Give an example of your achievements"

1) Take enough time to remember shining example from past work or study experience. Select an example that truly demonstrates several competencies and personal qualities.

2) Listen carefully to the questions and if you do not understand, do not rush to answer, but ask them to explain to you.

This is better than answering the question in a completely different direction and giving irrelevant examples. 3) Be prepared for clarifying questions

• , as the interviewer will want to get more information from you and check if your answers are genuine. Here are examples of such questions:
• Tell me why you did it this way
• Explain how you achieved this result

Do you think it could have been done differently? 4) Be specific. Don't try to answer in general terms that don't say anything about you. For example: " Thus you do not answer the question posed. You can assume whatever you want, but you are required to give a real example from your past experience to prove your point.

One of the problematic points for applicants is the “Achievements” column. You shouldn’t listen to the attitude laid down from childhood that it’s not good to brag, this is not the case. It is better to look at examples of professional achievements in your resume and build on them, focusing on your personal experience.

Possible options

Finding a sample of achievements is almost impossible, but there are main points that you can focus on when filling out the specified column. For example, for the trade sector the following formulations are suitable:

• increased sales volume above the established norm by 15% over the last six months of work as a salesperson;
• retained all major clients during the crisis period;
• ensured the expansion of the sales market through the development of a network of branches in regional centers, which contributed to an increase in the company’s profit by 11%;
• conquered niches previously occupied by competitors in large retail chains, increasing sales by 1.3 times;
• developed new tactics for searching for buyers, which allowed us to attract more than 50 new clients during the year of work, 6 of which are large;
• Based on the results of organized surveys, he was repeatedly among the top three in terms of quality of customer service as a call center operator.

For people whose work involves paperwork, accounting, and planning, you can use the following example:

• as a chief accountant, she successfully passed 3 tax audits;
• accelerated document flow in the enterprise by introducing and developing together with the electronic database programming department;
• organized the successful transition of a large enterprise from version 1C: Accounting 7.7 to 8.3;
• found a discrepancy in the cost of products, due to which its price was inflated and made the product uncompetitive; correction of the error led to a revaluation of the cost and the resumption of sales;
• increased the efficiency of the planning department by 80% through the introduction of automated calculations, which made it possible to reduce the staff of economists by 2 times.

Computer technology specialists, depending on their specialization, can choose what to write from the following list:

• increased the efficiency of the company by establishing the functioning of servers, thanks to which the number of emergency failures was reduced by 3 times;
• spent effective analysis technical support company and was able to reduce 20% of the funds allocated for the purchase of new equipment;
• the team under my leadership developed the company’s online store and promoted it to the TOP of search engines;
• created a program that allows you to optimize document flow in an enterprise;
• provided the possibility of control, limited access to resources whose topics are not related to professional activities.

Competent wording

When listing your accomplishments, remember that they should not reflect your daily responsibilities, but rather what goes beyond them. They must show that the specialist took the initiative or followed the instructions of the manager, which went beyond the scope of his previous experience.

When describing your achievements, it is important to understand that a potential employer must see the problem and your actions. The result obtained is also important.

For example, this formulation can be seen in the following variations:

• introduced a satellite monitoring system for sales agents, which made it possible to increase sales efficiency by 23% per year;
• trained new employees in 2 weeks in a way that allowed them to immediately reach the sales level established in the company;
• conducted training on customer service, explained the main functions of the manager, thanks to this the number of purchased tourist tours increased by 18% compared to the same period last year;
• Managing the delivery department, I was able to achieve a 2-fold reduction in order processing times by introducing a logistics system and staff training;
• organized and conducted a full-scale study of the fermented milk products market in the city, which made it possible to introduce a new product;
• conducted successful negotiations, thanks to which the supplier provided a discount, and the company was able to save more than 7% of the amount allocated for installing new software.

Such wording allows the future employer to see your achievements in your work; for a resume, they should be formulated briefly and clearly.

Is it worth adding credit to yourself?

If you want to get a position, then keep in mind that employers are interested in recruiting professionals. If you have nothing to brag about, you are radically changing your field of activity, or you are finding a job for the first time, then it is better to skip this column altogether.

Please note that the recruiter is able to check any achievements, be it:

• sales increase by 40% due to a change in negotiation strategy;
• introduction of accounting automation at retail outlets;
• development of new products as a technologist;
• introduction new system labor stimulation that increases worker productivity.

An employer is unlikely to want to hire a person who has attributed non-existent achievements to himself in his resume, thereby trying to increase the likelihood of employment.

Blurry phrases in a resume

The recruiter wants to see real achievements in the resume, and not general formulations. There is a list of phrases that are best not to use. Among them:

• increasing the efficiency of the department;
• created a new department and adjusted its work from “0”;
• conducted training for new employees;
• did his job efficiently;
• for 4 years of work I have not received a single reprimand;
• ensuring sales growth in the established region;
• maintaining records in the assigned area.

Such formulations will not attract the personnel officer. They simply make it clear that the person went to work and did the assigned tasks. These are not the kind of achievements that can be listed on a resume and that an employer should pay attention to. This column requires specifics indicating the implemented programs, the percentage of sales increase, the number of attracted clients, the level of profit growth of the enterprise, which can be included in the list of your achievements.

Result: what do you want to get?

The output, the second part of your goal sheet, lists what you want to get from this candidate. For most positions for which we are looking for employees, there will be three to eight items on this list, depending on the level of importance.

Take another look at the task description example. Pay attention to the wording of the first paragraph: “Increase in turnover from $25 million to $50 million by the end of the third year.” That is, the new vice president of sales will either be able to increase turnover to $50 million in three years or not. Player A will be able to do this, players B and C will not. This is a completely definite result, and thanks to this property, it allows you to weed out unpromising candidates from the very beginning.

People don't like to lose, but they also don't like being forced to uproot and trade from one company to another, or even move to another city or country in the hope of success. Raise the performance expectations as high as possible—within reason, of course—and you'll get rid of the B and C players while attracting the A players with audacious goals that challenge their talent.

It will be of little use to you typical description official duties, since it usually talks about routine activities and mechanically lists what a person will do in this position (answer customer calls or sell a product). On the other hand, a goal sheet will become your blueprint for success precisely because it turns your attention to results, or rather to what must achieve your candidate (increase turnover from 25 to 50 million dollars in three years). Do you feel the difference?

The expected results are all the more easy to determine for trading, since here we either have a sold product or not.

Unfortunately, not for all types of activities the results of success can be so easily translated into something as simple and objective as numbers. For example, an expected outcome for a marketing manager might be stated as: “Plan and implement a new marketing campaign within three months, starting on such and such a date.” For an online account coordinator, you might describe the result as increased website traffic and presence on popular forums. Subsequently, track whether the new marketer managed to carry out his campaign on time and count the number of site visitors. Of course, these assessments will not be given to you so easily, but over the years of work, our clients have managed to accumulate a lot of quite objective criteria, which are usually based on Feedback, allowing you to plan a new budget on time.

It is interesting that all these measures equally benefit the hired candidate. A person already understands by what parameters he will be assessed. Does he know what? it is what his boss and the company as a whole consider important to his position. And instead of guessing and uncertainty about how to do better, and trying to fight on ten fronts at once, he immediately gets a clear plan for the campaign. And this in no way narrows his possibilities - on the contrary, he receives additional freedom of maneuver.