How to sell your achievements in a CV

January 6, 2012 09:27 by Admin

Ever feel that there are so many things you want to include in your CV, but you just can’t get them all in there?

There are a few things to remember when compiling your CV – most important is that you want to get noticed by a potential employer, you want to stand out from the rest of the applicants and you want to be the one they call to interview.

So, how are you going to make that happen?

Remember your CV is your marketing tool, your brochure if you like and therefore needs to demonstrate what you can do for them, what you can bring to this job.

To demonstrate this to a potential employer, you need to outline your qualifications, skills, previous experience and achievements in a way that convinces the reader and compels them to call you to interview.

Make it clear to them that you can you can add value as a member of staff and help them to achieve the goals set out.

Most people find it difficult to write about their achievements in previous roles as they often think it makes them seem like they are boasting. However, if you are to get noticed then you need to rise above this and get those achievements down on paper.

To make you stand out from the crowd you must focus your CV on past achievements and results to convince the reader that you can add value now, you need to show them how you have added value in the past. This gives the reader a feel for your track record.

When you are trying to pull out achievements from previous roles, think of things like the challenges you faced, these could be in relation to staff management, budgetary management or contract management.

Articulate what specific actions you took to deal with this and what the outcome of these actions were. This will clearly set out the problem, how you dealt with it and the end result.

When thinking of achievements focus on things that your current or most recent employer thinks that you do well. There may be some positive points that were highlighted through appraisal and these can also be included. As part of your appraisal, you may have been set objectives, if you have achieved these, then include them.

There are many ways you can think about achievements you have made, some of these could be in relation to increasing sales, making substantial changes within a company to improve turnover, introducing a new or innovative way of working, gaining new business, saving money, led a major project or worked outside your remit to get a job done.

If you look at areas like these, you will be able to extract achievements and results from previous roles and use them to your advantage when compiling your CV.

Remember you are trying to sell yourself, so don’t hold back

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