An achievement on a resume shows what changed because of your work: action verb, what you did, and a result with a number or a clear outcome. "Answered customer emails" is a duty; "Cut email response time from 2 days to 6 hours" is an achievement. Use 3–5 achievement bullets per job, put the strongest first, and only use numbers you can explain.
The achievement formula
| Part | Example |
|---|---|
| Action verb | Reduced, Built, Increased, Trained, Launched |
| What you did | reorganised the stockroom layout |
| Result | so picking time fell by 25% in 3 months |
| Context (optional) | for a store with 40 daily deliveries |
40 achievement examples by job
- Sales: Closed 32 new B2B accounts in 2025, 18% above target.
- Sales: Grew average order value by 12% by bundling accessories.
- Sales: Recovered 9 lapsed clients through a follow-up call plan.
- Sales: Ranked 2nd of 14 reps for quarterly revenue.
- Customer service: Kept a 94% satisfaction score across 70 calls a day.
- Customer service: Cut repeat contacts 20% by rewriting 15 help-centre answers.
- Customer service: Trained 6 new agents on the ticketing system.
- Customer service: Resolved 85% of issues on first contact.
- Admin: Reduced invoice processing time from 5 days to 2.
- Admin: Built a shared calendar for 8 managers, ending double bookings.
- Admin: Digitised 3,000 paper records in 4 months.
- Admin: Organised 12 company events within budget.
- Teaching: Raised pass rates in my Year 10 class from 68% to 81%.
- Teaching: Designed a reading club joined by 25 students.
- Teaching: Introduced weekly quizzes that cut missed homework by a third.
- Teaching: Mentored 3 trainee teachers.
- Tech: Cut page load time from 3.1s to 1.4s.
- Tech: Automated a weekly report, saving 4 hours a week.
- Tech: Raised test coverage from 35% to 78%.
- Tech: Migrated 3 services to the cloud with no downtime.
- Marketing: Grew newsletter subscribers from 2,000 to 9,000 in 18 months.
- Marketing: Lowered cost per lead 35% in 3 months.
- Marketing: Launched 2 campaigns that produced 340 demo requests.
- Marketing: Rebuilt email flows; open rate from 21% to 34%.
- Hospitality: Served 120+ covers per shift with no complaints escalated.
- Hospitality: Cut table turnaround time by 10 minutes.
- Hospitality: Trained 5 new servers on the POS.
- Hospitality: Raised online review average from 4.2 to 4.6.
- Logistics: Reduced picking errors 30% with cycle counts.
- Logistics: Coordinated 400+ shipments a month.
- Logistics: Renegotiated carrier rates, saving about $180K a year.
- Logistics: Cut late deliveries by 22%.
- Healthcare: Cared for 6–8 patients per shift on a medical ward.
- Healthcare: Introduced a handover checklist adopted by the ward.
- Finance: Cut month-end close from 10 days to 6.
- Finance: Led an audit with no findings.
- Students: Organised a careers fair with 40 employers.
- Students: Built a timetable app used by 200+ students.
- Volunteering: Raised $3,500 for a local shelter.
- Volunteering: Coordinated 25 volunteers at a weekend food drive.
All examples are illustrations. Use your own results and only numbers you can back up in an interview.
How to find numbers when you have no data
Where to put achievements on a resume
Put achievements as bullets under each job, not in a separate section, so recruiters see the result next to the role. You can repeat your single strongest result in the summary. Awards and recognitions can go in a short Achievements or Awards section.
Duties vs achievements
| Duty | Achievement |
|---|---|
| Responsible for social media | Grew Instagram followers from 3,000 to 11,000 in a year |
| Handled inventory | Cut stock discrepancies by 40% with weekly counts |
| Taught math | Raised the class average from 62 to 74 |
| Managed a team | Led 6 staff; reduced overtime 15% |
- What counts as an achievement on a resume?
- A result you caused: a number that changed, a project you delivered, recognition you earned.
- What if I have no achievements?
- Every job has some: volume handled, problems solved, people trained. Students can use projects and volunteering.
- How many achievements per job?
- 3–5 bullets for recent roles, 1–2 for older ones.
- Can I use estimates?
- Yes, if they are honest and you can explain them; use "about" for approximate figures.
See also CV skills with examples and keep it tight with the one-page resume guide.
