Reviewing your key achievements, now think about what was the benefit of your achievement? What did the company gain? If you can support this with measurable data and clear evidence, then it becomes quite powerful. It should answer the “so what?” check:
- So, what did you achieve?
- So, what does it tell me about how you did it?
- So, what were the benefits for the department/company? (think about how do you know it was successful/how was it measured?)
Here is a quick example:
- Introduced a new shift system
Doesn’t really tell me anything. Whereas:
- Introduced a new shift system to reduce overtime costs across 8 sites nationally, involving 400 employees. Overtime spend fell from £850k to £35k within 12 months.
This short example evidences a number of things:
- That the person had a role with national responsibility
- They have worked with a project affecting 400 employees
- The person came up with a solution to a problem
- They have delivered a significant cost saving for the business
Employers are likely to be most interested in:
- Cost saving
- Quality improvements
- Efficiency
- Productivity
- Increasing profit/revenue/sales
- Improving customer satisfaction
