To best showcase your skills and abilities to an employer, you want to use accomplishment statements in describing your experiences.
Accomplishment statements go beyond just describing your experience or what you did in a job or internship. Accomplishment statements also show the results of your actions, and your effectiveness and success as an employee who solves problems. Accomplishment statements always begin with active verbs.
When writing accomplishment statements, use the PAR system:
| Problem | Action | Results |
|---|---|---|
| The problem encountered or identified in work environment (e.g., process, procedure, personnel, etc.) | Specific action(s) taken to address or resolve the problem | The result(s) you achieved through your actions to fix the problem |
Examples of the PAR System
| BEFORE | AFTER |
|---|---|
| Filed papers for a doctor’s office | Developed updated filing and organization system, which resulted in less time spent locating and retrieving patient files |
| Served customers at a restaurant | Promoted weekly specials resulting in a 20% increase in sales |
| Supervised camp activities | Supervised 10 children, ages 5-13, ensuring safety and experiential learning in a summer day camp |
| Volunteered as Program Council Treasurer | Saved $10k annually by implementing new auditing system to be used by the Program Council |
| Trained new employees | Trained more than 15 new employees over a 12 month period resulting in increased customer satisfaction |
| Conducted market research | Researched media buying for two clients using databases, telephone surveys, and competitor data |
| Provided customer service | Provided attentive, high quality customer service leading to referrals that generated over 50 new clients |
| Counseled Youth | Completed diagnostic assessments, treatment plans, quarterly updates on up to 20 clients |
| Managed Budget | Managed a $350.00 budget, with a reduction of costs totaling 15% over two years |