The work experience section on most CVs usually mirrors a job description. A strange phenomenon when you consider employers primarily look for evidence of achievement, skill and value.

Put more focus on achievement and write the sentences well and you stand an excellent chance of success.

Step 1:

Stating your achievements separately from your responsibilities is a very positive way to give information about your skills, abilities and value. The work experience history within your CV could read, for example:

Company XYZ                                                                                                                    Jan 04 – Mar 09
Short one line description of company XYZ
Responsibilities
*Maintained .....
* Supervised .....
Achievements
*Delivered ....
*Increased ....
*Enhanced ...

This alone will give you a good chance of success. Listing more achievements than responsibilities will further aid your cause.

If you have many jobs on your CV, it will usually only make sense to follow the above structure for the most recent 2 jobs (or 5 years). Employers tend to lose interest in older jobs, so focus where possible on your most recent activity.

Step 2

Writing a good, compelling achievement will put you to the top of the pile. Following a simple sentence structure will help you to turn an achievement into a good achievement:

 (F) Feature: The way you did this. Start the sentence with a feature word (e.g. consistently, successfully, actively, continually, efficiently)  

(A) Action: What you did. Use a verb (e.g. maximised, minimised, exceeded, re-vitalised, created, launched, coordinated) followed by a few words describing what you did.

(B) Benefit: State the benefit to the company, customer etc...

Example: “Continually (F) exceeded monthly personal sales targets (A), helping the team to perform over target for the first time in 5 years (B).

Example: “Successfully (F) organised all travel arrangements for overseas conference (A), ensuring budgets were kept to and directors minimised time wasted (B).

Applying this structure to your experiences is a sure-fast way to produce a long list of good, compelling achievements.

Step 3

The only job left is selecting the most appropriate achievements for each specific employer, since you can’t list all in a 2-page CV. Read the job description and pick the most suitable statements and ensure the language matches.

That’s why job-seekers who spend time producing more achievements than they actually need for their CVs fare well at interview. 

Take Away Points

1: Separate your responsibilities from your achievements for your most recent jobs
2: Use the Feature, Action, Benefit model to structure your achievements

3: Read the job description and pick the achievements that best ma

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