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Duties and Responsibilities Versus Accomplishments
Your duties and responsibilities refer to the general scope of your job, such as "sales" or "selling." Accomplishment statements give specific examples of tasks you finished. The following chart shows the difference.
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Duties and Responsibilities |
Accomplishments |
|
Was responsible for sales in Western Region. |
Terminated two salesmen, yet increased sales six-fold in three months despite
reduction in force. |
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As HR Director, was responsible for saving money on corporate benefits. |
Shopped for a long-term disability insurance and found package that saved 10%
over present costs. |
Typing 85 words per minute isn't necessarily an accomplishment. It's a skill. But quickly typing a 50 page report in two hours so it can be mailed by 5 p.m. is an achievement.
Being an excellent manager isn't an accomplishment. It's a skill or competency. But leading a task force that develops a new money-making product in less than two months is an accomplishment. Maintaining productivity is not necessarily an accomplishment, but maintaining productivity under adverse circumstances is. See how this works?
Where to Find Your Successes
To find your accomplishments ask yourself if you have:
- Identified new markets
- Invented or improved something
- Achieved more with fewer resources
- Reduced costs or saved money
- Improved productivity or operations
- Saved time
- Solved a long-standing problem
- Achieved a technical breakthrough or secured a patent
- Improved sales
- Made headlines or did something newsworthy
- Improved staff or team morale | Next -->
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