How to List Certifications and Achievements on Resume?

Having doubts on how to include achievements and certifications on your resume?

It’s very common as it is not as simple as it looks. You risk the recruiter ignoring your resume completely if your certifications are important for the position and you haven’t listed them.

Therefore, you should mention them in the summary or contact information section at the beginning of your resume as they draw attention to your experience, dedication to career advancement, and track record of accomplishments.

However, having them isn’t enough: the important thing is to know how to effectively present them on your resume. This article will show you how to accomplish all that!

What are Certifications?

They attest to your control on particular skills and are typically awarded by universities or professional associations. Listing degrees gives you a general idea of a field while certifications are more specialized and concentrate on a specific field.

You must finish a course and pass an exam in order to obtain a certification. These courses can be taken online or in person. For example, you can earn certifications in project management, cloud computing, medical coding, and cyber-security.

Examples of certification include:

• Data Science Professional Certification
• Google Analytics Professional Certificate
• Project Management Professional (PMP)

Importance of Getting Certified

Obtaining a professional certification is unquestionably evidence of your competence in a certain trade or field of employment. It also demonstrates your commitment to your profession and offers proof of your skills and work history.

It might be a prerequisite for being considered as a potential candidate for some jobs whereas it can be an extra benefit for other positions, helping you stand out from other applicants with comparable qualifications.

The certification can undoubtedly help your job search even if it isn’t necessary to land the position by:

• Enhancing your resume,
• Proving your value as an employee, and
• Drawing attention to your application.

What are Achievements?

They are concrete examples of your prior successes that demonstrate the value you have contributed to previous positions, academics, or extracurricular activities. Achievements highlight what you actually did supported with quantifiable outcomes like higher revenue, enhanced productivity, honors, etc. in contrast to job responsibilities that outline what you were supposed to do.

Adding accomplishments to your resume strengthens it by providing companies with unambiguous proof of your influence and potential. They help you differentiate yourself from other applicants by changing the emphasis from responsibilities to outcomes and also demonstrate your ability to not only manage the position but also excel in it.

Examples of achievements include:

• Improved user retention by 45% in one year
• Successfully led a team for project completion, increasing sales revenue by 30%

When to Include Certification on Resume?

Certifications are usually not required on a resume but you should have one in situations when you want to make your resume stand out. Some of those cases are as follows:

• On Employer’s Demand

This is the best reason for including certification on your resume since they are required for the position. The hiring manager may immediately reject you if a potential employer requests a particular certification and you do not mention it on your resume. Therefore, carefully review the job posting and the organization’s website before applying for any job vacancy.

• To Highlight your Skills

A certification can be very helpful to your application even if it is not necessary for the position. Consider computer skills as an example which are essential for the majority of jobs nowadays whether or whether not they work in the IT industry.

Therefore, the hiring manager will be aware that you are also proficient with computers if you name an IT-related certification when applying for a job, such as office assistant. This qualification can be sufficient to offer you an advantage over other applicants with comparable experience throughout the recruiting process.

• To Highlight your Industry Expertise

The ability of your certifications to further emphasize the years of expertise you have in a certain field is another excellent reason to put them on your resume. Obtaining certifications in some cases require specific years of experience in the field. Listing these certificates on your resume, in turn, can serve as an extra “voucher” for your background.

• To Compensate for Limited Real-World Experience

Another way to make up for a lack of job experience is through certifications. Assume you are a graphic designer who just received your degree and has limited work experience. However, you have developed these position-specific skills by practicing graphic design extensively during your undergraduate years. Listing certifications in graphic design could help make up for your lack of professional experience in this situation.

How to Include Certifications on Resume?

There is a fairly simple format to follow when adding a certification to your resume including:

• Title: The official name of the certification.
• Awarding Institution: The name of the educational or professional association that granted you the license or certification.
• Awarded Date: Mention the date you fulfilled the prerequisites for certification or put “In progress” if you’re still working on fulfilling those requirements.
• Expiration Date: The date on which the certification is no longer recognized by the organization or body that issued it. The opportunity to extend your certification through further training is provided by numerous granting institutions.
• Relevant skills: These are the skills you developed and gained through the certification course. You should highlight the skills that are relevant to the job for which you are seeking.

How to Include Achievements on Resume?

The PAR (Problem, Action, Result) technique makes it simple to include accomplishments on your resume. A few guidelines to create a compelling and successful resume include:

Get your Work Achievements

Examine your prior positions and the contributions you made, taking into account the following:

• Problem: What was the circumstance?
• Action: What were your actions?
• Result: What was the conclusion?

Calculate your Achievements

The effect of your resume accomplishments is increased when you measure them. So, make your accomplishments more measurable by using percentages and numbers to show prospective employers how valuable you can be to their business. Ask yourself the following to precisely measure your achievements:

• How did your activities affect the figures or percentages?
• What was the duration of the activity or outcome?
• Were other work teams, clients, or customers involved? How many?
• How much money was involved?

Bring Everything Together

Write your resume achievements when you have gathered all the important information. You can arrange your PAR (problem, action, and result) in order. For example:

• Increased consumer satisfaction by 35% within three months of implementing a new feedback structure.
• Simplified the team’s production process, leading to a 45% reduction in production time and a $35,000 cost savings in the first year.
• Simplified integrated marketing initiatives that resulted in a more than 55% increase in online traffic.

Where to Include Certifications and Achievements on Resume?

A resume should carefully arrange accomplishments and certifications to emphasize relevant qualification and skills. They can be included in the overview, education, work experience, and special sections like “Achievements” or “Certifications.” The goal is to customize the placement to highlight their significance for the particular job application.

Sections where achievements should be included are:

• Resume Summary: Begin with an attention-grabbing resume summary that highlights your major certification and accomplishments to get the recruiter’s attention.
• Work Experience: Highlight accomplishments for each role with bullet points to demonstrate the significance of your contributions.
• Education: Include accomplishments you’ve obtained as part of your degree program or continuing professional development within the “Education” section.
• Dedicated Sections: Create a separate section “Achievements” to organize and showcase particular accomplishments or capabilities. 

Sections where certifications should be included are:

• Resume Summary: Emphasize any relevant certifications, particularly if they are essential for the position you are applying for.
• Education: Include a list of your certificates in your education section, especially those relating to your degree or current studies.
• Dedicated Section: Create a separate “Certifications” section if you want to show several related certifications.
• Work Experience: Add a certification to the relevant work experience in bullet point if it is directly related to a particular role.
• Skills Section: List your certificates with other relevant skills to demonstrate your competence.

Tips for Listing Achievements and Certifications in Resume

Some of the important advice while adding certificates and accomplishments to the resume are:

• Use clear headers such as “Certifications” and “Achievements” to make them easier to locate.
• Only include those qualifications that directly meet the job requirements.
• Ensure to provide the complete title, concerned organization, and the date of earning or validity when referring to certifications.
• Use timelines, percentages, or statistics to demonstrate quantifiable outcomes for adding achievements.
  Highlight your most noteworthy or important certifications near the top of the resume or in the summary section.
• Eliminate out-of-date accomplishments and certifications that have expired and no longer offer value.
• Include role-specific achievements in bullet points beneath each position to demonstrate and validate your influence.
• Prioritize quality over numbers as a few strong points are more impactful than a lengthy and rambling list.

A few additional tips for placement include:

• Adjust the placement in accordance with the particular demands and importance of every job application.
• Put the most relevant certifications and accomplishments at the front of the resume.
• Use straightforward and simple language and formatting to effectively highlight your accomplishments.
• Illustrate the significance of your achievements with figures and measurements whenever feasible.
• Verify that all of the information is grammatically correct and error-free.

Example of Adding Certifications and Achievements on Resume

Some examples to show how to list accomplishments and certifications on a resume include:

Example 1:

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
A PMP-Certified project manager with eight years of expertise completing enterprise-level IT infrastructure projects. Proven experience in regularly meeting deadlines and exceeding client expectations.

CERTIFICATIONS

• Project Management Professional-Project Management Institute
  Valid till November 2029
• AWS Certified Solution Architect-Flipkart Web Services
  Issued in March 2021
• Google Data Analytics Certification-Coursera
  Issued in August 2024

WORK EXPERIENCE

Senior Project Administrator- Digitek Solutions | March 2021–Present

• Oversaw a multidisciplinary group of seventeen people who completed a $3 million ERP deployment two months ahead of schedule.
• Client retention increased by 40% through process optimization and improvements to service delivery within four months.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Best Project Delivery Award-2023
• “Agile Project Success Strategies” was published in the Project Administration Journal-2022.

Example 2:

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Expert in digital marketing with over seven years of experience in content marketing, social media strategy, Google Ads, and SEO. Google Analytics and Hubspot certificate holder with a track record of generating quantifiable business growth and boosting online engagement.

CERTIFICATIONS

• Facebook Blueprint Certification-Coursera
  Issued in March 2022
• Google Analytics Certification-Google
  Issued in May 2021
• Content Marketing Certification-Meta
  Issued in December 2020

WORK EXPERIENCE

Digital Marketing Associate-ShineTech Media | April 2020-Present

• Organic website traffic boosted by 135% in just a year using a focused SEO approach and Google Ads.
• Oversaw advertising initiatives that brought in more than $800K.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Best Digital Campaigner of the Year, Winner-2022, for a nationwide product launch.
• Increased Instagram following of the brand from 10,000 to 1,00,000 within a year.

These examples are tailored for those with experience but it’s not only limited till here. A resume without experience can also be made using Certifications and Achievements that will eventually let them compete with those having experience and stand out.

Conclusion

Achievements and certifications serve as evidence of your professional skills and contributions, making them more than just resume accessories. They immediately convey skills, credibility, and quantifiable success when strategically presented.

Keep your certifications up to date, arrange them according to usefulness, and position important credentials where they will immediately attract attention rather than just listing them. Concentrate on quantifiable outcomes for achievements that show your value and worth in front of a potential employer.

Consider your accomplishments as the highlights that proves your exceptionality, and your certifications as the cornerstone that proves your qualifications. They produce an engaging story that can help your resume stand out from others when combined and advance you toward your next professional opportunity.