January 20, 2017 by Hayley Panasiuk

The point of your resumé is to demonstrate not only your ability to do the job you are applying for but also to stand out from the “crowd” of other potential candidates that the hiring manager will consider.

When to Include Awards

A great way to stand out is to include awards, achievements, and quantitative demonstrations of how much better you are than your competition.

Whether or not you should add your awards likely depends on how stellar the rest of your resumé is as well as how recent the awards are. Make sure the awards are relevant to the position you are applying for or the skills required for the position (i.e. Juves Award for Regulatory Compliance, etc.), education-related (i.e. merit scholarships, high class rank, etc.), or specific to your performance at your former role(s).

Notice the difference between the two:

“Was top salesperson in SaaS group”

“Grossed highest sales in 25-member SaaS group for 2 years consecutively; improved SaaS team’s sales by 20%”

Which person would you want to hire?

Be Quantitative

If your job involves quarterly performance numbers, percentages, or other success metrics, add them and then bold them. Particularly in Sales positions, bolding performance statistics is a way to stand-out from other candidates and enables the hiring manager to quantify your potential impact.

How to Add Awards

If you have one or two achievements or awards, list them via bullet points underneath the relevant work experience in which you received them. If you have a list of achievements or awards, it looks great to list all of them in a separate section entitled “Awards & Achievements.”

For example:

Awards & Achievements

Here you can list (and bold where relevant!) any and all accomplishments relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Paragraph-form is acceptable, however, it is the opinion of most hiring managers, including myself, that bullet-point formatted qualifications are exceedingly easier to digest.

Be Specific

Be specific with the awards and recognition you have received. What was the Merit Certificate for? Getting the highest grades or being in the top 10% of the class? Showing what earned you the award makes employers pay more attention.

Bullet-point the awards and say, for example,

“University Merit Scholarship, awarded to students in top 10% of the class” or “Juves Award (awarded to best compliance manager in Connecticut).”