Why You Should Show Off Your Awards on Your Resume (and the Right Way to Do It)

By Regina Borsellino | The Muse

When you’re writing your resume, it’s all about standing out from the pack. Sure, you have the experience and skills you need for the job, but so do many other applicants. How do you really hammer home that you’re the best choice for the job? One way is to list awards on your resume.

Awards are official recognitions of your work and accomplishments. You can receive awards from the company you work for, the school you go to, a group that evaluates or governs the industry you work in, and even a city, state, or country.

“Including relevant awards on your resume will solidify and highlight your results [and] accomplishments and help you stand out to future employers,” says Muse career coach Jennifer Smith, founder of Flourish Careers. Awards can also help prove that you have some of the key qualifications or traits for a given job opening, says Muse career coach Tara Goodfellow, owner of Athena Consultants—such as strong leadership skills or reliability.

What Awards Should You Put on Your Resume?
Before you add every award you’ve ever gotten to your resume—from your fourth grade perfect attendance certificate to your middle school soccer championship—take a second to make sure each one is relevant to your job search. Does it prove that you excel at a soft or hard skill that’s important for the job you’re applying to? Does it show that you’ve been recognized for the type of work you’d be doing in this role? Is the award especially prestigious or well-known in your field (think Oscar or Pulitzer, but for your industry)?

If you’re a recent graduate, you can go a little broader, Smith says. For entry-level resumes, you won’t have much or any work experience, so you should include any award that shows you have skills that will transfer to a professional setting, which could include diligence, teamwork, creativity, or perseverance.

No matter where you are in your career, think about how your award sets you apart from the competition and whether it shows the value you’d bring to a prospective employer before you list it on your resume, Goodfellow says.

Here are some examples of the types of awards you might include:

Read the full article here.

 

By MIT Sloan CDO
MIT Sloan CDO