Including good performance reviews on a resume

Ask Kate Column: JP writes: “During my employment with my current company I have had yearly performance reviews and my manager has always rated me as a ‘4’ (Exceeds Expectations). How could I show this in a resume or should I add as some sort of comments?”

Good for you JP. Many companies are quite tough when it comes to their rating system for annual performance reviews and consider a 3.5 or above as a good result. I would include a line in your “Achievements” section for that particular job.

For the uninitiated, a resume should detail your Work History (or Professional History) in reverse date order.

For the last two or three roles – depending how far back they go – it is a good idea to include both “Responsibilities”, which are the things you were paid to do in the job, and an “Achievements” section with one or two dot points.

Achievements are the things you did that you didn’t really have to in order to do your job well enough. In JP’s case the dot point could read: “Consistently received an overall ‘Exceeds Expectations’ assessment on my last x number of annual performance reviews.”

For those they don’t get “Achievements”, meeting 100 per cent of a sales target is a responsibility but making 110 per cent is an Achievement.

Creating a tender document would be a responsibility for a PA but working back to meet an incredible deadline to create a tender document that then won new business would be an achievement. A PA friend of mine did that and was given a staff award usually only won by sales staff – the task and the award were detailed under her Achievement section.

Any doubts, just email me with your specific example and I’ll let you know if it fits the definition.