Awards on a resume can validate your skills and accomplishments, setting you apart in a competitive job market. Including the right accolades provides tangible evidence of your capabilities and recognition from others in your field. When selected carefully, these honors serve as a powerful tool to reinforce your qualifications and demonstrate a history of excellence.
Deciding Which Awards to Include
When deciding which awards to feature on your resume, assess them to ensure they add value. The primary consideration is relevance to the job you are targeting. An award that highlights skills or achievements directly related to the role’s responsibilities will be more impactful than a more prestigious but unrelated honor. For example, a “Top Salesperson of the Year” award is highly relevant for a sales position, while a creative writing prize may not be.
The recency of the award is another important factor. Honors received within the last five to ten years carry more weight, as they reflect your current capabilities. Academic awards, such as making the Dean’s List or receiving a notable scholarship, are most effective for recent graduates or those with limited professional experience. Once you have accumulated several years of work experience, these academic honors can be removed to make space for more recent, professional achievements.
Finally, consider the prestige and scope of the award. Recognition from a well-known industry organization or a national body is more impressive than an internal company award that may be unfamiliar to outsiders. If an award isn’t widely known, it can be useful to include a brief, one-line description to provide context about the accomplishment it represents. Examples of awards that merit inclusion are professional honors like “Employee of the Year,” industry-specific recognitions, and community service awards that demonstrate leadership or dedication.
Awards to Leave Off Your Resume
To avoid clutter and ensure every line adds value, certain types of awards are best left off. Most accolades from high school lose their relevance and should be removed once you enter the professional workforce, as they can make your resume seem dated.
Awards related to hobbies or interests that are not connected to the job you are applying for should also be excluded. While you may be proud of winning a local chili cook-off, it does not provide evidence of your abilities as a software developer. Irrelevant information can dilute the impact of your more significant, job-related accomplishments.
Exercise caution with awards that could be seen as divisive or are simply too common to be differentiating. Recognition from political or religious organizations might be best omitted unless you are applying for a role within that specific sector. Common awards like participation certificates or generic “Employee of the Month” honors may not be compelling enough to warrant space on your resume.
How to Format an Awards Section
The placement of your awards on your resume depends on their context and significance. The most common approach is to create a dedicated “Awards and Recognition” or “Awards and Honors” section. This is placed toward the bottom of the resume, after your work experience and education. This format works well when you have multiple honors to list that collectively showcase a pattern of high achievement.
Alternatively, you can integrate awards directly into other sections of your resume. If an award is directly tied to a specific job, you can list it as a bullet point under that role in your “Experience” section. Similarly, academic honors like scholarships or inclusion on the Dean’s List can be listed under the corresponding degree in your “Education” section, which is a common practice for recent graduates.
When listing an award, a clear and consistent format ensures readability. Start with the official name of the award, followed by the name of the awarding organization, and then the date you received it. If the award’s title is not self-explanatory, you can add a brief, optional bullet point to describe what it was for or the accomplishment it recognizes.
A standard entry would look like this:
President’s Club Award
Global Tech Inc.
August 2023
What to Do If You Have No Awards
The absence of an awards section is not a disadvantage. Hiring managers are primarily interested in your skills and experience, and there are other effective ways to demonstrate your value and accomplishments without a dedicated “Awards” section.
Instead of an awards section, you can create a section titled “Key Accomplishments” or “Projects.” Here, you can use bullet points to highlight specific, quantifiable achievements from your past roles. For example, you might detail a project you led that increased efficiency by 15% or a customer service initiative that improved satisfaction ratings. These metrics provide concrete evidence of your performance and impact.
This approach allows you to showcase your successes in a direct way. Focus on results you can measure, successful projects you have completed, or even positive feedback from performance reviews. By quantifying your contributions, you are providing tangible proof of your abilities and work ethic. This strategy ensures your resume remains strong and effectively markets you as a capable and accomplished professional.