Where To List Awards On Your Resume (With Examples)

You’ve likely been taught to not brag about yourself, but one of the times that this is not only acceptable but encouraged is on your resume. Including your awards on your resume is an effective way to stand out as a job candidate and show hiring managers what you bring to the table.

With this in mind, we’re going to walk you through where and how you should list your awards and honors on your resume, as well as which types of awards you should include.

Key Takeaways

• You can add a separate resume section for your awards or incorporate them into your work experience bullet points.

• Putting awards on your resume helps you stand out from other candidates and rounds out your description of your work experience.

• You can include accomplishments, promotions, and publications on your resume as well as awards.

How to Include Awards on a Resume

When it comes to putting awards on your resume, there are two ways you can do it: Add a separate awards section or incorporate them into your work experience bullet points.

1. Create a separate awards section. Just like you should have a section of your resume for your skills, education, and work experience, you can include a section for your awards.

   It’s up to you to decide how much detail you want to go into about what you list in that section. For example, there are some awards that most people will recognize and will understand the importance of, like if you participated in a Fulbright Scholar Program.

   Some other awards or certifications might require a bit of explanation. Think about specific awards from school clubs you were involved in or awards from your company that people outside of your organization might not know of. These types of awards and certifications should be explained a bit if you list them.

2. Add them to your work experience section. Another way to include awards is to add them in the relevant existing sections of your resume. If you want to talk about an accomplishment from college, you can add the award or certificate to your resume’s education section. You might need to give some explanation if there’s room and show how it applies to the job you’re applying for.

No matter how you approach listing your awards, you should always use action verbs and at least name the award, the organization that awarded it to you, and the year you received it. This can help anyone looking at your resume place the award in some kind of context and give them the information they need to research it on their own if you don’t explain it. It also shows how recent and relevant your knowledge or skills are, and the more recent your awards are, the better they’ll look.

If you want to explain the award, it’s a good idea to include the scope and how the award recipients were determined. Indicating the scope of the award will let anyone who reads your resume know if you were chosen from a national, regional, state, or local pool.

Letting people know how many others were considered for an award will make you stand out even more. Similarly, including anything about how the award is awarded gives more context to the honor and shows how great you are.

Examples of Including Awards on Your Resume

No matter how you decide to add your awards to your resume, we have a few examples for you. Just remember, it’s tempting to include all of the awards you’ve won and accomplishments you’re proud of, but make sure everything you include is relevant.

Even if you’re super proud of an award, if it doesn’t have meaning to whoever is reading your resume, it might not help you get the job. You can always bring it up in your cover letter where relevant, or mention it when you have an interview, though.

Including awards as a separate section:

Including awards in resume sections:

What Are Awards on a Resume?

Just like you tell potential employers your skills and your work history, you can list your awards, certifications, or other honors that are relevant to your industry on your resume. If you have anything like professional certifications, school awards, scholarships, competitions, and sometimes even big promotions, you might want to add them to your resume.

You can include anything related to the job description in your awards section, and don’t be afraid to switch it up for each different job you apply to.

The great thing about awards is that there’s a whole range of them, and you can show off your hard and soft skills with the awards you choose. You’re not limited to listing technical commendations (like Best Software Programmer on your college robotics team) on your resume; in fact, it also helps to show off your soft skills (think something like Most Valuable Team Leader).

The Benefits of Putting Awards on Your Resume

Why would you go through the trouble of sorting out what awards you want to include on your resume? Well, awards can make you stand out from other applicants. Having certain recognitions for your hard work, intelligence, or other commendable skills can show an employer that you’d be a great employee. Plus, recruiters like to be impressed, so if you can show them something that will wow them, they’ll be more likely to invite you to interview.

Showing your accomplishments will also help fill in your personal and work history a bit more. Maybe you don’t have professional experience in a certain field, but you have a skill related to that industry on your resume. Adding the certification from a course you passed to master that skill will help potential employers better understand just how you got to where you are.

Tips for Putting Awards on Your Resume

When you’re putting awards on your resume, don’t forget to tailor them to the position you’re applying for, make sure they’re recent, and include any accomplishments as well.

1. Tailor them to the position you’re applying for. No matter what you decide to put in your awards section, make sure it’s valuable to you to anyone who reads your resume. You should only include things that are relevant to the position you’re applying to, and that will make sense to a recruiter.

   Take a moment and think about what you want to add. Would an award for MVP on your college basketball team be relevant to a software development position you’re applying for? Maybe not, but it could be valuable if you’re applying to be a personal trainer.

2. Make sure your awards are recent. If you’ve been in the workforce for a few years and you’re applying for mid-level jobs, you probably don’t want to include the fact that you were on your college’s Dean’s List for a few semesters.

   But, if you’re a recent graduate, that information is useful and relevant for hiring managers. Keep any awards or certificates within the last few years to make sure they’re timely.

3. Don’t forget your accomplishments. If you don’t have many official awards or certifications to highlight, that’s not a problem. Sometimes people swap out an awards section for an accomplishments section to show employers what they’ve achieved.

   Plus, an accomplishments section gives you a chance to show a potential employer what you value and consider your greatest successes.

Types of Awards to Include on Resume

You can include any type of award on your resume as long as it’s relevant to your profession, industry, skillset, or the job you’re applying for. Common awards and certificates included on resumes fall under the large categories of academic, professional, industry-related, and personal.

Here are a few types of accolades you can include on your resume.

• Dean’s list awards

• Published work in industry publications

• Promotions

• Professional skills course certificates

• Company awards

• Grants and scholarships

• Leadership positions

• Community or civic awards

• Latin honors or graduation distinctions

• High results on standardized tests

• Professional association awards

• Volunteering awards

• Language skills

• Athletic awards

Author

Amanda Covaleski

Amanda is a writer with experience in various industries, including travel, real estate, and career advice. After taking on internships and entry-level jobs, she is familiar with the job search process and landing that crucial first job. Included in her experience is work at an employer/intern matching startup where she marketed an intern database to employers and supported college interns looking for work experience.

Expert

Don Pippin, MHRM, CPRW, CDCS

Don Pippin is an executive and HR leader for Fortune 50 and 500 companies and startups. In 2008, Don launched area|Talent with a focus on helping clients identify their brand. As a Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified Digital Career Strategist, and Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Don guides clients through career transitions.