Top 15 Powerful Ways to Highlight Skills and Achievements in a CV That Recruiters Can’t Ignore

Crafting a CV is more than listing jobs; it’s about telling your professional story in a way that grabs attention. If you’re wondering how to highlight skills and achievements in a CV, you’re not alone. In today’s competitive South African job market, simply listing your responsibilities won’t cut it anymore. Employers want to see how you added value, what impact you made, and why you’re worth interviewing.

Highlight Skills and Achievements in a CV

In South Africa, where the unemployment rate is a constant economic concern, standing out on paper has never been more vital. Employers don’t just want to know what you did; they want to know how well you did it. And that’s where highlighting skills and achievements in your CV becomes the game-changer.

Many job seekers fall into the trap of listing their job responsibilities. But here’s the idea: your CV isn’t a job description. It’s a results pitch.

Consider this: “Responsible for managing a sales team” doesn’t have the same impact as “Led a sales team of 8 and increased regional sales by 25% in under 12 months.” The second one is powerful, measurable, and speaks directly to your contribution.

That’s the essence of this guide: it showcases you at your professional best, backed by real impact and value.

The South African Job Market Landscape

Navigating the South African job market can feel like walking through a minefield, especially with high competition across sectors and the growing reliance on digital screening tools. Whether you’re applying for a marketing role in Cape Town or a software engineering job in Johannesburg, the ability to highlight skills and achievements in a CV is non-negotiable.

Recruiters typically spend less than 10 seconds scanning each CV. In that flash of time, they’re looking for two things:

• What can you do? (skills)
• What have you done well? (achievements)

Hiring managers in South Africa, particularly in sectors like finance, IT, retail, and logistics, are pressured to find candidates who can show measurable impact. As a result, your CV must instantly reflect your value proposition, preferably in the form of quantifiable accomplishments.

Why You Must Highlight Skills and Achievements in a CV

Let’s get this straight: employers don’t hire job titles; they hire results.

Anyone can say they’re a team player, but employers want to see how you’ve contributed in a team setting. They don’t just want to know that you’ve used Excel; they want to know how you used it to streamline operations or reduce reporting time.

Your skills and achievements prove you’re capable, adaptable, and results-driven. Highlighting them:

• Shows measurable value
• Builds credibility
• Differentiates you from others with the same experience

Think of your CV as your business pitch. It should answer the question: Why should we hire you over someone else?

Difference Between Skills and Achievements

Although they work together, skills and achievements are not the same:

Example:

• Skill: Project Management
• Achievement: Successfully led a team of 5 developers to deliver a R1.2 million mobile banking app, one month ahead of schedule.

Your goal is to weave your skills and achievements throughout your CV so that it tells a compelling and credible story.

Types of Skills Employers Value in South Africa

Let’s be specific. South African employers are often looking for a combination of:

Hard Skills (Technical/Job-specific):

• Financial forecasting
• UX/UI design
• Legal research
• JavaScript, SQL, Python
• SAP & Sage

Soft Skills (Interpersonal):

• Leadership
• Adaptability
• Emotional intelligence
• Negotiation
• Conflict resolution

Transferable Skills (Useful across jobs):

• Critical thinking
• Time management
• Report writing
• Presentation delivery
• Team coordination

Digital Skills (In-demand):

• Data analytics
• SEO/SEM
• CRM software
• Cloud computing
• Cybersecurity fundamentals

When listing these, ensure you contextualise them with experience or training. For instance, “Proficient in Microsoft Excel” is less impactful than “Used Excel to track and reduce departmental spend by 18% annually.”

How to Identify Your Own Skills

You might be surprised at how many valuable skills you’ve acquired over the years, many of which go unnoticed. Here’s how to dig them out:

Self-Assessment Questions:

• What do colleagues often compliment me on?
• What tools or software do I use daily?
• What problems do I frequently solve at work?
• What have I been asked to train others in?

Try This Exercise: Take your last job and break it down into:

• Tools used
• Tasks performed
• Problems solved
• Positive outcomes achieved

Write these out and categorise them into skills and achievements. Before long, you’ll have a goldmine of bullet points ready to be tailored to your next application.

Using Job Ads as Skill Clues

Here’s a little hack most job seekers overlook: the job ad is your cheat sheet.

Job postings are basically the employer telling you what they care about. If you’re not tailoring your CV to reflect the skills and competencies mentioned there, you’re missing the mark.

Example:

If the job ad says:

“Looking for a results-driven digital marketer with a strong grasp of Google Ads, SEO, and campaign analytics.”

Then your CV should not say:

“Managed social media channels and created content.”

Instead, you want:

“Increased qualified traffic by 32% using Google Ads and SEO strategies; monitored and improved campaign ROI via Google Analytics.”

See the difference? One’s vague. The other’s relevant, direct, and metrics-driven.

Quantifying Achievements

Quantifying achievements is the cornerstone of an impactful CV. Numbers are your best friend. They:

• Build trust
• Show scale
• Prove impact

Whenever possible, use specific figures:

• Rands saved
• Percentage growth
• Number of clients managed
• Time saved
• Revenue increased

Before: “Managed store operations and staff.”
After: “Oversaw daily operations of a R3M/month retail store; managed 12 staff and improved monthly foot traffic by 20%.”

Recruiters love numbers; they cut through fluff and show outcomes. If you can’t quantify the result, at least describe the qualitative value (e.g., “improved team morale”, “enhanced customer satisfaction”).

Achievements vs. Duties

When writing a CV, many people fall into the trap of listing duties instead of achievements. But here’s the kicker: recruiters already know what a role typically entails—they’re hiring for impact, not activities.

Duties Describe Your Job. Achievements Show Your Value.

Let’s look at the difference:

Duty:
“Responsible for managing a social media account.”

Achievement:
“Increased Facebook page engagement by 87% over 3 months through targeted content and analytics-driven scheduling.”

Notice how the second one:

• Shows a result
• Quantifies the impact
• Starts with an action verb
• Feels more credible and memorable

How to Convert Duties into Achievements:

• Ask yourself: “So what?” after every bullet.
• Add numbers: revenue, time saved, people managed, satisfaction score.
• Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Before:
“Handled client complaints.”

After:
“Resolved 90% of client complaints on first contact, improving satisfaction ratings from 3.5 to 4.8 stars.”

By transforming dull responsibilities into vibrant results, you paint a picture of a competent, high-performing candidate—and that’s who gets hired.

Formatting Strategies for Impact

Looks matter, especially on a CV. A poorly structured CV can hide even the strongest achievements.

Here’s how to ensure your formatting works for you, not against you.

Key Formatting Tips:

✅ Use Clear Headings
Divide your CV into sections: Summary, Experience, Achievements, Education, Skills, etc. Use H2 or bold headings to guide the reader’s eye.

✅ Keep It Clean and Minimal
Avoid fancy templates with columns, photos, or icons (unless you’re in design). Use white space and standard fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Georgia.

✅ Use Bullet Points, Not Paragraphs
People scan, not read. Bullet points with one impactful sentence each will outperform long-winded descriptions.

✅ Prioritise Key Info
Put your most relevant experience and skills at the top. Recruiters spend less than 8 seconds scanning your CV—make every second count.

✅ Highlight Key Metrics
Use bolding or slight color emphasis (if appropriate) to draw the eye to numbers, results, and achievements.

Example:

textCopyEditProject Manager | Smart Logistics | Cape Town | 2021–Present
• Reduced delivery delays by 42% by automating warehouse inventory.
• Led team of 12 to implement new ERP system under budget by R500K.

Sleek formatting gives your achievements space to shine—and helps your CV pass both human and machine (ATS) readers.

Power Verbs to Emphasize Achievements

Language is power. And using strong, specific verbs can elevate your accomplishments from bland to brilliant.

Replace Weak Verbs With Power Verbs

Example Rewrite:

Before:
“Worked on new marketing strategy.”

After:
“Implemented a data-driven marketing strategy that increased online leads by 34% in 2 months.”

Pro Tip:

Start every bullet point in your CV with a power verb. It instantly energizes your writing and signals confidence.

How to Highlight Skills in the Professional Summary

The professional summary is your elevator pitch—it lives at the top of your CV and must immediately grab attention.

What to Include:

• Who you are professionally
• Years of experience + industry
• 2–3 key skills that match the job
• One standout achievement or result

Template:

“Experienced financial analyst with 6+ years in budgeting and forecasting. Skilled in SAP and stakeholder communication. Helped reduce corporate overhead by 18% in 2023 through data-led cost analysis.”

Keep it:

• Short (3–4 lines max)
• Tailored to the job
• Backed by evidence

This is prime real estate. Make it count.

How to Use the Experience Section Effectively

This section is your chance to tell your career story, but most people just list job titles and duties.

Better Structure:

Each role should follow this format:

Job Title | Company | City | Years

Then, add 3–5 achievement-focused bullets using this format:

• What was the challenge?
• What did you do?
• What was the result?

Example:

Sales Manager | BizTech SA | Johannesburg | 2020–Present

• Increased B2B client retention by 40% via personalised email campaigns.
• Trained and mentored 7 new reps, resulting in R3.2M in additional revenue.

Stick to action + impact. That’s what sells.

Where to Place Your Achievements

You don’t need a separate section (though you can have one). Instead, spread achievements throughout:

• Summary: 1–2 top highlights
• Experience: Bullet achievements per job
• Skills Section: Add skill-specific wins (e.g., “Excel: Automated reporting saved 10 hours/month”)
• Optional “Achievements” Block: For awards, major wins, sales records, etc.

This keeps your CV impactful from start to finish, instead of stacking all your value in one spot.

Incorporating Keywords for ATS Success

Most South African companies now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter CVs. That means your document needs the right keywords to even be seen by a human.

How to Find Keywords:

• Scan the job ad
• Note repeated terms (e.g., “customer onboarding”, “project lifecycle”, “Python”, “sales KPIs”)
• Use exact phrases

Tips for Optimising with Keywords:

• Use keywords naturally in your summary and experience
• Don’t stuff—1–2 mentions per keyword is enough
• Include both long-form and acronyms (e.g., Search Engine Optimisation (SEO))

Example:

Instead of:

“Worked on digital ads”

Write:

“Planned and optimised Google Ads and Facebook campaigns, improving CTR and ROAS by 27%.”

This improves your relevance score and ensures your CV passes through the bots to the actual hiring manager.

Using Metrics to Validate Your Skills

It’s not enough to say you “did something well.” You need to prove it, and the best way to do that is with metrics. Numbers speak louder than adjectives. They create trust and give employers something to hold onto.

Here’s how to turn a bland statement into a results-driven one:

Before:
Led the customer service team.

After:
Led a 6-person customer service team, increasing first-call resolution rates from 68% to 91% and reducing customer complaints by 35% in 6 months.

Metrics don’t just belong in sales or finance roles. Here’s how other industries can showcase impact:

Tip: If you don’t have access to exact data, estimate conservatively, just make sure it’s realistic and defensible.

Tailoring for Each Application

Here’s the truth: a generic CV is like spam, it gets ignored.

You must tailor your CV to each job you apply for. No, this doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It means strategically tweaking a few key areas:

Customise These Elements:

• Professional Summary: Align your summary with the language and values of the company.
• Skills Section: Highlight the most relevant skills based on the job ad.
• Experience Section: Reorder bullet points to emphasise the most pertinent achievements.
• Job Title (Optional): If your previous title differs from the advertised one but is similar, include both. (e.g., Executive Assistant (Personal Assistant))

Example:

Job ad says:
“Seeking a detail-oriented event coordinator with budgeting experience.”

Your CV should say:
“Coordinated 15+ corporate events with budgets of up to R250K while reducing costs by 18% through strategic vendor negotiations.”

Examples of Skills & Achievements for Various Industries

Here are tailored examples to inspire your CV updates. Use these as models to write your own, not as copy-paste templates.

Admin/Office Support

• Implemented digital calendar system, reducing meeting clashes by 75%.
• Managed executive schedules and coordinated over 400 meetings/year.

Finance/Accounting

• Reduced billing errors by 30% by streamlining invoicing procedures.
• Conducted monthly variance analysis, saving R1.2M in budget leakage.

Marketing & Communications

• Led content strategy that increased organic traffic by 45% in 3 months.
• Grew Instagram followers from 800 to 12,000 with zero ad spend.

Sales & Retail

• Exceeded monthly sales targets by 20%+ for 9 consecutive months.
• Trained 12 sales reps who collectively boosted revenue by R2M.

IT/Tech

• Developed inventory system that cut data retrieval time by 60%.
• Resolved over 200 helpdesk tickets monthly with 98% satisfaction.

Healthcare

• Reduced patient admission times by 40% through digitised triage.
• Spearheaded a vaccination drive, reaching 2,000+ patients in 2 weeks.

The STAR Method for Structuring Examples

Struggling to phrase your achievements? The STAR method makes it easy and impactful.

S = Situation – What was the background?
T = Task – What were you expected to do?
A = Action – What did you do about it?
R = Result – What happened because of your actions?

Example:

• S: Clinic faced patient backlog during peak hours.
• T: Improve patient flow and waiting times.
• A: Introduced a triage nurse system to prioritise urgent cases.
• R: Reduced average waiting time from 65 minutes to 25 minutes.

Use this method in your bullet points or as interview prep; it helps you sound focused and results-driven.

The Role of Certifications and Awards

In many fields, qualifications speak volumes. But certifications and awards are often underutilised, especially in South Africa, where professional development is highly regarded.

Where to Include Them:

• After your skills or education section
• Inside a dedicated “Certifications & Awards” section
• In your summary if they’re high-impact or industry-specific

Examples:

• Certified Digital Marketing Professional – IAB South Africa, 2024
• Top Achiever Award – Liberty Group Call Centre, Q3 2023
• ISO 9001:2015 Internal Auditor – SGS Training, 2022

Tip: Use full names of organisations, don’t assume recruiters will know abbreviations.

Soft Skills That Make a Big Difference

While hard skills get your foot in the door, soft skills often land the job. They showcase how you work and interact, not just what you do.

Top soft skills to emphasise:

• Adaptability
• Problem-solving
• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Communication

Don’t just list them, demonstrate them.

Weak: “Excellent communicator”
Strong: “Facilitated weekly team briefings, improving interdepartmental workflow and reducing delays by 25%”

Technical Skills That Increase Your CV Value

Every industry has its tools, and employers want to see that you know them. Make sure you list relevant technical or digital skills, especially if you’re applying in tech, engineering, design, finance, or healthcare.

Examples by field:

Make sure to indicate your level of proficiency (basic, intermediate, advanced).

Why Less is Sometimes More

It’s tempting to throw every skill and achievement onto your CV. After all, you’ve worked hard to earn them, right?

But here’s the kicker: Too much information can dilute your value.

Recruiters aren’t reading novels; they’re scanning for relevance. A powerful, focused two-page CV will always outperform a cluttered five-pager.

Here’s how to trim the fat:

• Remove outdated or irrelevant roles (e.g., part-time bar jobs from 10 years ago)
• Drop generic phrases like “good team player” unless supported by results
• Avoid listing skills without context or proof

Think quality, not quantity. The goal is to curate, not dump your entire work history.

Mistakes to Avoid When Highlighting Skills

Even seasoned professionals slip up. Here are common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

❌ Using Clichés

Avoid vague phrases like “hardworking”, “self-starter”, or “go-getter.” Instead, show how you exemplify those traits through your achievements.

❌ Lack of Proof

Never claim a skill without evidence. If you say you’re “detail-oriented”, back it up with an example that shows precision.

❌ Not Tailoring

Sending the same CV to every job is lasy, and recruiters can tell.

❌ Passive Voice

Use active, energetic language. “Reports were written by me” sounds weak. “Wrote monthly reports used in executive planning” is stronger.

❌ Forgetting ATS Rules

Avoid text in images, tables that break formatting, or overly designed templates that confuse Applicant Tracking Systems.

Should You Include Testimonials or Endorsements?

Short answer: Yes, but sparingly.

If you’ve received praise from a manager, client, or stakeholder, it can make a powerful impression.

Example (on the second page or sidebar):

“Noluthando’s leadership turned our underperforming branch into the top revenue driver in Gauteng.” – Regional Manager, XYZ Group

Tip: Keep it short, relevant, and specific. Or link to your LinkedIn recommendations.

Using LinkedIn to Reinforce Your CV

Think of LinkedIn as the digital extension of your CV. South African recruiters often search LinkedIn before even calling a candidate.

Make sure your LinkedIn:

• Mirrors your CV’s structure
• Contains endorsements for key skills
• Includes a professional headshot
• Has a keyword-optimised headline (e.g., “Operations Manager | Lean Six Sigma | Cost Reduction Specialist”)

Bonus: Add media (project samples, presentations, awards) to stand out.

Pro Tip: Always include your custom LinkedIn URL on your CV.

How to Make Your CV ATS-Compatible

To pass the gatekeepers (ATS bots), follow these golden rules:

• Use standard fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman)

• Avoid graphics, tables, and fancy headers

• Spell out acronyms on first use (e.g., “Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)”)

• Save and send your CV as a .docx or PDF (if accepted)

• Include keywords from the job posting organically

ATS can’t appreciate design, but it understands structure and keywords.

Final CV Checklist Before Sending

Before you hit “submit,” ask yourself:

• Have I tailored this CV to the job ad?
• Are my top achievements bold and quantified?
• Is the layout clean and easy to scan?
• Are all skills backed by context or examples?
• Have I checked grammar, spelling, and formatting?
• Is the file name professional? (e.g., John_Dube_CV_MarketingManager.pdf)

You only get one shot to impress. Make it count.

Sample CV Snippets for Reference

Here are a few lines you can model for your own industry:

Admin Example:

• Implemented digital scheduling system, cutting meeting conflicts by 70%.

IT Example:

• Designed cloud-based backup protocol, reducing data loss incidents to zero.

Sales Example:

• Grew customer base by 300 clients in 12 months through cold calling and referrals.

Education Example:

• Boosted final-year student pass rate from 78% to 93% via blended learning approach.

FAQs About Highlighting Skills and Achievements

What if I don’t have any quantifiable achievements?
Use qualitative ones. Think about improvements in processes, client feedback, or responsibilities you took on that others didn’t.

Can I include volunteer or freelance work?
Absolutely. As long as it’s relevant and shows skills or achievements, it counts.

How long should my CV be in South Africa?
Ideally, 1–2 pages. For executives or specialists, 3 pages max.

What file format should I use?
PDF is safest, unless the job ad says otherwise.

Should I include references?
Write “Available upon request” or save it for the interview stage.

How do I deal with employment gaps?
Be honest. Focus on skills gained during the gap (freelancing, study, caregiving, etc.)

Conclusion: Turning Your CV Into a Selling Tool

Your CV is your personal billboard. If it’s packed with generic phrases, duties without achievements, and cluttered formatting, it will fade into the background.

But when you intentionally highlight skills and achievements in a CV, tailor it with keywords, back it with results, and present it professionally, you stand out. You move from being an applicant to a solution. And that’s what employers hire.

In South Africa’s competitive market, this can be the difference between silence and success.