“What is your greatest professional achievement?” invites you to sell yourself, which many people find uncomfortable. For neurodivergent candidates there can be extra hurdles: a CV with gaps, a career that hasn’t followed a straight line, or a habit of playing down your own successes. None of that rules you out of a strong answer. This guide covers why employers ask the question and how to find an achievement worth talking about.
Why employers ask this question
Interviewers want to see what you count as success, how you go about reaching a goal, and what you learn along the way. Your answer gives them a picture of your skills in action, your motivation and how well you know yourself.
The achievement doesn’t have to be the biggest thing you’ve ever done. It needs to be real, relevant and clearly told.
How to prepare your answer
List more than you think you have
Write down everything you’ve done that you’re proud of, from paid work, study, volunteering, caring responsibilities, freelance projects or personal goals. If you have gaps in your employment history, this is a good place to draw on what you did during them. You’ll probably find more than you expected.
Pick one that fits the role
Compare your list with the job description. Choose an example that shows skills the employer clearly wants, such as problem-solving, teamwork, attention to detail or learning something new quickly.
Count the less obvious wins
Achievements aren’t only promotions and awards. Finishing a complex project, fixing a process that wasted everyone’s time, getting great feedback from a client or teaching yourself a new tool all count. So does building a way of working that suits how your brain works, if you can show the result it produced.
Structure it
The STAR method (situation, task, action, result) keeps your story tight. Spend most of your time on the action and the result, and use numbers where you can.
An example answer
“In my last role, our team moved to a new project management system and nobody had used it before. I spent a couple of weeks learning it in depth through online courses and practice, then wrote a short how-to guide and ran drop-in sessions for colleagues. Within a month the whole team was using it, and we cut the time spent chasing updates in meetings. I’m proud of it because I spotted a problem, learned what I needed to solve it, and made life easier for everyone else too.”
Notice that the example is specific, shows initiative and ends with a clear result. Yours will look different, and it should.
Getting the conditions right
If a standard interview format makes it hard to show what you can do, you can ask for reasonable adjustments, such as questions in advance or a quieter room. Acas guidance confirms employers must make reasonable adjustments for job applicants. For more on preparing, read our interview guide for neurodivergent jobseekers.
More interview preparation
Next in the series: how to answer “Do you prefer to work independently or as part of a team?” and how to talk about your strengths and weaknesses.
How Enna can help
Once your achievements are ready to talk about, make sure they’re on your CV too. Our CV guidance can help with that. Then look for your next role on the Enna jobs board, where employers are actively looking for neurodivergent talent, or set up job alerts so you don’t miss a match.
