List Measurable Accomplishments, Not Just Responsibilities on Your Resume
Simply listing your past job responsibilities on your resume is just as helpful for the hiring manager as recognizing that you are well versed in the Microsoft Office Suite. Employers these days expect to see measured results.
“The lack of measurements and results on file is my biggest pet peeve on a resume,” executive resume writer and career strategist Adrienne Thom told Business Insider . “Without any measure of success, the file has no proof of skill.”
As I wrote earlier , listing success metrics, not just your responsibilities, will “show your employer the results of the work you’ve done,” which is more valuable than mentioning that you’ve had a job before. “For example, in the Responsibilities section of a resume,“ writing press releases ”is fine, but“ writing 10 press releases a week ”is much more impressive,” Julia Gaynor writes for Monster.com .
So how do you know what to include? “The easiest way to find ways to quantify your accomplishments is to look at how you directly affected the money, time and people of the company,” Gaynor writes. Here are some examples of shapes from LiveCareer that you can include:
- Sales volume, number of units / units sold
- Contracts / bids won
- Increased profitability
- Increase in shareholder value
- Number of clients served
- Number of direct subordinates, number of managed
- Number of people you hire
- The size of the teams you led
- Number of times selected as team or project leader
- Your place in the ranking by performance; for example, you are the # 1 performer or in the top 10%
- Number of awards
- Number of publications
- Number of successful grant applications
If you find it difficult to come up with numbers, look at your calendar, notebook, achievement box, or wherever you track your achievements for specific examples.
More Tips
When you have your markers, make sure you provide context. You might say you made $ 1 million in sales, but what does that mean? What were the sales before you were hired? Detailing this information will give your resume a boost.
And number ranges are usually good if you don’t have exact numbers, if you can prove your accomplishments in an interview. For example, as reported by The Muse , “In charge of guiding research students” can easily turn into “Every year under the supervision of 7-12 research students who have since enrolled in graduate studies in astrophysics, physics or mathematics.”
In addition, you should add specific customers and keywords. For example, you might say, “Marketing campaign to Nike and other brand customers,” rather than just “Marketing campaign to brand customers.”
And if you’re redesigning your resume as part of your spring financial setup , here are some more tips to keep in mind .