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Employers are interested in three things:
1) How can you make the company money?
2) How can you save the company money?
3) How can you add to the brand/How can you
provide customer service?
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As such, it's important for job hunters to
answer these questions on their resumes.
A sure-fire way to do this is by quantifying your results. Doing so will also give you the credit
you're due (see
our post on bullets).
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Why is quantifying so effective? People love numbers. Consider how many magazine and newspaper
articles you've seen along the lines of "The 9 Best Ways to
Save..." or "The Top 3 Ways to Find..."
People love numbers. And, despite contrary opinions, hiring
managers are people, too. Hook them
with numbers. Here's how:
Percentages vs. Dollars. If you've
reduced waste, increased revenue or measurably improved anything (and you
have the numbers), make it a bullet on your resume. For instance:
"Streamlined client registration process, thereby reducing
man-hours needed by 35%..."
In this example, a positive result was shown with
a monetary savings percentage.
Percentages are useful if the amount is less
impressive than the dollar figure.
If, using the above example, the actual savings was, say, $25, then the percentage is more impressive. Conversely, if the percentage was a mere
3%, but that represents a savings of, say, $749,000, then list the dollar
amount.
Highlighting Positive Revenue. The list
above - about the three most important things to employers - is in order of
importance; making money is most important.
Hook them by showing how your actions generated money more so than
saving money or adding to the company brand. They are all important, to be sure, but
incoming funds are Number One.
A good ratio to use is 3:2:1. That is, for every one branding/customer
service statement, you should show two ways that you saved money and three
ways you generated revenue. Of
course, some occupations make it difficult to keep to this formula, but
it's a good rule of thumb, so long as you keep in mind every rule has
wiggle room.
If You Don't Have Figures. Many job
hunters don't have concrete figures, which makes quantification difficult -
but not impossible. Estimates are
acceptable, so long as you're using valid variables and you can show how
you came up with the figures.
If, for example, you want to show how much money
you saved the company in man-hours, estimate the variables. Do you know roughly how much the people
in that department earned? Do you
know how many hours of work this saved?
Great! Then it's simple
multiplication. In this case, you
could write "...by nearly $2,360..." Here, you're supplying a valid number,
but by using the clarifier "nearly," you let the reader know it's
an estimate.
IN THE CARAVAN: Quantify the results of your actions whenever possible by using either
dollar amounts or percentages.
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bSafari.c
The Lion’s Pride: Resumes
