Getting your player ready...
Suppose you’re a hiring
manager looking at resumes.
Which of the following statements
would impress you
more? Wrote news releases. Wrote 25 news releases
in a three-week period under
daily deadlines. Clearly, the second statement
carries more weight.
Why? Because it uses numbers
to quantify the writer’s accomplishment,
giving it a context
that helps the interviewer
understand the degree of difficulty
involved in the task. Numbers are powerful
resume tools that will help
your accomplishments get the
attention they deserve from
prospective employers. With
just a little thought, you can
find effective ways to quantify
your successes on your resume. Here are a few suggestions: Think money.
Organizations are and always
will be concerned about
money. So as you contemplate
your accomplishments
and prepare to present them
on your resume, think about
ways you’ve saved, earned
or managed money in your
internships, part-time jobs and
extracurricular activities so far. A few possibilities that might
appear on a typical resume: Identified, researched and
recommended a new Internet
service provider, cutting online
costs by 15 percent.
Wrote prospect letter that
has brought in more than
$25,000 in donations so far. Managed a student organization
budget of more than
$7,000. Think time. You’ve
heard the old saying, “Time
is money,” and it’s true.
Companies and organizations
are constantly looking for ways
to save time and do things
more efficiently. They’re also
necessarily concerned about
meeting deadlines, both internal
and external. So whatever
you can do on your resume to
show that you can save time,
make time or manage time will
grab your reader’s immediate
attention. Here are some timeoriented
entries that might
appear on a typical resume: Assisted with twicemonthly
payroll activities,
ensuring employees were paid
as expected and on time.
Suggested procedures that
decreased average order-processing
time from 10 minutes
to five minutes. Think amounts. It’s very
easy to neglect mentioning
how much or how many of
something you’ve produced or
overseen. There’s a tendency
instead to simply pluralize your
accomplishments – e.g., “wrote
news releases” or “developed
lesson plans” – without including
important specifics — e.g.,
“wrote 25 news releases” or
“developed lesson plans for two
classes of 20 students each.”
Don’t fall into the trap of
excluding numbers. Instead,
include amounts, like these: Recruited 25 members for
a new student environmental
organization. Trained five new employees
on operations procedures. Created process that bolstered
production 25 percent The more you focus on
money, time and amounts in
relation to your accomplishments,
the better you’ll present
your successes and highlight
your potential – and the
more you’ll realize just how
much you really have to offer
prospective employers. Add
it all up, and you’ll see that
playing the numbers game is
yet another way to convince
employers that you should be a
part of their equation for success.
manager looking at resumes.
Which of the following statements
would impress you
more? Wrote news releases. Wrote 25 news releases
in a three-week period under
daily deadlines. Clearly, the second statement
carries more weight.
Why? Because it uses numbers
to quantify the writer’s accomplishment,
giving it a context
that helps the interviewer
understand the degree of difficulty
involved in the task. Numbers are powerful
resume tools that will help
your accomplishments get the
attention they deserve from
prospective employers. With
just a little thought, you can
find effective ways to quantify
your successes on your resume. Here are a few suggestions: Think money.
Organizations are and always
will be concerned about
money. So as you contemplate
your accomplishments
and prepare to present them
on your resume, think about
ways you’ve saved, earned
or managed money in your
internships, part-time jobs and
extracurricular activities so far. A few possibilities that might
appear on a typical resume: Identified, researched and
recommended a new Internet
service provider, cutting online
costs by 15 percent.
has brought in more than
$25,000 in donations so far. Managed a student organization
budget of more than
$7,000. Think time. You’ve
heard the old saying, “Time
is money,” and it’s true.
Companies and organizations
are constantly looking for ways
to save time and do things
more efficiently. They’re also
necessarily concerned about
meeting deadlines, both internal
and external. So whatever
you can do on your resume to
show that you can save time,
make time or manage time will
grab your reader’s immediate
attention. Here are some timeoriented
entries that might
appear on a typical resume: Assisted with twicemonthly
payroll activities,
ensuring employees were paid
as expected and on time.
decreased average order-processing
time from 10 minutes
to five minutes. Think amounts. It’s very
easy to neglect mentioning
how much or how many of
something you’ve produced or
overseen. There’s a tendency
instead to simply pluralize your
accomplishments – e.g., “wrote
news releases” or “developed
lesson plans” – without including
important specifics — e.g.,
“wrote 25 news releases” or
“developed lesson plans for two
classes of 20 students each.”
Don’t fall into the trap of
excluding numbers. Instead,
include amounts, like these: Recruited 25 members for
a new student environmental
organization. Trained five new employees
on operations procedures. Created process that bolstered
production 25 percent The more you focus on
money, time and amounts in
relation to your accomplishments,
the better you’ll present
your successes and highlight
your potential – and the
more you’ll realize just how
much you really have to offer
prospective employers. Add
it all up, and you’ll see that
playing the numbers game is
yet another way to convince
employers that you should be a
part of their equation for success.
