It’s all about the numbers. If you’re looking for the best way to make your resume stand out, highlighting your accomplishments by quantifying them with statistics will help. Here’s an example of what we mean:
- Wrote blogs, sales brochures, web copy and other content.
- Was responsible for four 1,000 word blogs, two podcasts and one sales brochure each month, along with updating the website content each quarter.
Can you take a stab at which of those sentences seems more impressive?
Hiring Managers are looking for things that will put your resume on the top of the pile. Using numbers to show the level of output, difficulty or skill involved will help others understand your skill set.
Quantifying Your Efforts
We’ve seen thousands of resumes and know all the tricks in the book for creating a better job search document. Some of the techniques we've seen don’t work well, while others work every single time. Using numbers in your resume consistently adds an impact no matter what industry you’re in.
You can use the numbers in three primary ways:
- To highlight a dollar amount
- To show time
- To establish an amount or value
Let’s break these out a little more and give you some examples of what we mean.
First, talking about money will always get the attention of human resource professionals.
Companies are continuously looking to save or make more money, so ask yourself how your accomplishments hit upon these two important areas. Here are two examples:
- Was responsible for a $100,000 monthly quota. Exceeded that quota by 10 percent or higher every month with an average account size of $8,000.
- Researched and recommended a new content management platform that streamlined efficiencies and saved the organization an average of $75,000 annually.
Second, we’re all looking for ways to save time, so when it happens it’s pretty impressive.
What would you think of a candidate who placed these sentences on his or her resume?
- Improved workflow efficiencies by consolidating two departments, decreasing the time between the initial statement of work and final deliverable by five days.
- Suggested and implemented new order processing procedures that improved customer retention by 10 percent.
Pretty impressive, right? You're hired!
Third, generally quantifying an amount is a great way to highlight your accomplishments.
Instead of saying “Recruited UX Designer for small marketing firms,” say “Successfully recruited an average of two UX Designers for six months consecutively.”
Here are some other examples:
- Increased social media presence by adding 5,500 LinkedIn contacts, 2,500 Facebook friends, and 3,300 Twitter followers.
- Provided elbow-to-elbow support to 25 physicians each month during routine super user training.
Are you starting to get the picture? Of course, if you’re in sales, you already understand the value of numbers. But this technique can be applied to any industry. Using the numbers just has a way of making you more impressive while painting a more understandable picture of the contribution you’ve made.
Artisan Talent By the Numbers
You know Artisan Talent. We’ve been around since 1988 (almost 30 years) and placed thousands of creative candidates in short- and long-term roles for more than a decade.
We offer a complimentary discussion for both job seekers and businesses looking for talent. Contact our talented team to find out more resume tips —and how we can help you achieve your personal and professional goals.
