Quantifying your Accomplishments – Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]

                                 SHARED FROM ARTICLE BY LASZLO BOCK, HR, GOOGLE How do you make your accomplishments stand out? There’s a simple formula. Every one...


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                                 SHARED FROM ARTICLE BY LASZLO BOCK, HR, GOOGLE

How do you make your accomplishments stand out? There’s a simple formula. Every one of your accomplishments should be presented as:

Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]

In other words, start with an active verb, numerically measure what you accomplished, provide a baseline for comparison, and detail what you did to achieve your goal. Consider the following two descriptions of the same work, and ask yourself which would look better on a resume:

  1. Studied financial performance of companies and made investment recommendations
  2. Improved portfolio performance by 12% ($1.2M) over one year by refining cost of capital calculations for information-poor markets and re-weighting portfolio based on resulting valuations

The addition of the “12% improvement” makes the statement more powerful. Adding “($1.2M)” anticipates the reviewer’s question about whether 12% is a big deal or not. If you improved investment results by 12%, but that meant going from $100 to $112, that’s not too impressive. But adding $1.2M to the starting portfolio value of $10 million is huge. Explaining how you did it adds credibility and gives insight into your strengths.

Several examples inspired by actual resumes will show you what I mean. The first bullet is typical: not bad, but certain not to stand out. The second is a much better version of a similar accomplishment from a different resume. My own suggestions are in italics.

College student who is a leader in her sorority

  • Managed sorority budget
  • Managed $31,000 Spring 2014 budget and invested idle funds in appropriate high-yielding capital notes
  • Managed $31,000 Spring 2014 budget and invested $10,000 in idle funds in appropriate high-yielding capital notes returning 5% over the year

College student participating in a leadership program

  • Member of Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT)
  • Selected as one of 230 for this 18-month professional development program for high-achieving diverse talent
  • Selected as one of 230 participants nationwide for this 18-month professional development program for high-achieving diverse talent based on leadership potential, ability to contribute to this MLT cohort, and academic success

Finance or consulting professional

  • Responsible for negotiating service contracts with XYZ
  • Negotiated 30% ($500k) reduction in costs with XYZ to perform post-delivery support
  • Negotiated 30% ($500k) reduction in costs with XYZ to perform post-delivery support by designing and using results from an online auction of multiple vendors

 Sales support associate

  • Achieved annual business plan commitments for volumes, model mix, wholesale revenue, selling expenses and brand
  • As a team member, contributed to 21% increase in advertiser spend by achieving 158% of target number of customer contacts (80 contacts per week)and 192% of target interaction depth (20 minutes per customer)

 Candidate with skill-based resume

  • Skills: Excellent customer service skills. Friendly and positive attitude
  • Skills: Excellent customer service skills and positive attitude as demonstrated by receiving employee of the month in four consecutive months in 2014

 Logistics expert

  • Reduce cost of goods sold strategy: Five years of line and supply chain management experience at XYZ distribution centers and managing outsourced third-party logistics providers
  • Achieved 30% logistics cost savings by reducing returns, use of overtime, excess and obsolete inventory and targeted outsourcing
  • Achieved 30% logistics cost savings ($900k) over five years by reducing returns (-8%), use of overtime (-7%)and excess and obsolete inventory(-5%), and through targeted outsourcing (-10%)

 Marketing manager

  • Studied the branding and marketing strategies of XYZ. Analyzed the pricing strategies of XYZ in comparison to competitors
  • Led cross-functional 10-member team to develop and implement global advertising strategy for $X million XYZ brand
  • Led cross-functional 10-member team to develop and implement global advertising strategy for $X million XYZ brand resulting in 25-point increase in brand recall, 12% improvement in net promoter score, and contributing to 18% year-over-year sales improvement ($XM)

 Veteran transitioning to the civilian sector

  • Worked as a trainer with deploying units to ready their medical personnel for combat action and trauma medicine
  • One of three officers selected to lead comprehensive redesign of the XYZ training program for X,000 Marines and sailors, increasing measured unit proficiency by 20% [This one is great — I wouldn’t change a thing!]

 You might feel like it’s hard to measure your work, but there is almost always something you can point to that differentiates you from others. Back when I was a waiting tables at the Olive Garden, I would have written, “Exhibited the spirit of Hospitaliano by achieving 120% of dessert sales targets (compared to an average of 98%) and averaging 26% in tips per night.”

Well, maybe I wouldn’t have mentioned the Hospitaliano….

And even if your accomplishments don’t seem that impressive to you, recruiters will nevertheless love the specificity. “Served 85 customers per day with 100% accuracy” sounds good, even if the customers are people you rang up at a grocery store. It’s even more impressive if you can add, “…compared to an average of 70 customers at 90% accuracy for my peers.” Providing data helps. Making it meaningful with a comparison helps even more.

See link to original article – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140929001534-24454816-my-personal-formula-for-a-better-resume?trk=mp-reader-card

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