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How to Quantify Achievement Stories
When hiring managers, recruiters, and staffing firms see a resume or LinkedIn profile or attend an interview with verbiage but no numbers, they don’t know what those words mean.
In fact, they know next to nothing until you add the numbers that explain the impact of your work. Here’s how you can resolve this issue.
Work With Finance
Sometimes the impact of our work is not always clear. At times like this, reaching out to one of your friends in the Finance Department can be very helpful. Finance has access to numbers that are not always readily available to other departments.
If you’re no longer with the company, explain to the Finance associate that the numbers he provides could make the difference in determining whether you land another position.
Using a Range
Per Lily Zhang of the Muse, one reason job seekers avoid quantifying is not knowing the exact number. Lily suggests using a range. Using my work experience, here’s what that means:
Before: Chaired weekly product manager meeting.
After: Chaired weekly meeting with 7 to 12 product managers so plans could be discussed and coordinated. Confusion and rework were eliminated.
Frequency
Lily shared that one of the easiest ways to add numbers is to identify the frequency with which you perform a given task. This can help the hiring manager understand how much you can handle. For example:
Before: Responded to pricing requests from the Sales Force.
After: Responded to 15 to 20 pricing requests from the Sales Force on a daily basis.
Scale
Everyone on the hiring side of the business loves when candidates provide numbers, because numbers explain the impact of what you’ve done.
The most meaningful numbers are those associated with making money, saving money, and driving productivity. Here are a couple examples from my work experience:
Before: Reduced time to perform Operations Manager’s role; after analysis showed tasks could be batched and performed at the end of the month.
After: Reduced time to perform Operations Manager role by 66%; after analysis showed tasks could be batched and performed at the end of the month. Asked Director if I could take on the responsibilities of employees who were laid off.
Before: Analysis revealed misconfigured offers; worked with other departments to correct errors. Implemented process to prevent future errors.
After: Analysis revealed misconfigured offers; worked with other departments to correct errors. Recognized $7.2M. Implemented process to prevent future errors.
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