Most job seekers confuse accomplishments with responsibilities. Metrics underline accomplishments and make waves with HR and the decision-makers on your application.
Key Concepts Covered
1. Getting Started With Metrics
When job hunting, you need to look for some of the things that will make your application always stand out. One of the ways to stand out from other applicants is to include your measurable accomplishments or achievements.
Unfortunately, most job seekers confuse between accomplishments and responsibilities. So they end up listing their job responsibilities instead of accomplishments on their ATS resume. So in this post, we dig deep to walk you through how you can quantify your success on your resume.
2. Why Should I Add Measurable Accomplishments?
There is every reason why you should add accomplishments on your resume, but why? Below are some of the reasons why adding measurable accomplishments will make your resume stand out:
A. Numbers Build Credibility
Including accomplishments with numbers quickly builds your credibility. It shows recruiters that you have tracked your success, and you can account for whatever achievements you have had in the past. However, you must make sure that the numbers you include on your resume are real and not cooked figures.
B. Numbers Mean A Lot to Recruiters
Numbers justify what may seem like an opinion; they tend to make people believe what you say. For example, it would be an opinion to say that you have won many environmental awards. However, it would be more convincing to state that you have won specific environmental awards 3 times in 2017, 2019, and 2020.
C. Numbers Have a Greater Impact
Numbers can have a more significant impact on your resume because metrics are usually the language in business. When you include measurable accomplishments in your resume, your application quickly gets the attention of the recruiters.
Now that you know why measurable accomplishments are essential let’s look at ways to add them to your resume.
3. How Can I Add Measurable Achievements To My Resume?
1. Quantify Your Accomplishments
Every job seeker can include their resume accomplishments, but what makes each unique is whether you quantify those achievements. Recruiters want to see substantial results; they want you to make them believe whatever you say is true. If you’ve worked with different companies overseas, how many are they, which years, by what percentage did you increase their ROI?
By including numbers in your accomplishments, you tell recruiters that you are results-oriented and keep tracking whatever you do.
For example, compare these two statements to determine which one will have a more significant impact – “I increase company X organic traffic,” and “I increased company X organic traffic by 223%.” It is easier to believe the second statement than the first.
2. Use the PAR Method
Have you ever heard about the PAR method? Well, the PAR method stands for problem, action, and results. This formula has been proven to work, with most job seekers getting positive results using this method. Let’s break down what the PAR method means in detail:
Problem: Find out any problem you and your colleagues are facing in the workplace.
Action: Brainstorm ways you can help in solving the specific problem at hand.
Results: Track what results came from the action that you took to solve the problem.
It seems quite complicated to implement this, but you just don’t realize how easy it can be. For example, see how you can use the PAR method in only one sentence:
I created SEO engineered content, generating 341% more sales and saving them $5,000 every month of paid traffic.
I came up with a new risk management plan, saving the company $3 million lost every year due to natural calamities.
You will notice that the PAR method is quite simple to use and that the problem, action, and result does not need to come in order. As long as all the three are within one sentence, then that is just fine.
3. Use Action Verbs
Action verbs put your accomplishments in motion. That is why you need to be very cautious with every word you use at the beginning of your work experiences. Include action verbs that create an impact on the reader.
For example, it would be much better to replace words like “Worked on design projects that made it easier to teach preschoolers” with words like “Designed artwork books for preschoolers.” Likewise, you may also want to avoid words that start with “responsible for” with words, such as “managed.”
The above three methods should help you include measurable accomplishments in your resume, but how do you quantify these accomplishments? Let’s look at some questions regarding percentages, dollar amount, and time you can ask yourself.
4. How Do I Quantify My Achievements?
A. Percentage Terms
Did you increase organic traffic? By what percentage and how?
Did you help boost the productivity of your juniors? By what percentage?
Did you ever take part in recruiting, and how many employees did you manage?
B. Hard Dollar Amounts
Did you ever work with any proposed dollar amount as a budget?
Did you increase sales by a specific dollar amount?
Did you come up with a solution that saved the company a specific dollar amount?
C. Time
Did you speed up the delivery of specific goods and by what specific time?
Were you able to complete a specific task or role in a specified time?
Did you manage to increase the sales of your company? And by what time-frame?
These are some examples where you can quantify your achievements. But what if we showed you some specific industry examples?
5. Resume Achievement Examples By Industry
A. Nursing
Providing quality care to your patients – up to 30 patients/ day.
Oriented and trained 15 new nurses to achieve professional expertise.
B. Teaching
Improved students’ scores in English by 46%.
Elevated 3 students considered poor and won the best teacher award.
C. Accounting
Managed a $500,000 budget, reducing the total costs by 20% in one year.
Trained 3 new employees to help them achieve better results for the company.
D. Information Technology
Designed a new ticketing system that improved customer communication by 10%.
Developed a procurement software that helped reduce costs by 56%
6. To Summarize
From all these examples we have provided, we are sure that using metrics to quantify your success is easier than you thought. And of course, we believe that you now can differentiate between achievements and roles or responsibilities.
Overall, add numbers to any accomplishment you and you are better off than where you started.
