Contributed by: Tracy L. Lube

How to Quantify Your Resume Accomplishments

Do you want to stand out among your peers, get noticed, and land the interview?

1. Introduction

2. Identifying Your Accomplishments

3. Example Identification

4. High Impact Statement

5. Qualitative Accomplishments

6. Wrap Up

7. Summary

8. Additional Helpful Links

9. Hire Our Heroes

10. Make A Difference

A resume should not list your daily responsibilities for each career you held, rather your quantifiable achievements. So, what are quantifiable achievements/accomplishments? This means being able to apply numbers to what you actually do for your place of employment.

Quantifiable Examples

• Percentage

• Revenue/savings

• Time

• Number of sales, customers, projects, products, incoming calls handled, etc.

• Performance driven and measurable

Set aside ample time to sit down, brainstorm, and write out your accomplishments, crafting the all encompassing resume is work and takes commitment.

An easy way to do that is to make a list of the job requirements on the left side of the page. Then make a list of your qualifications on the right side of the page. Match your qualifications to the requirements and include the most relevant to the particular job posting you want to apply to.

IMPORTANT: You must tailor your accomplishments to the position being applied for. This means showing how your achievements match directly to the requirements and job description of the job you're seeking. Companies today are looking for the “perfect fit”.

The example is one of my accomplishments from when I was an educator. Start by thinking about what your job title means and what it is you go to work to achieve everyday. “What is it all about”? As a teacher I thought about developing student excellence by innovative means to capture their attention and have students learn not memorize, additionally making a positive difference in their lives.

Next step is to list the areas within your job, that accomplishments can be achieved. These can be developed from the “job responsibilities” list you created. My areas of focus would include; curriculum and instruction program development, web-based programs and teaching tools, committee boards, student activities, annual classroom budget and resources, training and development of other staff, client relationships, career development, and measurement of student performance. There are many more that can be evaluated as a teacher, but this gives you the point.

I then wrote down accomplishments from these focus areas and what I was involved in through out my teaching career. Think about situations and projects that gave your career meaning. Ask questions like the following:

• How did you efficiently manage others?

• In what decision making or planning did you participate?

• What problems did you identify and solve?

• What new program, product or system did you introduce?

• How did you save the company money or time? How much?

Once you have completed this list then identify what you think are your top 5 accomplishments and do some brainstorming about them. Follow up with developing high impact statements.

“High Impact statements identify specific skills, traits, or values that strengthen your resume and begin with a powerful verb specifically related to the result.”

Brainstorming Accomplishment

My Situation: I was being deployed overseas for several months and my class was going to be closed because of the short notice and inability to find a licensed teacher for my class in order for the students to achieve the 18 credits for the year. I could not let my students lose credit for an entire year, this would hold them back a year from graduating.

My Action: Here was a great opportunity to be innovative, provide a first ever for high school students at this time, and build a web-based program. I used moodle open source software and built a full course curriculum online in 2 weeks to be approved by the Board of Education and would utilize Skype once a week to check in live with each class.

My Results: All students earned credit, the online course worked without technical issues, and while deployed because I was teaching and achieving my military objectives that resulted in successful missions, I was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal.

High-Impact Resume Accomplishment Statement

“Spearheaded, designed, and launched a successful online teaching module for the graphics curriculum, engaging students and enhancing learning while deployed to a remote location on active duty.”

Quantify the High-Impact Accomplishment Statement

“Spearheaded, designed, and launched a successful online teaching module for the 9-12 grade graphics curriculum course, engaging 62 students and enhancing learning by 30%, while deployed four monthson active duty.”

The end result is a high impact, quantified accomplishment that demonstrates what you did, how you did it, and what the results were.

At the end of this article I have included some helpful links, one with a worksheet to help in identifying quantifying accomplishments.

Don’t forget the qualitative accomplishments either. Qualitative situations may include:

• Intense competition,• Working under pressures,• Difficult work conditions,• Taking on additional responsibilities,• Initiative-based,• Action-backed,• Goal-oriented, etc.,

Demonstrate how you were successful in these situations. Asking some questions will help you uncover those accomplishments. Example questions may be; what made you great at your job? What did you accomplish in this job that someone else might not have? Did you make any improvements?

How Do You Stack Up

Against The Competition

Competing in today’s job market is challenging and demands you to stand out from the rest. Demonstrating why and how you are the stand out will land you an interview. Start by quantifying your accomplishments to show, rather than tell!

If you find yourself having a hard time quantifying an accomplishment, just remember to ask How Many, How Much, How Often, and How. Once you have quantified your top accomplishments, review your statements and make sure they show how you achieved them.

For example: “Analyzed and improved an automated Aircraft Tracking Program through identifying process fault trends within one week’s time, increasing mission success rates by 35%.”

What I did: Analyzed & improved an automated aircraft tracking program.

How: By identifying fault trends

Quantified: 1 week’s time and by 35%

Result: Improved the tracking program and helped increase mission success rates.

• Ask questions

• Identify accomplishments

• Brainstorm those accomplishments identified

• Create high-impact statements from your brainstorming statements

• Quantify your statements

• Qualify the accomplishments

• When lacking quantifiable accomplishments reinforce with qualitative

• Review and proofread

If you enjoyed the post, please click share and the thumbs up icon above and let me know!

Excellent Quantifying Worksheet by Write Content Solutions

A few good Do’s & Don’ts courtesy of the Robert Half Company

Great resource for additional examples of Quantifiable Accomplishments and a complete list of the 10 Resume Writing Commandments

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