3 Things Every Resume Should Have

If you want to make a difference on your resume, a real difference, make sure to include these three things. The items I’m talking about are these: #, $, %.

The symbols don’t have to be on there but what they represent should. Not every resume will have them, although you need to keep these items in mind when you’re writing your resume because they can make a significant difference in how it’s viewed and perceived. Let’s take a look at them.

Numbers, Percentages, and Dollars

You want to make sure you include numbers on your resume, especially when citing accomplishments. What do I mean by this? It’s simple.

You don’t say:

• Increased sales. You don’t even say, increased sales by 20%, even though that’s better.
• Significantly cut manufacturing costs and improved yields.
• Number 1 sales rep in region.
• Brought product in under budget and ahead of schedule.

It’s much better to list it like this:

• Increased sales by 20%, from $12m to almost $15m in one year.
• Cut manufacturing costs by 25%, producing a yearly savings of more than $3m, while increasing yields from 92% to 96%.
• Number 1 sales rep in region (out of 19 reps).
• Brought product in 10% under budget and 2 months ahead of schedule, saving company $240k.

Quantify

When you quantify your accomplishments, you put things in perspective, allowing the gatekeeper to relate to what you did. If the company you’re applying to has a sales rep position open and the region it covers is responsible for $6 million in sales, she can see the effect you might have based on what you did with a $12m region.

If they are having problems with yields and haven’t been able to tweak it past 90%, now they see you’ve done that. It might be easy for someone to go from 60% to 80%, but as you improve it becomes more difficult to tweak it further. This puts it in perspective for them.

When you say you were #1 sales rep, unless you quantify it, the gatekeeper might assume you were #1 out of 2. Don’t make them guess or assume, show them where you ranked. Same goes for budget and launch schedules, and anything else.

Bottom Line

Look at every accomplishment and see if you can quantify it. If you can—do it. You’ll help your cause greatly. If a gatekeeper is reading two resumes and one is full of quantifiable results and the other isn’t, I think you know which one she’ll set aside to call for an interview and which one will go in a “to be reviewed” pile, or in the trash.

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Tags: accomplishments, Résumé, resume tips