In today’s competitive job market, it’s not enough to simply list your past roles and responsibilities, no matter how impressive they may be.
If you want to stand out, you need to go a step further. Employers want to see not only what you can do but also how you can add real value to their business, and this requires hard facts and figures.
Research has shown that including numbers on your résumé can increase your chances of landing an interview by as much as 40%.
As such, you need to leverage metrics throughout your application to demonstrate your key skills and achievements. Here are five steps to effectively harness data on your résumé and increase your chances of securing your next exciting position.
Determine which metrics matter the most
First and foremost, you should research your target role and build a good understanding of which metrics the employer will value most.
You can do this by reading through job descriptions related to the position you are interested in and making a note of any specific skills, achievements, or experience the employer has requested.
This will help you determine which metrics matter and which figures you should include on your résumé. This will also give you a better idea of which figures to prioritize in the limited space you have available.
Start off strong
Get off to a good start by using metrics right away, in your résumé summary. As this is the first section recruiters will read, you want to grab their attention immediately, so be sure to lead with your most impressive and relevant statistics.
You might wish to include your number of years of experience in the industry or the size of the biggest budget you have managed. For example: “Accomplished project manager with 10 years banking industry experience, managing budgets of up to $500K.” Again, reading through the job description will help you determine which facts the employer will value most.
By leading with these high-level facts and figures, you can encourage the recruiter to keep reading, instantly setting yourself apart from the competition.
Show the breadth of your responsibilities
Numbers are the most effective way to show your impact and demonstrate the breadth of your responsibilities. Hiring managers will want to know how capable you are before they bring you onto their team, and there’s no better way of reassuring them than by adding figures to your résumé, specifically to the descriptions of the roles you have had.
Some key facts you could include are the size of the team you managed or (or are managing) and the value of the projects you’ve led. For example: “Currently leading a team of 20 engineers on a $1M project to relocate 2,000 customers.”
By including numbers like these in your roles, you give hiring managers a clear idea of the level you operate at, and the level of responsibility you can assume.
Illustrate your impact
By the time you reach senior level in your industry, simply listing your daily tasks and responsibilities is not enough. Recruiters want to see hard results. This is where adding quantified achievements can push your résumé to the next level.
Instead of simply stating that you increased sales, explain how you “increased sales by 25% in one year, adding $100K to monthly revenues for the company.” And don’t just state that you completed a project, elaborate to say that you completed an important project “three months ahead of schedule” and how the work delivered “reduced future budget spend by 10%.”
Showing recruiters the value you provide gives them tangible reasons to hire you and proves that you are worth investing in.
Demonstrate how you’ve gone above and beyond
Using figures throughout your résumé can also help you demonstrate how you’ve gone above and beyond in past roles to achieve the best results for your teams.
You might illustrate this with details like how you exceeded your monthly targets and by how much. You can also focus on clients you onboarded, employees you trained, the revenue you generated, and more.
Of course, the numbers you choose will depend on your industry and job role, but you can use the most appropriate figures to show your top achievements and prove that you’re the best fit for the job.
Andrew Fennell, a former recruitment consultant, is the founder and director of StandOut CV, a leading CV builder and career advice website.
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