Quantifiable results are a great way to show your skills on your CV, but what if you don’t think you have any? Hays’ Jane McNeill is here to help.
Most jobseekers understand the importance of showcasing quantifiable evidence of their skills and competencies on their CV. Stating the percentage increase in new sales, clients or website visitors that you were personally responsible for, for example, serves to demonstrate to a potential new employer your expertise and the value you could bring to their organisation.
Such outcomes are easy to measure over time, and thus equally as easy to assign an impressive numerical figure to. Of course, impactful numbers can be incredibly compelling in the context of a CV – they help you to tangibly and undeniably prove to the reader that you’re the right person for the role you are applying for.
But evidencing quantifiable results can be far easier for some than it is for others. Some roles just don’t lend themselves to this type of measurement. So, if this is the case for you, how should you go about adding tangible, numerical evidence to your CV?
Following are a number of other, equally powerful metrics you can share, which are still quantifiable in their own way, and will help you to demonstrate the positive impact you’ve made in all your roles to date and the value you can bring to the next.
Team or stakeholder management
- The number of team members you have managed/supervised
- Staff retention rates
- Staff promotion rates
- The number of internal and external stakeholders you’ve worked with in X locations or X departments
Project/account management
- The number of projects or accounts managed
- The number of programmes you’ve successfully delivered
- The percentage of projects delivered on time/ahead of schedule
- The percentage of accounts/clients/customers retained
- The number of new accounts or projects you took on over time
- Budgets managed
- Dollar value of contracts you negotiated
Productivity/effectiveness
- The volume of work/tasks you delivered in a given timeframe
- The number of sales calls you typically made in a given timeframe
- Your response rate for queries
- The number of customers (internal/external) or clients you typically served within a given timeframe
- The impact of process improvements you made
- The number of meetings you chair, including the number of delegates
- Money saved from negotiations with suppliers
- Cost/time reductions achieved
- Increase in market share
- Percentage of targets hit
- Percentage of issues resolved
Personal development
- The number of training courses you’ve attended
- The number of new qualifications you’ve gained
- The number of new skills you’ve learnt in a given timeframe
- The number of awards or accolades you’ve won
- The number of members of staff you have trained, coached or mentored
- The number of times you’ve been promoted/progressed
Hopefully it is now clear that even if no quantifiable results immediately spring to mind when writing your CV, if you think a little more creatively you can pinpoint some powerful ROI to add to your CV.
No matter the role, the tangible results are there to be evidenced and showcased – you just might need to look a little harder to find them.
By Jane McNeill
Jane McNeill is managing director of New South Wales and Western Australia at Hays. A version of this article previously appeared on the Hays blog.
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