Career Warrior Podcast #322) How to Include Resume Accomplishments Even if That’s ‘Too Difficult’

Episode Transcript

Chris Villanueva 0:00

You don’t have to speak to a specific accomplishment that only you were able to affect. In fact, sometimes that’s impossible and maybe even that makes you seem like too much of a braggart.

And welcome to the Let’s Eat, Grandma Career Warrior Podcast, where our goal is not only to help you land your dream job, but to help you live your best life. Today, we’re discussing the impossible, which is how to include accomplishments on your resume, even if you think that that’s too hard. I’ve gotten this question time and time again from job seekers. I know it can be tough to include those metrics and results on a resume but it’s so darn important to stand out at the very top of your competition. I want your resume to stand out and be that top resume that resume that stands at the very top of the stack and this is going to be one way that we do that through getting those accomplishments in those numbers results on your resume.

I’m Chris Villanueva, the Founder and CEO of Let’s Eat, Grandma, we’ve been ranked by New York Post, Investopedia, US News, and World Report as a top resume service and I wanted to bring this podcast episode to you as free content! Just know that if you ended up working with one of our resume writers, you don’t have to implement any of this advice, we’ll take care of all of it for you. But that’s an option for you. If you’re looking to get a service, head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the show!

Alright, so we had an event here in Austin, Texas, and one of the points of contention – and I can tell where most people were getting the most emotional and people had the most questions – and all of the excitement in the room really ramped up when we talked about accomplishments! Because I know it’s something that is really hard for folks to include on the resume, especially when, let’s say you haven’t been privy to the numbers and you may be in a role, for example, that isn’t very numbers heavy.

I’m thinking of somebody who is, let’s say, they’ve been in customer service and they’re not responsible for hitting sales quotas, for example, or let’s say you are a musician, like, what are you going to do? Say that you produced record sales? I mean, your mind has been on the art and what you’re doing, it’s not necessarily in the numbers. So these things can be really tough.

But including numbers on your resume is worth it. At the end of the day, they are a way of interrupting hiring managers in a way they can say, “Okay, here’s a specific number, you need to stop on the page right here and read this bullet point because it’s special.” And it also is a way of proving what you’ve done in bringing your job description and bringing your accomplishments to life. There is so much fluff out there in the world of resumes, people just throwing together HR job descriptions and accomplishments that aren’t backed up with any sort of quantity or any sort of specificity. And so when you include numbers, you bring your resume to life and you prove yourself.

So one of our writers here at Let’s Eat, Grandma, her name is Barb Harmon, she says, “I find that most clients have a hard time with the concept of metrics, even in professions that are metrics heavy by nature. I’m pretty much using the same pitch to all my clients, dozens of job applicants will have resume bullets that say I’m skilled and XYZ, but it’s the applicant that qualifies and quantifies XYZ with a measurable outcome that is more likely to receive a call for an interview.” So I think that puts it so well – why we have to include these numbers while we have to make the effort to do so why we’re having this episode in the first place.

I know it can be difficult and there’s a lot of resistance and friction in job seekers who don’t have these numbers, so what do we do? We get creative and that creativity allows you to end up at the top, and you’ll get noticed. So I’m going to give you three memory devices here so that you can include numbers and results and metrics in your resume even when you find that to be too hard.

Number one put on your investigative hat. So in this metaphor here, I’m imagining one of those detective types with a long overcoat and they put on that hat and they’re ready to go sleuthing out there in the world. You are going to do the same thing. And this is your career we’re talking about here so it is worth it. To go out, plan, and do the research in your own life not just for your company, not just for your boss, but for yourself here. So see what you can do by digging up information from your company website and by going and replaying past company earnings reports, for example, or going on your company’s social media pages and I have found out more information. Then you can imagine by not only going to a company’s LinkedIn profile, but by looking at various employees who work within that company and seeing what they’re including on their LinkedIn profile. There is so much data information out there. And this brilliant world that we live in right now – this age of the internet and social media. So go online into your thing, bonus points for the person who is brave enough to go up to a past boss or even a current boss and dig up some of that information through real conversations and real firsthand information here.

So I’m thinking of an example of me, I used to be a restaurant manager. If I ever wanted to apply for financial positions where I was responsible for cost cutting, for example, I might look to include a metric in my past restaurant manager position. So I might go up to somebody who I used to work with at the restaurant and say, “Hey, Tim, I’m looking to transition into a job in financial management. I know I helped cut our restaurant expenses, two summers ago, would you mind looking up that percentage reduction you see in those managerial reports, I never kept track of it.” And so you don’t have to get like overly specific. You’re not like copying and pasting those financial reports for the whole world to see but you could include just one number that talks about the percentage increase. And I know that’s what I would do if I was in that position right here.

The second tip I’m going to give today is get some scope. Describe the scope of your work, if you find it impossible to talk about tangible accomplishments or results, scope and context is one of the easier ways I would say in getting numbers on there that bring your resume to life. So I’m imagining here in my metaphorical world, somebody just swishing around some scope mouthwash, I don’t know work with me, because in the end, I’ll give you a way to remember all this. So imagine your scope, you’re putting that scope mouthwash in, and you’re just kind of like cleaning things out. And when we include context in scope in our work, we find ways to, again, bring our resume to life in a way that proves what we’ve done. It gives a sense of our world here. So one of our resume writers Katie Maloney says, “When I have a client who struggles with metrics, I tried to explain to them that metrics don’t always equal numbers. Sometimes it’s as simple as saying successful, or that there were cost savings or increased production, then many times they’ll come back and say that they look for that information. And they end up giving me more information to work with.”

So if you don’t have cost savings, or increased production, or anything like that, perhaps you can talk about something like you being able to help process a certain amount of orders, every single week, perhaps you’re able to process 20 orders a week, and that for whatever reason is impressive in your industry, because your industry does 15 on average. So you can say, you know, five above the industry average. For example, you can also talk about the number of people who you lead underneath your team. So if you’re in charge of a team of five product developers, that’s something that I might include on the resume as well. Team size can be very useful. You can talk about turnaround time, for example, how quickly you’re able to turn around projects, especially if that context is somewhat impressive. So those are scope related examples that don’t necessarily speak to an increase in sales for example.

My third tip for you today on how to include accomplishments in numbers, when you find it too hard is pay a visit to Japan. Okay, so this is from Cultural Atlas, Japanese society is generally collectivistic, whereby people often view themselves and others as members of a collective unit or group. In this sense, members of a group hold collective responsibility that afford the performance and actions of an individual. For instance, if one or more members of a group indulge in poor behavior, all others are collectively blamed. In turn, harmony is an important part of interpersonal relationships. So take a page of the book from Japan here, you don’t have to speak to a specific accomplishment that only you were able to affect. In fact, sometimes that’s impossible. And maybe even that makes you seem like too much of a braggart. So by saying that you took part in a team, and we’re able to affect certain results, you not only are able to take credit for more information or more accomplishments, there’s a wider range of things you can take credit for, but you’re also able to show that you are a good team player without writing the words team player on your resume.

So I’ve come up with some example bullet points that show how a job seeker can use those collective success and bullet points and show that they were a part of a team that they’re a good team player.

So one example is “collaborated with marketing sales and product development teams to launch a successful product contributing to a 25% boost in quarterly revenue.”

Another example is “facilitated weekly team meetings to foster communication and idea exchange leading to a 30% decrease in project errors and a 25% improvement in client satisfaction.”

Another example is “contributed to a company-wide initiative to improve customer service by organizing and leading training sessions for the team. This resulted in a 20% increase in positive customer feedback.”

So you may have to use a combination of some of the sleuthing that you do in tip number one. And this third tip and using that collectivistic kind of phrasing, but these are just some examples here and how to implement bullet points when it wasn’t just you. So I think that’s something that can be really useful for job seekers out there.

So here are some frequently asked questions when it comes to numbers and metrics,  how many numbers and metrics? Well, if you are in sales and marketing, for example, you may have a resume that’s chock full of numbers, and that’s perfectly fine. But for most job seekers, I would say just focus most of your energy on the most recent position that you’ve held, that’s where most hiring managers are going to pay attention to, and emphasize those recent experiences. And if you’re looking to go back in time, and perhaps include some numbers and metrics, and some of those older positions, at least try to get one and if it ends up being your strongest bullet point, then I say all the more power to you. Let’s take that metric loaded bullet point and push it to the top of that professional experience and make your resume seem strong.

Is it okay to lie? I wouldn’t say lie is the question I commonly get. But is it okay to make up a number or kind of just fudge the number a little bit to where you don’t really know. My advice to that would be be careful. I know some folks, especially in sales may have heard a number through the grapevine and they’ll just put it on the resume, for example. What I would say is be prepared to defend yourself. So that should answer your question is if somebody called you up like a prospective employer, and they called you in your past boss up and said, “Hey, I just want to check on something. Would you say that Tim was able to boost sales by 20% in 2018?” If your boss wouldn’t look at you, like you were crazy and a bad person, then I would say that that’s perfectly fine to include. But for the most part, you want to make sure to stick to the hard, cold truth here. This is not a way to embellish or make things up, this is a way for you to bring your actual authentic story to life.

Alright, so this concludes our 322nd episode of the Career Warrior Podcast. I had so much fun doing this one today. I hope it answered the question how to include accomplishments or numbers even when it’s too hard. There always are ways to get creative. And there always are ways to make your resume stand out even more.

As I mentioned earlier, if you’re looking for resume service, hope you’d reach out to us and schedule a free phone call. It’s letseatgrandma.com/podcast if you’re interested. Otherwise, I hope you have an awesome rest of your day. And I will see you soon!

Career Warrior Podcast.

And before you go remember, if you’re not seeing the results you want in your job search, our highly trained team of professional resume writers here at Let’s Eat, grandma can help head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast to get a free resume critique and $70 off any one of our resume writing packages. We talk all the time on the show about the importance of being targeted in your job search and with our unique writing process and focus on individual attention. You’ll get a resume cover letter and LinkedIn profile that are highly customized and tailored to your goals to help you get hired faster. Again, head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast. Thanks, I’ll see you next time.