Candidate Resources

Use Numbers to Give Your Accomplishments the Attention They Deserve!

If you were an employer looking at a Restaurant Managers resume, which of the following entries would impress you more•

• Dropped labor costs. ——-OR—-
• Dropped labor costs by 3.2% from 21.3% to 19.1% within six months of hire.

Clearly the second statement carries more weight. Why? Because it uses numbers to quantify the writer’s accomplishment, giving it a context that helps the interviewer understand the degree of difficulty involved in the task. Hiring Managers love to see numbers ! Numbers are powerful resume tools that will help you draw to your accomplishments the attention they deserve from prospective employers. With just a little thought, you can find effective ways to quantify your successes on your resume. Here are a few ways to do just that:

Think Money

For-profit concepts are and always will be concerned about money. So as you contemplate your accomplishments and prepare to present them on your resume, think about ways you’ve saved money, earned money, or managed money in your internships, part-time jobs and extracurricular activities so far. A few possibilities that might appear on a resume:

• Identified, researched and recommended a new Internet Service Provider, cutting the company’s online costs by 15 percent.

• Wrote prospect letter that has brought in more than $25,000 in donations in the last six months.

• Dropped employee turnover rate by 60% with first year of hire. (saving money on training)

• Dropped food cost by 4.2% from 26.8% down to 22.6% within a three month period.

• Increased average monthly sales by 30% within first year of hire, increasing sales from $100,000 per month to $130,000 per month.

Think Time

You’ve heard the old saying, “Time is money,” and it’s true. Companies and organizations are constantly looking for ways to save time and do things more efficiently. They’re also necessarily concerned about meeting deadlines, both internal and external. So whatever you can do on your resume to show that you can save time, make time or manage time will grab your reader’s immediate attention. Here are some time-oriented entries that might appear on a typical resume:

• Part of management team that dropped “To Go”, drive through ticket times from 4 minutes down to 2 minutes within three months of hire.

• Suggested procedures that decreased average ticket order-processing time from 15 minutes to 9 minutes.

Think Amounts

It’s very easy to neglect mentioning how much or how many of something you’ve produced or overseen. There’s a tendency instead to simply pluralize your accomplishments — e.g., “Dropped labor costs” or “developed menu designs” -– without including the important specifics — e.g., ” Dropped labor costs by 6%” or “developed menu designs and menu/item costing, saving the concept $6,400.00 in consultation fees ” Don’t fall into the “no figures included” trap. Instead, include amounts, like these entries that might appear on a typical resume:

• Within five months of hire, unit became # 1 in concept out of 140 units nationwide, received awards for most improvement in sales, sanitation and employee retention.

• Trained five new employees on restaurant operations procedures, with 2 progressing into management.

The more you focus on money, time and amounts in relation to your accomplishments, the better you’ll present your successes and highlight your potential -– and the more you’ll realize just how much you really have to offer prospective employers. Add it all up, and you’ll see that playing the “numbers game” is yet another way to convince employers that you should be a part of their equation for success. Please keep all your accomplishments in the 3rd person point of view.