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USE NUMBER ON RESUMES
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 the $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.
