Using Numbers in Your Resume

Employers want to hire top-performing employees. To help them find you, use numbers in your resume. When employers see the results you’ve delivered for others, they will be more likely to believe you can perform for them. Whether you’re using a functional, chronological or combination resume, you can stand out by using numbers.

Think about your work experience in terms of numbers. Did you:

• Generate sales?
• Save money or help cut costs?
• Manage X people?
• Lead a team of X people?
• Deal with a certain number of customers?
• Help grow a market?
• Work while your company or department grew by X% or $X?
• Work on a number of projects?
• Improve satisfaction?
• Reduce complaints?
• Handle a certain dollar figure?
• Field a number of calls every day?

Where possible, put a valuation on the time you saved an employer. For example, if you became faster at doing something or introduced a process that saved time, translate this into a dollar savings of your salaried time. If you came up with a method or process that reduced the need to do specific tasks, consider how much time you saved, then present this in terms of the value of your salaried time.

Stress your achievements, but keep your claims honest. Make sure you can back up any numbers you cite – and make sure you understand the numbers. Few things upset a hiring manager more than a prospective hire who can’t stand behind the claims they make on their resume.