QUESTION: I realize that resumes now need to include numbers. I don’t do sales, so I don’t have any numbers to include. Am I doomed?

Mary Jo King, Alliance Résumé & Writing Service

No! There are many ways to measure your performance, including process improvement, change management, customer satisfaction and retention, employee turnover, employee development, and problem solving, to name a few. Document examples of the ways you have made your workplace better and include statistics as best you can. Your educated guesstimates will be acceptable if you don’t have hard numbers.

Alisha Brown, Alisha D Brown Career Consulting

We love numbers as a hiring panel!! If you facilitate meetings, how many and how often are you facilitating meetings? Answer this using numbers. No sales, no problem, anything you do can be quantified! That is the most remarkable part of developing your resume – being creative in showing your current potential using numbers, percentages, and rates.

Cheryl Minnick, University of Montana

Quantifying accomplishments can include # calls received, customers aided, cost cut, time saved, staff led, events planned, guests hosted, goals reached … you’re definitely not doomed. Reflect on your accomplishments in terms of 1) what was my Challenge, 2) what Action did I take, 3) what were Results of my action (CAR). Then, start bullets with strong action verbs to show employers your ROI.

Edward Lawrence, Getstarted LLC

You’re not doomed; just need to know what to look for and count! How many times did you complete any task–e.g. answer phones, service customers, sign contracts, stock shelves? How much time or dollars did you make/save for an employer? How long did it take to create/produce/finish a task or product? If you changed anything, by how much? Almost anything can be counted!

Cherie Heid, Competitive Edge Resume Service

Anyone can list measurable achievements on their resume. Receptionist: number of daily phone calls. Administrative Assistant: # of people supported and revenues since their support allows sales to generate revenues. Customer ServiceRep: amount of time to resolve customer problems. RN: # of patients on the unit. Supervisor: # of people they manage, cost savings or time saving processes shows value.

Donna Tucker, CareerPRO Resume Center

Don’t despair. We can find lots of opportunities to present numbers―even if you aren’t in sales. How about people-oriented numbers like customers served, people managed, performance rank? There’s % of increase in productivity or quality. Maybe reductions in costs or time. Don’t know the exact number? Use a range. Then tell the story behind the numbers to paint a picture and enhance your value.

Tammy Shoup, Breakthrough Resume Writing Service

No, you are not doomed! Even in non-revenue generating roles, there are ways to convey the value you offer your next employer. Look for ways your efforts contributed to or supported a revenue, cost reduction, or timesavings activity. In lieu of numbers, you may use general phrases or percentages. e.g. Supported 5-person team in securing gifts for a multimillion-dollar funding campaign.

Holly Leyva, Virtual Vocations, Inc.

No, you are not doomed! Numbers aren’t just for sales, they can be anything from the number of staff supervised, how much money/time saved, number of projects completed, etc. Estimate if needed. Aim to quantify 70% of your bullet points if possible, but if you don’t have that many numbers you can still show results with wording like, increased efficiencies, saved time, reduced costs, etc.

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