Virtually every client I have ever had, has a problem thinking of their accomplishments on previous jobs. It is sometimes very hard to toot our own horn, to talk about your careers and work in terms of accomplishments. We often feel like we were “just” doing our jobs. Isn’t that what was expected of us, just do your job?
If I were a gambling person, I would bet that you not only did your job, but that many times you far exceeded the expectations of your employers. You may or may not have received credit for the extra work you put in, but you know you did do plenty of things that increased your employers bottom line. The increases may have saved time, money or brought in additional revenue because of your abilities on the job.
Following are a few jobs or positions and then the metrics that help determine what accomplishments you may want to highlight in your resume.
#1 Operations – Inventory turnover, out-of-stock rates, product rejects, warranty costs, raw material costs
#2 Sales – Pipeline of clients, closing ratios, new business development and quotas
#3 Customer Service – Customer satisfaction, customer complaints, number of calls taken without errors, dropped calls
#4 Collections – Over due accounts, reconciliation of how many accounts, cost of collections
These are just a few of the many types of positions and the types of issues that can have percentages or actual dollars saved or time spent that will determine the accomplishments that may be of interest to your future employer. I consistently stress the need to be the solution to your next employers problems. If you can demonstrate through accomplishments that you can and will be the solution, you will be miles ahead of your competition. Remember, most people cannot clearly name and explain their accomplishments. Do not be one of them! Fill your resume with accomplishments, you will not be sorry.
As always, please contact me for a complimentary consultation at coachdeb@careercoachnow.com. I look forward to helping you find your accomplishments and much, much more.
Now, go out there and make it a great day!
