Use Numbers to Highlight Your Accomplishments

Source:  http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/numbers-to-highlight-accomplishments/article.aspx

By Peter Vogt, Monster Senior Contributing Writer

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

• Wrote news releases.
• Wrote 25 news releases in a three-week period under daily deadlines.

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.

Numbers are powerful resume tools that will help your accomplishments get 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 suggestions:

Think Money

Organizations 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, earned or managed money in your internships, part-time jobs and extracurricular activities so far. A few possibilities that might appear on a typical 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 so far.
• Managed a student organization budget of more than $7,000.

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:

• Assisted with twice-monthly payroll activities, ensuring employees were paid as expected and on time.
• Suggested procedures that decreased average order-processing time from 10 minutes to five 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., “wrote news releases” or “developed lesson plans” -– without including important specifics — e.g., “wrote 25 news releases” or “developed lesson plans for two classes of 20 students each.”

Don’t fall into the trap of excluding numbers. Instead, include amounts, like these:

• Recruited 25 members for a new student environmental organization.
• Trained five new employees on restaurant operations procedures.
• Created process that bolstered production 25 percent

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.

Motivation for Job Search

Article Source:  http://www.cvtips.com/motivation_job_search.html

Entering the world of job hunting for the first time or for the first time in a long time can be quite daunting but at the same time exciting as you anticipate that dream job being yours. You get busy with all the preparation needed to research and apply for vacancies and then of course start sending out applications and eagerly await a reply. You may find you are successful quite early into your job search and are offered employment in your chosen field or you may not be so fortunate and may instead find yourself waiting and waiting and waiting…

Days go into weeks; weeks stretch into months and still no job offer. You may receive replies that say ‘sorry, but on this occasion you have not been selected for interview’ or worse receive no reply at all. This lack of job search success can be very disheartening and you may begin to feel a sense of rejection and hopelessness.

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It is then very easy to become unmotivated, and even depressed as your job search HIGH becomes a job search LOW.

The more unmotivated you become the more difficult it is to push yourself to continue with your job search and so it becomes a vicious circle. It is therefore very important that you do your utmost to remain motivated as any loss of enthusiasm and focus will eventually be reflected in your behaviour, appearance and demeanour.

You may develop a fear of failure that manifests itself as a reluctance to apply for jobs all together. But that dream job will not find you unless you are incredibly lucky so you have to remain motivated and look for it yourself.

There are things you can do to remain motivated for job search, here are some tips:

Think Positive

Negative thinking involves a series of thoughts and repeating patterns whereby you always expect the worst of yourself and future situations. Negative thoughts about yourself and your performance and ability to achieve success will impact upon your chances of success. With negative thoughts comes a persona to match.

People who think negatively exude negativity in their speech, their mannerisms, the way they dress and the way they carry themselves. Employers want confident individuals who will add value to their organization. That is all that interests them, what you can do for them, not what they can do for you. So negative thinking will be off putting. To attract good fortune you need to think positively. This positive attitude will then reflect itself in everything that you do.

Having great credentials will not be enough to guarantee you success without that positive confident winning attitude. Believe in yourself and employers will too!

Some negative thought patterns relating to job search:

• Expectation of failure
• Putting yourself down and being overly critical of yourself
• Doubting your ability to do the jobs you are applying for
• Believing every other applicant is better than you and has more to offer

These negative thought patterns can damage your confidence and affect your performance. If you believe you will do badly in your job interview you probably will, BUT if you believe you will do well in your interview that can work wonders for your chances.

To keep yourself thinking positively you should create positive affirmations that you can use to counteract any negative thoughts. These positive affirmations will help you to build self-confidence and maintain it. In addition to this you could keep small cards that you can carry with you with details of your personal achievements or sayings that make you feel good. The more personal these sayings are the better. They can be sayings from the family, your partner, friends, or an inspiring quote you read in a book. As long as the saying uplifts and inspires you then having it handy for quick reflection is a very helpful.

Accept that you will have bad days and to avoid on those days thinking every day is a bad day on a calendar make a happy face to indicate a happy day and sad face to indicate a sad day. This way when you do have a bad day you can instantly check your calendar and see that not every day is like that after all. Meanwhile if you do find you are having a lot of bad days, you may find a chat with a good friend, GP, counsellor or coach is needed in case you need extra help addressing those feelings and dealing with them.

Know your Value

Employers want to know what how you can benefit their organization and what talents and skills you can bring to the table. Your talent and ability is your ’employment value.’ You need to identify what your employment value is before you start your job search so you can make sure you highlight this value in your job applications.

It will also ensure that you realise your own potential and apply for jobs that you will find rewarding.

Expect it to take time and effort

Finding a job can be a full time job in itself. Expect to devote a substantial amount of time and energy to the process. If you are unemployed, spend at least 30-40 hours per week and if you are employed, expect to have extra work to do when you get home for several weeks/months until you find a new job.

Take care of yourself

Job hunting can be stressful and can lead in some cases to depression. Maintain your health as best as you can by ensuring that you eat regularly, exercise and sleep well. Allow yourself plenty of relaxation time when you are not giving any thought to job hunting!

Set goals

Set clear defined achievable goals and be prepared to review them after a few weeks /months and set new goals. Be flexible and adaptable in your approach to job hunting. If one avenue is not working then try another. Avoid getting stuck in a rut.

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Join a job club

A trouble shared is a trouble halved. Joining a job club can be a great way of remaining motivated as you can all encourage each other and help keep that job search momentum going.

Above all be patient

Featured Career Expert: Alison Doyle, About.Com

Alison Doyle is a job search expert with many years of experience in human resources, career development, and job searching, with a focus on online job searching, job search technology, social media, and professional networking. She has covered job searching for About.com since 1998.

Alison is the author of Internet Your Way to a New Job: How to Really Find a Job Online (2009) and the About.com Guide to Job Searching (2006).

Experience:

Alison worked for many years in Human Resources. She has also worked in a college career services office, developing information technology resources to assist constituents with job searching.

Alison has been quoted or mentioned in many major online and print publications, including The New York Times, CNN.com, Newsday, NY Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, MSNBC.com, ABCNews.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Arizona Republic, FastCompany.com, Employment Digest, Bankrate.com, HireVue.com, Kiplinger.com, LinkedIn, Mashable.com, TypePad, WashingtonPost.com, Consumer Reports, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the syndicated Careers Now column.

She has also been featured on the radio shows InfoTRAK, Blogtalkradio, Career Success, Women Aloud, Something You Should Know, and The Job Search Solution, as well as many local radio stations.

Alison is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Education:

Alison holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and has completed several years of employee benefit and and information technology coursework.

From Alison Doyle:

“You’ll find tips for locating job listings, finding employers, networking, and other ways to find the right job. Some of the topics I cover include online job searching, writing resumes and cover letters, references, unemployment, and interviewing skills.”

Media Contacts: Email Alison for interviews.

References:

• About.com Careers and Job Search LinkedIn Group
  Networking with career experts and plus job search advice and resources.
• Alison Doyle’s Personal Blog
  Commentary and career advice, and using your connections to build your career.
• Press
  Media mentions and coverage.
• Internet Your Way to a New Job
  Online job search, professional branding, networking, and career building strategies and techniques.

For more information about Alison Doyle, please visit this link.

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