Question:

I keep seeing articles about how to write a resume that recommend that you include information on how much money you saved your employer, how much you increased the revenues or other such specific metrics. I am looking for a web designer position and don't have a clue how to quantify my job performance. What should I do?

First Answer:

There are actually many ways to describe fuzzy, creative jobs in concrete, even quantifiable ways that are sure to appeal to prospective employers. For instance:

• You can describe the consulting process you used to define, develop, and deliver the goals of the Web design project. You can provide detail on the project team members with whom you collaborated.
• You can provide numbers that describe the increase in content, features, and utilization of the new site.
• You can determine the percentage of new leads / revenues coming to the company via the Internet.
• You can explain how new functionality impacts the cost of doing business. You can talk in terms of self-administered customer service, estimating how many customers are going to the Web site to get information or update their accounts instead calling the company, which requires headcount / labor dollars.
• You can count the number of internal customers served if it is an intranet site.

Get creative! Remember that most companies exist to make money, and if you think about it long enough, you can usually figure out what value you add to the company in terms of dollars and sense.

-- Tracy Laswell Williams, certified job and career transition coach, accredited resume writer and founder of CAREER-Magic.com

Second Answer:

Quantitative proof of your effectiveness is one good way to show how you have been valuable to employers in the past, and will continue to be an asset in the future. However, not every job is directly related to cost effectiveness and revenue boosting numbers. The idea is to show some proof of how you have been able to be valuable to your employer, even if it isn't just "in the numbers."

In your case, I would suggest that you think creatively about your value to the companies and clients you have worked for. In what ways has your contribution through your web design skills to help your company or clients reach their goals? Perhaps you could try to quantify how your web designs increased hits and views to a particular site, or helped the company gain much needed visibility. Barring actual proof that your creativity has been an assets, you'll have to be a bit more innovative. Did you develop a new procedure or system that helped your employer internally to be more efficient (e.g., a new system to better keep track of web pages or update them) or make better use of hardware or software? Have any of your designs won awards?

If you are still stumped consider what your varied functions on your jobs have been, and why they were/are important to employers. If you can come up with none, perhaps it's time to reconsider the types of jobs you've been doing!

-- Alison Blackman Dunham, life & career expert, columnist, personal public relations consultant, half of THE ADVICE SISTERS®, and the author of the ASK ALISON career advice column

Third Answer:

Quantifying your accomplishments is, in fact, highly effective because employers love to see those numbers. But the real point that experts are trying to get across is that resumes should be accomplishments-driven and not focused on duties and responsibilities. Accomplishments are the points that really help sell you to an employer -- much more so than everyday job duties. In a recent study by Career Masters Institute, content elements that propel employers to immediately discard resumes include a focus on duties instead of accomplishments, while documented achievements were highly ranked among content elements that employers look for.

Let's first look at a few ways you might quantify your accomplishments, and then let's look at how you can identify and list accomplishments in general. You don't say whether you are currently doing Web design, but let's assume you are. You could list how many total Web pages you've designed.

You could list the number of clients for whom you've performed Web-design services. You could quantify the accounts you've worked on in terms of the revenue they brought the company you worked for (example: "Provided Web-design services for $2-million+ account.") Did you supervise anyone? You could list how many people you supervised. Were you particularly fast at Web design compared to other Web designers in the company? You could simply say you were the fastest Web designer there, or perhaps you could calculate how much faster you were, how much time you saved your employer because of your speed, or how many more clients you were able to serve because of your speed. Did you exceed the number of assigned Web-design projects in a given time and ask for more? Did you increase the number of Web designs you could produce in a given time? There are likely other ways this type of job can be quantified; do some brainstorming and creative thinking.

As for other ways to identify accomplishments -- what special things did you do to set yourself apart? How did you do the job better than anyone else or than anyone else could have done? What did you do to make it your own? What special things did you do to impress your boss so that you might be promoted? What were the problems or challenges that you or the organization faced? What did you do to overcome the problems? What were the results of your efforts? How did the company benefit from your performance? How did you/well you leave your employers better off than before you worked for them?

Your question is timely because the Web site I'm associated with, Quintessential Careers, has just introduced an Accomplishments Worksheet that can help you identify achievements from both employment and your education. You may also want to read the worksheet's companion article, For Job-Hunting Success: Track and Leverage Your Accomplishments.

-- Katharine Hansen, former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for the Web site, Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters

Fourth Answer:

The current resume style is indeed one that emphasizes the value you bring to the company. Although you may not know the revenue your web designs created you do know the value they serve. Nobody pays for someone to develop/enhance a web site for the pure fun of saying they have a web site, why did the company desire a web site? Think about the purpose behind your work - streamlined company information, allowed for on-line purchases, on-line queries, reduced the number of mailings, etc. Most people visit a web site once and stay there for less than a minute - did your design increase traffic flow and visit duration? A web site enables a company to reach a larger audience - can you state any examples of this? Was any business generated via the web site after office hours - the benefit of the internet's 24/7? If you need more ideas - use the web! Search for web site benefits and you will see how web designing and web hosting firms are marketing themselves.

If you are still wondering, work with a professional coach who can guide you through the process easier and faster. I am offering a 20% discount on one month of coaching to anyone who mentions this article.

-- Janine A. Schindler, Professional Coach and owner of the Jas Coaching Company

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