Resume Question About Job Duties (employee, applying, collect, employer)

[mkpunk]

I get weekly e-mails from Monster.com over different job search techniques. I got an e-mail of 5 things you should not put on a resume. One of them is one that I've done before and we all have.

Lists of Tasks or Duties Without Results

Your resume has to go beyond saying which jobs you've done: It must establish what you've accomplished on those jobs. Many applicants miss this key distinction.

"The only things that separate equally qualified candidates are the results of their efforts," Zambruski said. "For example, an administrative assistant may write, 'reorganized filing system.' That provides the task. What were the results? A better way to write it would be, 'Increased team productivity 20% by reorganizing filing system.' Results are what matter to hiring managers."

Now what I wonder is how do you figure this measure out. Say you deal in retail. Unless your company puts out the you must check X items per minute, you are not likely going to know the exact results that you do. I mean how can you say you have results if there is no data to prove it?

I just want to have a discussion on this topic because it is not one that many people will know unless previous managers told them of their individual results. I have not worked for a company where this has happened so I just want to see if I have been in the exception to the rule of that is common place.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by mkpunk

I just want to have a discussion on this topic because it is not one that many people will know unless previous managers told them of their individual results. I have not worked for a company where this has happened so I just want to see if I have been in the exception to the rule of that is common place.

As a hiring manager who reviews many resumes, most people just list the tasks. As I am usually hiring for higher level professional jobs, these resumes go straight in the trash.

If you are in a job where you aren't being provided specific feedback of your individualized results, how in the world do you know you are doing a good job? If the manager is just saying "good job", ask them specifically what you are doing well. Ask for these results. If they don't collect them, gather them yourself.

"Developed a 50% more efficient product re-stocking process" (you learned that by systematically sorting the product before you started re-stocking, you found you were able to resock in half the time)instead of "Responsible for re-stocking returned items".

But the important thing is that you actually did it, and not just made it up for your resume. Unfortunately, and I spent a fair amount of time in retail and fast food, most people showed no intention of improving processes for efficiency. They were more than happy to use their whole shift to re-stock one cart worth of items, or carry one item at a time to the refrigerator.

[macroy]

Agree with Spencgr. In essence, every job you apply to, you'll most likely be competing with tens if not hundreds of others. And in most part, they will have done the same thing you have from a job description standpoint. So the key here is to illustrate the impact you had in your previous roles. Not just what you did, but what differences did your actions make?

We all know what a cashier, waiter, accountant, etc. does. Thus, putting that on a resume doesn't really tell the hiring manager a whole lot about YOU. You need to basically say "hey, you want to hire me because I've made my past employer better by doing <insert applicable accomplishments here>, and I can do the same for you. And for the most part, it doesn't always have to be something that had a metric applied to it. Certainly the more measurable it is, the easier it is to convey, but it's not like it has to be an official criteria in order to be used.

[mkpunk]

Thank you for answering my questions. This always made me ponder because I know I have helped with at least one company in different roles, the issue is it wasn't a specific performance measure like the item swipes per minute metric or can actually see an X% rise in productivity. It would more or less be noticing items needing to be fully stocked and stocking them as soon as I possibly could, straightening up sizes in clothing or helping customer find specific items.

[HeadhunterPaul]

Hello,

....if I put some time into this I'd probably come up with some more examples of 'what to measure' but you will probably do this on your own since you are actively trying to figure this out.

Part of your problem is as described by someone here- you have little or no control over your environment nor did anyone hand you a measuring stick.......

(....what do watch for next time)

Anyway, here is one cheap trick that works quite well:

Get the sales figures for when you started employment and then when you leave.

Figure out the percent of increase [overall] and that is your number.

"During my employment with Saks Fifth Avenue the _________ Department increased sales by seventeen percent (17%), resulting in $155,000 in additional sales."

Badda Boom
Badda Bing

You're a Winner.

It is just like playing Right Field for a winning baseball team.

You're on the winning team, that is mostly all that matters.

Now, of course, your future employer will know you did not single-handedly bring in $155K all on your own but how you relate how "......our team....."/"....myself and the rest of the sales staff...." will get you your credibility.

That you measured it out will have gotten their attention, how you play it will decide if you fit in 'there' or not.

P.S. Your conversation about measuring productivity is covered in depth under the heading of Lean Methods/The Toyota Production System.

This 'toolset' is not just for manufacturing, it is applied in service industries, as well.

I am telling you this so that if you are really motivated about this, email me and I will send you a 'real' resume or two that describes how professionals who use the TPS all the time manage to squeeze out waste, improve quality and increase production on a regular basis.

After you read them you can then look at your own situation again and see how to translate what you read into what you can do on the job yourself.

If you do email, be sure to put something regarding this website into the Subject line so I do not mistake your mail for spam/junk, etc. Thanks.


CYA

[Hemlock140]

IF you want that kind of hard facts to use in future resumes, you should include it in your performance reviews. Some places, like where I work, the employee does their own. The manager then makes comments, either confirming, expanding, or disagreeing with what the employee wrote. Even if it's prepared by the manager/supervisor, there is normally a place for the employee comments. If yo found an error that saved the company $20,000, improved a process to save 4 hours a week of employee time, or something else measurable, get it into writing. You can use it when applying for a promotion. Obviously applying for a job elsewhere they are not likely to be able to confirm it, but in an interview, you will be able to back it up with discussion demonstrating how you did it to help convince them it was true.

[mkpunk]

I've had these performance reviews and I have done great on them, the issue is the jobs I have been in do not really have a metric based on my performance vs. someone else and I could not find these 20,000 errors.

As for where I worked, saying where sales were when I began to when they ended is a loaded stat. I worked at Disney World and during February it is in a slower season and when I finished with them in August of that year, it was in their busier season. It would be the same bump you can see in traditional retail from say June until December. (December would have the uptick due to holiday shopping for retail as Disney World would due to travel in the summer vs. winter/spring/autumn months.)