The job market is a highly competitive, over saturated place. This is particularly true in the past few years, with the trend of job skipping picking up. With such an enormous amount of people constantly looking for a new job, it has become essential to do absolutely everything to stand out from the crowd of job seekers, including hiring a reputable professional resume writing service.
There are two things every resume and cover letter must have to draw attention to yourself and that is to present your resume in a different matter:
Adding “Metrics” on your resume
By listing core competencies on your resume
Let’s take a look at these two elements and how they can help you get a new job:
What are metrics on a resume and are they important?
Dictionary.com definition is: “A performance metric is that which determines an organization's behavior and performance. Performance metrics measure an organization's activities and performance.” Basically, it is solid evidence of your effect in your previous position. Through personal metrics, you will showcase just what you did before and what effect that had on the company’s bottom line.
How can metrics on a resume help?
Analytics have become essential in business life. Everything a company does nowadays is measured, and decisions for the future are based on these figures. The same principle can be applied to new hiring – managers will want to know how, in numbers, will you help them solve their problem. Besides number, these things can also be presented in volume.
What are some examples of metrics in a resume?
For example: instead of saying ‘sold field equipment to sports teams’, a professionally written resume with metrics will have the following wording: ‘increased sales of field equipment to sports teams by 25% (percent) year-over-year resulting in $876K generated revenue increase’. In essence, you should find the results of your predecessors with the same level of responsibility, and compare yourself to them.
What are core competencies in a resume?
Lately, the very term ‘core competencies’ has become somewhat controversial, and many people have started staying away from them. In fact, knowing how to list core competencies on a resume is essential, and the trouble only starts if you are doing it wrong. Core competencies are all your technical skills and knowledge accumulated over the years of professional life, summed up in a few words. They are important because they will create a full image of you as a professional in a short amount of time, which is extremely important for hiring managers. The problem begins when the core competencies you listed are vague and / or misleading.
How to add core competencies on your resume?
Core competencies for a tailored resume should look something like this (keep in mind, these are only a few examples):
Training & Development
New Business Development
Marketing
Public Relations
QA/QC
Web Development
Sales Revenue Generation
New Client Prospecting
Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable
Public Speaking
Java
SQL
C++
Territory Management
Social Media Marketing
Problems with core competencies
The problems with core competencies begin when they are too vague and / or misleading. We would strongly advise against listing competencies which tell close to nothing about you as a candidate. For example, ‘problem solving’, or ‘conflict resolution’ does not tell much about you and what you can do for the team. ‘Interpersonal relations’ is also on the list of practically useless words. These things can make you sound like you don’t really know what you’re doing. Keep away from these vague explanations and go for those competencies that you can quantifiably measure and present as a true asset to the company.
Do Hiring Managers Want To See Metrics and Core Competencies on Resumes?
Core competencies and key metrics in a resume can make your job hunting efforts that much easier. Personal metrics will help you stand out in a sea of similar resumes through concrete, quantifiable evidence of your work and the effect you had left on your previous position.
Core competencies will show your future employers a cross-section of your education, skills and experience accumulated over the years and will give them, in a very short amount of time, a clear image of how you can help them solve their problems.
And when it comes to finding a job, that is the number one thing you should keep in mind – how you can help your new company solve their problems.