Career coaches and CV writers encourage people to quantify their achievements, but how valuable is that if it cannot be independently verified?

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This is another great question submitted from a recent Quora inquiry. Some may think that it is a waste of time to add metrics to a resume especially if it can't be verified.  To answer this, we have to think like a hiring manager who is searching for the best candidate. Continue reading for my requested response to the question. 
​CAREER COACHES AND CV WRITERS ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO QUANTIFY THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS, BUT HOW VALUABLE IS THAT IF IT CANNOT BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED?

 My Response: 

Great question! I can appreciate why there may be some reasonable skepticism. The challenge to your question is the assumption that quantifiable achievements cannot be independently verified.

We should first examine why career coaches advocate that achievements are quantified. I’ll start with the resume or CV since you also referenced CV writers. The primary goal of the resume is to attract hiring managers, be selected for an interview, provide compelling discussion material during the interview, and ultimately help the candidate get the job. The resume/CV is one of the primary tools to accomplish these goals.

How can a candidate best stand out from others? The answer is by giving the reader(s) what they want while demonstrating the ability to solve their core problem. How can that best be achieved? By offering quantifiable examples of relevant accomplishments.

For example, if you were the hiring manager, which of the following candidates for lead cashier would you award the interview based on their resume statement? Which skill would you value most for your company?

Candidate 1: Efficiently followed the register closing process at the end of each shift.
Candidate 2: Streamlined the register closing process 50% by implementing a closing checklist resulting in incremental annual cost savings of $14,000.

I think you will agree that candidate 2 brings more value as a lead cashier with the assumption that the candidate will be able to provide more information on how the closing process netted the result. (Details on how to write a fantastic accomplishment statement using the above example are on my website or YouTube channel - You can direct message me for the link - I don’t want to get into trouble with Quora again).

The point is a good interviewer will be able to sift through whether or not a candidate is telling the truth by asking the right questions. Hiring managers aren’t as interested in the specific numbers per se’ as much as the skills utilized to net the result. A good candidate will be able to demonstrate their expertise and talk through how the numbers were calculated if asked.

For the hiring manager quantifiable achievements demonstrates expertise and illustrates a pattern of behavior that may be replicated.

Long story short, quantifiable achievements is a strong differentiator and can be verified in numerous ways; in the interview or contacting references. It depends on the hiring manager to determine if verifying “numbers” are more important than the “process” used to achieve them. Which is replicable?

I hope this adequately answers your question.

If you have a career question that you would like for me to answer you can either go to my Quora spaces page, schedule a discovery call below, or send me an email at [email protected].

Your Career Coach

Nanette Kirk is the President and CEO of NetKi Enterprises, LLC. We help clients navigate their career journey, through career coaching and consulting. Thank you for reading this blog post. Feel free to reach out if you have any leadership or career challenges, I can help you explore and resolve. You can click on the button below to schedule a discovery call. 

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