Quantifying Your Achievements

As a job seeker, it is absolutely critical that you find ways to sell yourself effectively to future employers. You need to be able to present your qualifications in the best possible light. In fact, after reviewing your application, a manager should be so impressed that he or she believes you might end up a finalist for the advertised position.

You should not be shy about publicizing the major achievements of your career. After all, a prospective employer will not really know what you're capable of accomplishing unless you let him or her know what you've done in the past. In fact, by focusing on your achievements, you can boost your self-confidence, allowing you to shine during the interview process.

One effective thing you can do to make your cover letter stand out from the rest is by quantifying your achievements. Much of life is a numbers game, and numbers can represent important milestones in your career. You might never have thought before about assigning a numerical value to your accomplishments, but it can actually be quite an effective job-hunting technique.

If you want to quantify your achievements, your best bet is to do some simple addition. For instance, count up how many awards you've won for your work or how many customers you serve. You can add up the number of clients you've secured for your company, or how many miles you've travelled for your business. Using a little creativity, you might come up with a variety of numbers that indicate your accomplishments.

That said, you should use numbers sparingly in your cover letter. In fact, it's probably most effective if you include just one or two impressive statistics. Otherwise, your cover letter might appear to be too much like a scorecard. Certainly, quantifying your achievements is effective-but you don't want to overdo it.

It is not enough to add up how many houses you've sold or how much money you've saved your company. You must also give a clear indication of what your past accomplishments mean for your professional future. In other words, you must convince your prospective employer that you would be able to achieve even greater things in the future. This way, your application becomes less of a re-hash of old news and more of a showcase for your future goals.

Becoming comfortable with numbers

It may take time for you to become accustomed to quantifying your achievements. Be patient with yourself. Realize that assigning numbers to accomplishments does not come easily for many of us. However, in time and with practice, you might become a font of statistical information about your achievements.

Quantifying your achievements can be an important mental exercise. It shows you exactly what you've been doing in recent years, and where there may be room for improvement. It provides you with a helpful barometer of your professional success. Once you've performed this exercise, you might find yourself doing it again and again until it truly becomes a habit.

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