Written by: Ruth V. Walker, PhD

Published January 26, 2024

The first semester I taught Psychology as a Profession, my attempts to teach students how to incorporate quantifiable skills into their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and curriculum vitas (CV) was met with mixed success. It was a much more difficult concept than I originally thought to understand at the level I needed to help students be able to successfully craft their own. This post is a reflection of the journey I have taken with my students over the past six months to learn how to translate the content that exists on crafting quantifiable skills into guidelines and examples appropriate for students and new graduates. 

Standing out on the job market means finding ways to sell yourself to your future employer.

Standing out on the job market means finding ways to sell yourself to your future employer. This means using the valuable space you have on your resume/CV/LinkedIn profile to talk about your skills and accomplishments, rather than simply listing your roles and responsibilities. For example, someone with serving experience may include a bullet point that sounds similar to this: “Serve customers and provide a positive guest experience.” This description does not give prospective employers a good understanding of the scope of your work. It is missing information about how many customers you served, the size of the restaurant, and/or the impact of your work. This example is much more informative, "Serve 200+ customers daily in a busy 60-seat restaurant and maintain an average check value of $120+." The following images illustrate examples for other common, entry-level positions: customer service representative, administrative assistant, and registered behavior technician.

When thinking through what makes the most sense to quantify, you want to consider the following five components: time, money, team, scope, and impact. The examples highlighted in the following descriptions are from undergraduate students I have helped edit their job materials and include experiences they gained in either paid or volunteer work. 

TIME: Communicate Timely Achievements

Provide prospective employers with information about the time frame in which you completed your work. Ask yourself how quickly you have delivered results in your academic or work projects.

Example: "Provided detailed feedback to 25 students within a week of assignment submission."

MONEY: Quantify Financial Contributions

Highlight how much money you have made, saved, or managed. Ask yourself how you have contributed to any financial achievements (e.g., cost savings or revenue growth) or how much money have you managed.

Example 1: "Exceeded sales standards for two years, contributing to a company-wide sales growth of $600,000."

Example 2: "Accurately handled an average of $1,500-$3,000 in sales a day."

TEAM: Highlight Team-Related Achievements

Demonstrate your impact on a team by providing information on the size and structure of the company or organization. Ask yourself about the impact you have had on team projects within organizations or academic settings.

Example 1: "Centralized onboarding and offboarding procedures for a team of 150 employees and more than 100 consultants."

Example 2: "Provided essential support to a team of 6 lead teachers, contributing to the care of children between the ages of 6 weeks to 6 years, assisting in rooms with class sizes of 8-18 children."

SCOPE: Illustrate the Breadth of Your Contributions

Help prospective employers or graduate school application reviewers understand the extent of your work. Ask yourself how broad the reach of your responsibilities was in terms of tasks, projects, or training initiatives.

Example 1: "Prepared meals and served food to 100-125 homeless and low-income families affected by addiction."

Example 2: "Effectively trained 5+ personnel in policies and procedures."

Example 3: "Made a significant contribution to the development, synthesis, refinement, and pilot implementation of 100+ training programs ranging in length from 30-120 minutes to facilitate successful change adoption."

IMPACT: Measure the Significance of Your Contributions

Clearly articulate the impact of your work on the organization, project, or community. Ask yourself where you can identify examples of where your contributions made a noticeable difference, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

Example 1: "Volunteered for National Voter Registration Day with the League of Women Voters; assisting with the successful registration of more than 50 high school students."

Example 2: "Served as the Vice President of Psi Chi, helped increase member engagement at meetings by 25%."

Example 3: "Served as a member of the Modern Psychological Studies Editorial Review Board, contributing to the successful publication of 29 articles in Volume 29, Number 1."

What if you don't have all of the information you need to quantify your achievements for past paid or volunteer work you have done?

If you don't have all the information you need to quantify your achievements for past paid or volunteer work you have done, the most important thing to remember is DON'T LIE. What I generally encourage students to do is the following:

• Provide an estimate or a range. 

  • Use a low estimate with a plus sign to be safe. For example, if you remember that you trained people in a past work role, but can't remember exactly how many people you trained, give a low estimate and add a plus sign. "Assisted in training 10+ new personnel on store closing procedures." Or if you don't remember exactly how many hours you volunteered, you can also give a low number with a plus sign. "Volunteered more than 50+ hours to assist the Chattanooga Free Store during the 2022-2023 school year."

  • Provide a range. If you work as someone in sales or retail, for example, a range may be a better indicator. "Daily sales totals ranged between $600-$14,000, never missing my quarterly sales goal." 

  • Frame your number as an estimate.  This lets the person reviewing your resume know that you are providing them with an estimate. For example, "Conducted bystander intervention training with approximately 200 undergraduate students over the course of two academic years."

• Contact someone who has the information. This method is ideal. If you are still working or volunteering at an organization you are adding to your resume, ask them for the numbers you can confidently add to your resume. You can ask them things such as: (1) What is the average amount of cash that I handle in a shift? (2) How many hours of in-service training have I completed? (3) How many customers/clients/patients do we serve? (4) What is the current capacity for this restaurant/pool/gym/etc.? (5) Did our store meet or surpass our quarterly sales goals? By how much?

In short, get in the practice of quantifying everything. Numbers can be powerful and incorporating them into your resume, curriculum vitae, and LinkedIn profile is your way of showing a future employer evidence of the scope, impact, and value of your work. As you develop your professional documents, let the numbers speak for you to help your resume stand out from the rest.