My latest Subsatck post," Why Do Job Seekers Keep Refusing to Leverage Numbers?"

7 Comments

1. AnonymousJuly 1,2024 at 3:13PM UTC

   Good article. Still need to get past the ATS screening (or other screens that HR uses) to get to someone who is willing to look at the resume for more that 7-9 seconds.

   per Teal information: On average, recruiters spend seven to nine seconds on initial resume screens. Recruiters and hiring managers spend longer (closer to 20 minutes) on vetted resumes.

2. KatJuly 3,2024 at 2:51PM UTC

   That's good advice, BUT what if you don't have numbers to quantify? For people in admin support, they do a lot to keep things running smoothly and efficiently. But those things don't always result in something to quantify. For example, I create databases and spreadsheets to manage data for an academic department. That data is needed for accreditation of that department. But it doesn't increase sales, bring in revenue, decrease costs or any of the quantifiable metrics mentioned in the article. How am I supposed to demonstrate results with numbers if there aren't any to work with? Sure, I can say "audited files to prep them for review", but that doesn't give me a number to work with. When will people that write these articles give advice for situations like this?

3. AnonymousJuly 3,2024 at 5:32PM UTC

   If your job comes down to "it doesn't increase sales, bring in revenue, decrease costs or any of the quantifiable metrics," then you're a cost to your employer, therefore, at high risk, especially today when employers are looking everywhere to reduce cost, of being let go. (From how you describe your job I can envision AI taking over what you do.)

   As the article points out, without numbers, you can't offer evidence of your value to your employer. Hence, why should an employer hire you or keep you if you don't offer value to their business?

4. KatJuly 3,2024 at 7:46PM UTC

   Thank you for being so appreciative of admin support people everywhere. Many people in admin support roles do a lot of things that are essential to keeping the business/office/company running. For example, I created a database of nationwide licensing requirements for an accreditation review and to meet a new federal regulation. What number do I put on that? It can be difficult for people not in sales or management to find numbers to go with their accomplishments.

5. AnonymousJuly 4,2024 at 12:46PM UTC

   If it's "essential," then it's measurable. If it can't be measured, then explain how it's "essential."

   This isn't rocket science. If you can't prove your worth using numbers, then you're worthless to the business's success. As the article rightfully points out, employers today are focused on lean management and use numbers to decide which position is critical to the business success and which aren't.

6. AnonymousJuly 7,2024 at 2:13AM UTC

   The exception to that is when employees perform tasks on behalf of their managers which free up the managers' time to tend other responsibilities. In many of those cases, the employees' contributions are difficult to precisely quantify but highly valued, and considered essential. AI can't presently compete with human judgment or syntactical skills.

7. AnonymousJuly 7,2024 at 4:15PM UTC

   What part of "If you can't prove your worth using numbers, then you're worthless to the business's success. " didn't you understand?

   There are no exceptions to this.

   For something to be valued, numbers are required.

   Your opinion that employees perform tasks that free up managers' time is laughable. Where are the numbers to prove that the manager's time is actually being freed up? Where's the number to prove that if the manager's time wasn't freed up, it would negatively impact the company's bottom line?

   Business is all about numbers that show value or cost. Saying you're "valuable" without numeric proof means nothing. You can be out the door tomorrow, then you'll see how "valuable" you were.