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Results are powerful. Everything you’ve done on a job has had a result. When the result is positive and significant, it is worth sharing in an interview. Train yourself to look for results. Remember, you don’t need computer printouts to verify your results. Your own honest estimate is sufficient. If asked about it during an interview, just describe how you arrived at the figure and then go into more detail concerning how you accomplished it. Results sell you.

I’ve developed a simple technique which will help you identify your results. Take each of your key experiences and add the words which, or which resulted in. Then simply ask yourself what the result was. For example, “Wrote an office procedures manual” becomes, “Wrote an office procedures manual which decreased training time and billing errors.” After you’ve taken time to quantify the results and to explain it more accurately, it will become, “Wrote an office procedures manual which decreased training time of new employees by 25% and reduced billing errors over 30%.”

The trick is to identify the result or results first and then seek to quantify them by using the hard data you have available or by estimating the result. Also, don’t stop with just one result or benefit. Many of your best experiences have had several results, so take the time to identify them. Each different result will come in handy at different times in an interview.

Let’s look at a project that produced multiple results.

In my position as lobbyist for the Detroit realtors’ association, I was very active in building coalitions with the homebuilders, the Economic Development Council of Detroit, and other housing groups. As part of these coalitions, I was asked to co-chair an affordable housing committee. From the realtors’ perspective, government regulations were a major problem. So I pulled together an all-inclusive committee, including representatives from General Motors, Housing Coalition of Detroit, and the Detroit Housing Authority, as well as county and state officials. We brought in local experts on a variety of topics and asked for recommendations for reducing or streamlining unnecessary government regulations. We came up with over 80 recommendations and presented it at a regional event sponsored by the mayor and county executive as well as the Detroit Free Press. It was publicly well-received, and because of the quality of the recommendations and the breadth of the coalition, over 30 key recommendations were adopted in the past year, with more to follow I’m sure. By streamlining permit and building processes, builders are saving about $600 per home.

Sam demonstrated numerous skills in this project as well as several results. Let’s examine the results and quantify them if we can.

Brought together a coalition of groups that usually oppose one another.

Persuaded government organizations and agencies to remove unnecessary government regulations.

Reduced the cost of building a home by over $600 each.

Reduced the average time to obtain construction permits from 120 days to 75 days.

Developed strong relationships with government agencies by showing that we realtors didn’t oppose everything they recommended, and worked with them to actually strengthen some regulations.

Developed allies that we never had before. (With many of these allies we knew that we wouldn’t agree on certain issues, but we found that we could work with them on others).

This array of businesses and organizations learned the importance of really listening to what each group was saying and of taking the time to learn what was most important and critical to them.

Got the ear of the mayor, who previously would not listen to us.

I personally gained great visibility by being interviewed by three major newspapers and by the CBS and ABC local affiliates.

Received a $5,000 bonus from the realtors.

Everybody wins. More affordable housing units can be constructed so more new homebuyers can get that first home. The city and region win because the changes did not compromise the quality of the homes or their energy efficiency.

In the first year the percentage of new homes purchased by minorities increased from 28% of all homes to 38%, a 36% increase.

When we first started identifying Sam’s results I quickly saw about four, but I had no idea we would come up with this many. In an interview Sam can decide which results to discuss. He would virtually always mention that the cost of building homes was reduced by $600. That may not seem like much, but it was accomplished exclusively by eliminating some unnecessary regulations. Part of the cost reduction came by reducing the time required to obtain building permits. When land has been purchased with loans, every day that a home has not been completed (and sold) adds cost in the form of interest. If the profit on a $95,000 starter home would be about $9,000, then $600 equals 6% of the total profit. That’s substantial. It takes time to come up with results and to quantify them, sometimes an hour or more. You may have the data necessary to quantify the result, but the information may be spread among several different sources. Of course sometimes the numbers are readily available and have already been calculated.

This should be a reminder to you for the future. As you start a project or look for a way to improve a particular process, figure out how you will measure your success. First you have to determine what you hope to accomplish. Then you have to determine what the current status is. If you are going to improve training in hopes of reducing turnover and errors, then you need to know what the current turnover and error rate is. If those rates are not currently being measured, then you’ll have to do it. This effort is worth it because you can obtain a great payoff: you can bring it to the attention of your boss through a memo. You don’t have to ask your boss to respond. As long as your boss does not dispute your results, it means he or she accepts them. Of course your results could help you get a raise, a promotion, or a bonus. But you have to let the key people know what you’ve done. Don’t let yourself be a well-kept secret.