Submitted by sfa8qr on
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I am finding it difficult to come up with quantitative data for my accomplishment bullets. I am an entry-level employee and do not handle budgets, direct reports or big deadlines.
I've been at my job for about 6 months and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback at my progress reviews. I came into this position with no prior industry knowledge, yet I have been delegated intensive tasks faster and more consistently than folks hired alongside me. I have completed many of these projects singlehandedly and become an integral part of my study teams much more quickly than some of my colleagues. My teams are also smaller than most, which means I play a larger role on each study.
I cannot think of a way to include this type of information in a meaningful way in my resume accomplishment bullets. What type of information constitutes an accomplishment for a low-level employee? Any examples or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Accomplishments
You're not expected to have many accomplishments six months into your career. Thinking about and recording your performance this early is great! It is just about impossible to create down the road when you really need it.
As for some possible things to measure ...
How many studies have you completed?
Did you complete them on time?
Is there an average rate for new hires?
How are are you doing against that rate?
What is the quality standard? Are you meeting it?
Have other studies required rework / have yours?
Has your rate improved? If so why?
Hope that helps and good luck! - Sam
So what _do_ you do?
What are the actual things you do? What kinds of things figure into the great feedback you've been getting? What new tasks have you been delegated? What roles do you play in your study teams? Tell us what you are actually doing well, and I'm sure we can come up with some ideas.
I have an accomplishment line in my resume for a job years ago about being promoted from a computer operator role into a programmer role due to my skill with the scripting language we used.
flexiblefine
Houston, Texas, USA
DiSC: 1476
More info...
Thanks so much for the thought-provoking comments. Sorry for being nebulous earlier. I am under no illusion that any accomplishments attained within 6 months of hire are going to look impressive on a resume. However, I thought I'd ask the question since I am in the middle of redoing my resume according to MT guidelines and want to get into the right mindset.
The "studies" I refer to are clinical trials. Between the length of the average trial and the relatively high turnover in my industry, the idea of a completion rate is not really something that can be easily applied to people in my specific position.
I mainly provide support to my team leads by maintaining sharepoint workspaces, tracking patient data, drafting and distributing meeting materials, pulling visit reports, and ensuring that the sponsor receives their weekly deliverables error-free and on time. I also curate a great deal of regulatory documentation, singlehandedly migrating and organizing an entire master file from paper to electronic form within a few months of hire. This represents a very large sponsor deliverable and a great deal of trust on my manager's part. I also co-created/maintain a medical data tracking tool used by physicians during patient status calls and have been told multiple times that I take more complete and error-free minutes during these calls than people who have been at it for years. Within 2 months of hire, I was drafting and distributing all meeting materials for all studies on a single molecule.
I was recently assigned to an early-phase study and am rapidly transitioning into the role previously occupied by a more senior team member, who is herself edging ever closer to a managerial position. The current manager is also on her way up to the next level. By all signs, she is planning on taking her team with her, which would be great for me. This team is relatively small, so I have more contact with the sponsor than others in my position. Being recommended for "prime" studies is a sign of trust from management, and I have been told point-blank that I function on a higher level than associates hired alongside me.
My line manager continually emphasizes my adaptability, saying she trusts me to produce quality work with minimal supervision no matter the task. She is currently working with my early phase team lead to increase my level of responsibility on my primary study. I've been praised for consistently meeting deadlines, putting the client first and for keeping the rest of the team mindful of our deliverable schedule.
With all this said, I am trying to figure how to assess what counts as a quantifiable accomplishment in this type of job. Without a formal promotion, it seems difficult to capture the speed with which I have been assigned higher level tasks.
From your response...
I don't think all accomplishments need to be quantified. The classic Neil Armstrong example of "First man to walk on the moon" doesn't have a lot of quantification in it.
It might be nice to have "Improved study team efficiency by X%" or "Saved Y% of time/money cost" as part of your accomplishment, but some things don't necessarily quantify well.
I have one of those "built new system to do something we never did before" things on my resume -- without a measured basline, how can you quantify improvements? I have some quantified accomplishments, but others are hard to put numbers on.
flexiblefine
Houston, Texas, USA
DiSC: 1476
Thanks so much!
Thanks ff, for your comment! I agree some accomplishments are hard to quantify.
Actually, the Neil Armstrong accomplishment is quantified...
Saying you are first, is quantified. If the accomplishment was only "walked on the moon" maybe he wouldn't get the job...ok...maybe he would.
Neil Armstrong can be quantified even better...
Since Kennedy said in 1961 "I want to see a man on the moon in the next 10 years", Armstrong could easily say something like:
- Delivered First Landing On The Moon 2 years earlier than target within scope and budget
Although I would probably just say:
- Won The Space Race
And if I was being cocky, and because I'm Neil Armstrong and get a 2 page resume, I'd say:
- Won the Space Race by Defeating Soviet Union and created a modern age of scientific innovation that transformed the world. And you?
RIP Neil Armstrong
RIP Neil Armstrong
Now nobody gets a 2 page resume.
For consideration
SFA8QR,
Some other ideas to quantify your accomplishments...
-How many studies do you cover? What types? How many sites per study?
-How long did it take for study start-up, enrollment, or close-out, etc. Since studies take so long, break them down into parts of their life-cycle to describe.
-Describe your source document/screening tool for physicians in terms of patients/visits/data items - perhaps there has been a reduction in query rates because of it?
-In describing the paper to electronic migration - has it resulted in decreased time for reg doc collection, reduction in regulatory risk (e.g. automatic annual IRB renewal e-mails to sites), decreased cost from sites being able to upload documents?
-Other ideas you didn't directly reference but you may be involved in...CRF or essential document creation or review, interactions with regulatory or safety groups (e.g. compiled CEC meeting documentation), involvement with investigator meetings...
Best,
Deborah