Executives are very aware of the concept of a ROI, or return on investment. Returns need to be visible and definite in the business world, and every investment and venture must be carefully considered.

It’s the same thing for employers when they’re trying to fill an opening. They need to know that you’re going to be worth their investment in you. If they don’t know this for sure, you won’t get the job. As an executive, then, how can you prove to a company that you’re worth more than your salary? Here are a few ideas to consider …

Look at Your Revenue

If there were quantifiable parts to your previous job, you want to make sure to put them into numbers on your executive resume that will help illustrate your success. For executives, businesses often look to revenue, so show what you were responsible for with your previous employers, whether this means accounts you brought in, sales prospects you’d sold to, or other elements of revenue.

For instance, you might note that you not only were able to slash hiring expenses by cutting advertising costs (advertised on free websites), but you were able to create a stellar staff that increased revenue by X amount of dollars over a year’s time. Being able to illustrate your successes in numbers helps to show a prospective employer just what type of return they can expect on their investment.

How Productive Was Your Staff?

Companies spend a lot of time looking at productivity, since they’re as aware as you are that time is worth money, and improving productivity decreases operating costs. If you can master the art of showing positive productivity gains in a non-complex way, you’ll get more job offers for executive positions.

As an example, you can show the time it took you to finish a large project that led to a revenue increase of 3% in a given year. Let’s say in simple terms that you were allotted 12 weeks of 40-hour per week shifts at $10/hr for 20 workers to complete a special project. Employee time, then, accounted for costs of $96,000. However, you invested in a new training module that cost $500 per employee, as well as updated software for $10,000 that cut the project time down to 6 weeks, including paid training time. Considering a final project cost of $68,000, your company saved 28K and improved revenue by 3%, not to mention improved process efficiency that allows workers to handle other important projects.

Other Numbers to Think About

If your segment of the company didn’t work in terms of revenue, you can still note numbers that represent progress. For instance, if your ran the customer service department of your company, you can look at the number of customers your department was responsible for, as well as increases in customer satisfaction. You might also look at the number of calls your department took, and the number of minutes spent on each call, to quantify your results.

Remember, just like on your previous jobs, prospective employers want to know their potential ROI when looking at candidates. You’re used to dealing with investments and returns, so use your experience to explain clearly why you should be hired.

Tags: executives, investment