From the advice I've read on Monster's resume & cover letter advice as well as other related sites suggests to quantify your past employment accomplishments with increased revenue or customer base. My work history includes administrative and accounting support as customer service. In my 10+ year experience in my field I am not able to determine a numerical value. My 2 layoffs were due to a project that ended & eliminated my position & an impact on the auto industry advertising cut backs in 2008 & not from lack of productivity. I have, for example, taken initive to improving, modifying & streamlining billing processes & production estimates which were tailored & necessary to satisfy & accommodate our client's needs. To access a numerical value to accomplishments / contributions like these is difficult unless you receive an acknowledgement from your supervisor or the company, which I have received from 1 company. Most small companies neglect to acknowledge when proformance is up.  I need advice on defining my attributes & help validating my skills & capabilities that would benefit the company when writing a cover letter.

 I have been on only 7 interviews in the 13 months I been unemployed.  Please critique my cover letter & resume to improve my chances of being hired. Four of the interviews were for part-time & mentioned concern in hiring someone satisfied with only 20-30 hrs. weekly. A couple of  interested prospects added to my disappointment  when I wasn't chosen between 2 other candidates. It's getting difficult not feeling discouraged & maintaining my confidence. I apologize for the lengthy post. Thanks in advance for your help.

Attn: Hiring Manager

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

This letter is to express my interest in the Administrative Assistant position posted on ____. I am attaching my resume for your perusal. Thank you for reviewing my skills and experience as a possible candidate. 

 

Throughout my career as an administrative and accounting professional, I have been known as a quick learner, self-starter and a dedicated worker. My experiences have allowed me to acquire the skills to adapt to changes in priorities, multi-task effectively and maintain confidentiality. My background includes significant experience with computer software commonly used in today’s offices including Microsoft Office, Excel, Outlook and Quick Books as well as all core functions, document preparations, A/P, A/R, billing, data entry and records management. I pay attention to details and able to find effective solutions to get the job done.

 

In addition to my administrative skills, I have excellent communication and customer service skills and I have a passion for helping others and making a difference. Although I work well independently, I am equally comfortable working as part of a team. I am flexible, organized, and enthusiastic and I have a very high degree of commitment to my work.

 

Should you feel that my experiences be of value to your organization, l would look forward to an opportunity to meet with you and learn more about the requirements of the position and how my qualifications would be a good fit.

Hi AdminOfficePro,

Thank you for posting your resume and cover letter to this forum. I understand that it's not always possible to quantify accomplishments, especially when you don't have access to information about measurable outcomes. Instead, think about the significance of your accomplishments and the ways that your employers benefited from your performance. It doesn't have to be by increasing revenue or the customer base by a certain percentage, but it could be by enhancing customer satisfaction following changes in billing procedures. If you have access to testimonials -- even informal email thank you notes -- you can add excerpts into the resume to show how valuable your work was. You streamlined billing processes -- did this generate an increased cash flow? If you don't know by how much, think in other terms -- were bills paid faster? Was there an increase in orders because estimates were prepared so quickly?

Your resume and cover letter are a good start. I recommend adding a career goal to your resume. You have a diverse work history and skills, so spell out what type of position you're targeting in your resume. You can add this to your "Summary" section. You should also do a thorough proofreading and make sure your content is clean and consistent. For example, you spelled "QuickBooks" three different ways -- change this to QuickBooks (manufacturer's spelling). I would also cut down on the use of ampersands in the body text. Thoroughly proofread your documents and correct other errors, like the missing "I'm" in the cover letter ("I pay attention to details and I'm able to...). For admin positions especially, your documents need to be perfect.

I hope this gives you a starting point for improving your documents. Good luck to you!