Step 5: Quantification Workshop
Quantification is the fastest way to make your resume feel “real.” Most candidates list responsibilities. You want to show impact with scale, speed, reliability, and outcomes.
Principle
If a bullet has no numbers, it usually reads like fluff. Your job is to attach scope or result to every meaningful line.
What counts as “numbers”
Not every metric needs to be perfect. Use honest ranges and approximate values when needed.
Scope metrics
- # of users supported (e.g., 120–300 users)
- # of endpoints/servers (e.g., 450 endpoints, 35 servers)
- # of locations/sites (e.g., 6 branches)
- # of mailboxes/devices enrolled (e.g., 200+ Intune devices)
- # of accounts, groups, policies managed
Outcome metrics
- Time saved (e.g., reduced onboarding from 45 → 15 minutes)
- Ticket volume / SLA (e.g., 40–60 tickets/week, 95% SLA)
- Reduction in incidents/outages (e.g., -30% recurring issues)
- Security improvements (e.g., MFA rollout to 220 users)
- Automation gains (e.g., eliminated manual steps, reduced errors)
Other “numbers” that still hit
- Frequency: daily/weekly/monthly tasks (e.g., weekly patching, daily triage)
- Percentages: reductions, improvements, adoption rates
- Timeframes: “within 2 weeks,” “during incident response,” “in 30 days”
- Reliability: uptime targets, reduced mean time to resolution (MTTR)
How to estimate honestly (without making stuff up)
If you don’t have exact metrics, use conservative, defensible estimates. The goal is credibility.
- Use ranges: ~30–50 tickets/week, 150–250 users
- Use “approx” language: ~, approximately, around
- Prefer scope if you can’t quantify outcome (users/endpoints/sites)
- Prefer time saved if you can’t quantify money saved (minutes/hours/week)
- Never claim a number you can’t defend if asked, “How do you know?”
Before → After quantification
Example 1
Before
Managed device deployments and user onboarding.
After
Onboarded ~15–25 new users/month and deployed 200+ endpoints by standardizing provisioning workflows and reducing setup time from ~60 minutes to ~25 minutes per device.
Example 2
Before
Improved security by implementing MFA.
After
Rolled out MFA and Conditional Access to 220+ users, reducing risky sign-in events and improving audit readiness by enforcing modern authentication across key applications.
Example 3
Before
Automated processes using PowerShell.
After
Automated account provisioning and group-based access with PowerShell, cutting manual onboarding steps by ~50% and reducing common access-related tickets.
Tip
When you quantify, don’t cram numbers into every sentence. One strong metric per bullet is usually enough.
Action: quantify your own bullets
- Take 6 bullets from Step 4 (Experience → Bullet Points).
- For each bullet, add at least one of: scope (users/endpoints/sites) or outcome (time saved / reduction / improvement).
- Use ranges if needed. Keep them honest and defensible.
- Read each bullet out loud — if it sounds like fluff, tighten it.