Your Resume: A Hiring Manager’s Perspective
Your data matters. The hero's journey behind it matters more.
You’ve updated your resume, but there’s the uncomfortable thought: “What if my numbers aren’t impressive enough? Other candidates will have larger budgets, bigger teams, or have grown revenue faster.”
This isn’t a test where bigger is always better. Numbers get attention, but the explanation behind it is what makes a hiring manager believe you can do the job.
My experience as an interviewer
We are not recruiters or HR professionals. However, my co-author and I have 20+ years of experience building teams: brand new teams, tiger teams, cross-functional teams, and transforming existing teams.
Through this work, we have interviewed people for a wide range of professional roles and seniority levels, from interns to executives. We’ve listened to hundreds of people explain their accomplishments.
How people solved problems - what challenges they walked into, what tradeoffs they faced, and how they figured it out - is one of my favorite aspects of interviewing.
So I want to share what we’ve seen makes for a truly epic interview story.
Because while incorporating data into your resume is important, it’s the story behind that data that gets you hired.
Data on the resume vs. the story behind it
Many candidates worry that others have ‘better’ numbers. But as an interviewer, I don’t just look at the numbers.
For instance, a product manager who grew product revenue by 50% or 20% may be as interesting as one who grew it 300%. A marketer with 45% web traffic growth may be more appealing than one with 6000% social media growth. Similarly, a blogger who gained 10K subscribers in 6 months might be less of a fit than someone who built an engaged audience of 4K over 2 years.
Both candidates are impressive in these examples, but the stories behind their results will reveal very different journeys. The context in which they operated and the actions they took to achieve those outcomes are what truly distinguish them.
Setting the stage
If a number is on your resume, there is likely a good story behind it. And every good narrative needs the stage set.
As a potential employer, I want to hear the context around your numbers. Job search coaches call this step the “Situation” or “Context” or “Challenge.”
The most memorable interview answers will have tension. What needed to change? What problem were you facing? Was there risk? Pressure? Uncertainty? Was it:
A new opportunity to be conquered, such as a new product launch or a new company that’s going to change how the market operates.
A villain to fight, like a competitor stealing market share or a sudden market disruption.
Desperate stakes to overcome, like financial or operational troubles or the cancellation of a major client or grant.
This set-up helps the interviewer quickly grasp the scope of the problem and your role. With smaller problems, I look for a story that showcases a variety of your skills. Larger scopes often involve teams, so I look for you to tie the results to your individual contributions.
With a compelling set up complete, you move onto the best part of the story.
Your hero story
The story behind the data is a tale where you are the hero. How do I know that? Because I’ve already seen the end - the data, the results, on your resume.
This should be the biggest part of your story and be focused on what you did. It features your unique contributions, judgement, and problem solving.
“I suspected the problem was …… but then learned that was incorrect. So I analyzed ……, and found that we needed to do this instead.”
“We had budget and time to pursue only option 1 or option 2, but not both. So I…..”
“Overnight, our most lucrative line of business was made obsolete. I worked with ….. to build a plan to …..”
It is the story of how you faced the challenges in front of you and solved the problems you encountered. Many people can 3x their revenue, but how you achieved that is your differentiator.
The data on your resume are the quantified results. They are the ‘happily ever after’ or the resolution of your epic hero’s journey.
When you bring all three of these together, this becomes the story of your impact that your interviewer wants to hear.
Relevant interviewing frameworks
This approach maps to common frameworks (CAR - Circumstance/Action/Result and STAR - Situation/Task/Action/Result) recommended by job search coaches. They can feel mechanical, so use them to structure your hero story, but not as a rigid script. Focus on telling the story of your unique journey and actions.
Final thoughts
When preparing your resume and quantifying your accomplishments, spend the time to craft your hero story. If writing about yourself feels challenging, imagine a loved one or friend is telling this story about you, celebrating your achievements honestly and vividly.
From an interviewer’s perspective, I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing hundreds of these hero stories, which highlight human creativity, judgment, resilience, and smart risk-taking.
While a resume is like a sales brochure and the interview part of a sales process, the goal is never overselling. It’s about helping the interviewer understand your potential fit for the role and the organization. So be proud of your numbers and accomplishments, and confidently share the compelling story behind them.