Whether you call them results, accomplishments or contributions, including quantifiable results in your resume is the single best way to land a job interview. They grab readers' attention and highlight your greatest professional achievements.

"I spend a half hour every day screening 50 resumes or more, and if I don't spot some results in the first 10 seconds, the resume is history," says executive recruiter Lou Adler, president of CJA Associates in Tustin, Calif.

Although most career advisers recommend highlighting results in resumes, few candidates heed that advice. Instead, they fill their resumes with job titles, dates and duties. Some recruiters estimate that 75% of the resumes they read fail to include a single quantifiable result.

Yet every job hunter has achievements, big or small, that need to be presented. Recruiters agree that candidates who can demonstrate solid past accomplishments are likely to continue to perform as well in the future, making them a safer hiring bet.

Of course, it's not enough for you to know that you have certain achievements under your belt and potential. You have to prove it in your resume by bringing those results to life. Your competitors may have stronger and more impressive accomplishments than you, but if they fail to present them effectively, it's as though they don't exist, giving you a great advantage.

"Companies today are so results-oriented that applicants who can demonstrate they're bottom-line people can compete much better than those who are just selling experience," says Rick Sears, a recruiter with Management Recruiters International in Carlisle, Pa. "The person who can take achievements and turn them into benefits can overcome deficiencies in experience or education," he says.

Be SMART

An easy method of quantifying your experience in a resume is to follow the SMART approach: Results need to be Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and Time-based. When a result includes each point, it will have impact, say recruiters.

Michael Mottola, a downsized HR executive who's been charting and quantifying his results for more than 12 years, says he applied the SMART method to his resume with success. "It's so important in HR because it's difficult to quantify results in this field," he says. "When you can, it really makes a difference."

His results-filled resume landed Mr. Mottola an interview with the Frick division of York International in Waynesboro, Pa. And his portfolio, filled with letters and other documents that verified the results, earned him a job offer. "Someone could easily pick up the phone and verify virtually all of my results," he says.

To quantify your achievements, start by listing one or more accomplishments for each job you've held and describe your results concisely. Employers seek candidates who can boost profits, lower costs and solve problems. Specific information, such as percentages and dollar figures, make successes more tangible and impressive.

Compare the following two statements:

"Implemented new personnel policies which increased morale,"

"Implemented new personnel policies that reduced absenteeism by 27% and turnover by 24%."

The specific figures given in the second statement make the result more impressive.

Arriving at a percentage or dollar figure when you don't have verifying data requires estimating. It's great when you've got computer printouts or company documents to prove your claims, but you may lack that type of documentation. In some cases, explaining your claims in a cover letter is all you'll need.

"I don't mind when results are estimated, but I do want to get a feel for how much glass they had to crawl through. I want a sense of the agony and the ecstasy," says Jay Stenda, a recruiter for Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash. "People who describe an accomplishment and how it was accomplished will always get my attention." Later, Mr. Stenda says he'll probe in interviews to learn more about the results.

Bob Pepple, a recruiter with Fortune Personnel Consultants in Jacksonville, Fla., says he spends hours each week helping candidates rework their resumes to include results. "When I'm convinced someone has the right background, I'll show that person how to include results. For example, one candidate had stated, 'Oversaw the ISO 9000 process.' After a little coaching, he wrote, 'Completed ISO certification process within nine months with zero discrepancies.' That's the kind of detail that gave my client the assurance to interview this person," he says.

Even accomplishments that can't be translated into dollars, numbers or percentages can have impact. Statements such as, "Developed an inventory-control system that eliminated duplication of supplies," "Created engineering procedures that reduced product liability exposure" or "Brought the product to market ahead of schedule," can impress potential employers.

Consider the following examples used by successful candidates in their resumes:

• Developed a new production technique that increased productivity 7% (an operations manager).
• Significantly improved communications with the bank's service bureau and implemented modifications in the general-ledger system that streamlined operations and saved more than $20,000 per year (a bank manager).
• Developed new collection procedures which kept collection costs 34% below budget and reduced overdue accounts 27% (an accounting manager).
• Since 1993, have reduced inventory from $5.4 million to $2.9 million, with documented savings of $1.1 million (a facilities purchasing manager).
• Negotiated freight rates with a major carrier, cutting the rate by 18% and saving $85,000 per year (a traffic manager).
• Established a Total Quality program that reduced rejects 65% (production manager).

Which Resulted In...

Results are powerful, so if something positive and significant happened because of your accomplishment, it belongs on your resume. Train yourself to look for key results. If you're having trouble, try a simple technique. Prior to writing your resume, list your duties, areas of responsibility and projects for your current or most recent position, and then repeat this exercise for each preceding job. Don't be concerned about polished writing; just recall what you did.

As you list each duty or project, add the words which or which resulted in, then fill in the blank. For example, "Took over a troubled region and set up new customer-service procedures and marketing techniques," becomes, "Took over a troubled region and set up new customer-service procedures and marketing techniques, which increased market share from 4.8% to 6.5% in two years." The more powerful second statement stands out.

The words which and which resulted in compel you to take your activities and accomplishments to their logical conclusion. Continue asking the which question until you've identified every worthwhile result. Many people stop with just one result when there are several worth including. Identify all of them first, then decide which to use in your resume.

Projects are particularly rich in results. As you're thinking about a project, list the objectives or expectations. If you exceeded some, mention those points in your resume.

When quantifying results, determine whether the use of raw figures or percentages will have the greatest impact. For example, a regional sales manager might say, "Took sales from $24.8 million to $36.2 million in three years," or "Increased sales 46% in three years." Both are excellent ways of describing an impressive result. Sometimes it's appropriate to use both a dollar amount and a percentage: "Increased sales 46%, from $24.8 million to $36.2 million, in three years."

Beware of Errors

When describing results, candidates frequently make math mistakes that can seriously misrepresent their achievements. One manufacturing manager mistakenly stated that he'd reduced rejects by 200%, forgetting that nothing can be reduced by more than 99.99%. In fact, he'd taken rejects from 6% to 2%, which actually is a 67% reduction, still a major accomplishment. A sales manager with a fast growing start-up claimed he boosted sales 300% because sales had tripled from $450,000 the previous year to $1.3 million. Actually, tripling sales amounted to a 200% increase, not 300%. An HR manager stated his policies had reduced turnover 3%. Actually, turnover had been reduced from 8% to 5%, making it a 38% decrease, not 3%.

Percentages can be difficult to calculate. Here are two simple formulas to help you arrive at accurate figures. For an increase, the formula is (b-a)/a where a is the original number before the increase, and b is the number after the increase. For decreases, the formula is (a-b)/a where a is the number before the decrease and b is the number after the decrease.

When you don't feel comfortable trying to quantify an achievement, or are unsure of the numbers, try using the words "significantly" and "substantially." For example, "Developed new manufacturing techniques that significantly reduced rejects," and "Built strong relationships with customers which substantially increased customer loyalty."

While estimating results is a well-accepted practice in resumes and interviews, it's clearly to your advantage to have hard numbers on hand. In your current or next job, start quantifying by identifying areas you hope to improve, then establish benchmarks. If turnover in your department is high and you intend to lower it, go over past records to determine how many employees have come and gone in recent years and establish a turnover rate. Implement your new procedures and track turnover from that point on. As turnover falls, you'll not only be able to show results to your boss, but you'll have hard numbers on your resume to prove your results.

-- Mr. Washington is president of Career Management Resources, a Bellevue, Wash., career development and outplacement firm, and author of "Resume Power: Selling Yourself On Paper" (1996, Mt. Vernon Press).