The Anatomy of a Good Sales Resume

As a recruiter, on a daily basis, I see all types of sales resumes; some are good, some are decent while others are not even worth a glance. If you are a sales professional or, for that matter, are in any other field, your resume is your key to success. A resume is crucial, yet executive level professionals still have misspellings, leave out key data and don’t worry about the content and format of the CV (curriculum vitae). Plainly stated, if your resume is not good, you are not going to get a good job. A poor resume alludes to the fact that the applicant is either lazy, cannot do web research or both.

Listed below, you will see the necessities of a sales resume. This should help you gauge whether or not your sales resume is up to snuff.

1. Format – format is everything. The format of your resume is the first thing that people look at and judge. With an unemployment rate over 9%, your competition is too stiff for you to obtain any sort of an interview when your resume looks disorganized.

2. Proper, Descriptive English – make sure that your grammar is perfect on your resume. You should not only check it yourself, but you ought to have someone proofread it again. Also, never be vague when it comes to describing your duties at a previous job. For instance, there is a big difference between “managed sales team” and “actively managed a sales team of 10 senior level sales representatives who carried an annual quota of 10.5 million.” If the resume reader does not know exactly what you do, your resume and subsequent application is not going to be accepted.

Additionally, have a header on your resume which clearly states what your specialty is. A good example would be “Sales Hunter / Sales Manager”

3. Numbers – if you want a good sales job, you must put sales numbers, sales percentages and list your annual quotas. Doing so will make you competitive in the job market and will help a HR representative determine if you are a fit for the position. This saves time and energy as you don’t want to go all the way to an interview only to find that you are not what they are looking for.

4. Sales Buzz Words – here are some words which sales recruiting parties love to see, use them sparingly, but make sure they are on your sales resume: “sales hunter”, “road warrior (if applicable)”, “cold-calling,” “prospecting,” “new business acquisition,” “networking,” “sales leadership,” “C-level salesmanship”

5. Who Have You Sold To – make sure you include the different industries in which you have sold into during your career. For instance, some sales people are quite good at selling into the government and are paid highly for that. They should have this clearly stated on their resume. That way, a hiring party can pinpoint them as an accurate and potential candidate.

Remember: you only get one chance to submit your resume. There is no going back.

Author Bio: Ken Sundheim owns a New York executive sales and marketing employment agencies and operates a recruiting blog sales recruiting marketing recruiting blog

Category: Business
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