I am in the process of hiring 4 more sales people for a new market we are entering in Western Canada. Our organization is in growth mode (good) and we do not have the resources to have HR pre-screen candidates (bad).
This puts me in a position where I am responsible for the full hiring process - from reviewing incoming applications right through to the eventual offer. I currently manage 12 sales people so I have to make sure that the time I dedicate to recruiting is efficient.
Each resume I look at gets a 60 second run through. If it catches my attention I’ll spend a few minutes with it and if the candidate looks promising I’ll fire off an email to book a telephone interview.
Below are some sales resume tips for sales people that are looking to make a career change:
Make it personal. Your cover letter should show that you have put at least a little effort into applying for this position. Spend some time with the job description and write a brief cover letter that is specific to the position posted. Tell me who you are, why you love selling and what you have accomplished in three short paragraphs. Check your spelling and grammar, if you can’t take the time to spell check, I don’t want you in front of our prospects and customers! Lastly, if you are going to use a generic letter and customize it make sure you review first. I had a decent looking resume come in with a cover letter that was made out to a furniture store ” although my experience isn’t in the furniture industry…..”. That one went in the shredder pretty quick.
List your accomplishments. For every 10 sales resumes I get only 1-2 have accomplishments listed. If you can’t tell me about sales territories that you have grown, sales awards you have won or big name clients you have signed than I will assume you haven’t grown, won or signed any significant business
Explain any red flags. There may be a good reason (downsizing, management/ownership changes) that your last two jobs stints have been brief. Tell me what they are or I will assume you are a job jumper. If there is a 4 month gap in employment let me know what you were doing.
I will assume you were sitting around the house smoking blunts, so if you weren’t - and were building homes in Africa or helping your wife launch a new business - tell me about it.
Don’t list every job you’ve ever had. Your last 10 years work history is more than enough. I really don’t care that you worked at Acme Video in 1993.
The job market is getting tight. We are seeing 3-4x the amount of resumes we normally see for an open sales position. Take the time to put together a strong, relevant resume and you will book more interviews.
