Not all resumes are created equal. At Sprint, we’ve written many blogs on the importance of a great resume in order to sell yourself to a prospective employer. However, if you’re in sales, there are a few other important details you must include. Yes. The layout should be neat, clear fonts, dates to one side etc etc…but what about the actual content? The actual words you choose? Here is what we recommend you include when putting together a Sales resume.

Remember, if an employer advertises a new role, they may receive over 100 resumes (sometimes more!) and a recruiter can receive several hundred in one week. If they know what they are doing they can scan a resume in about 30 seconds. So you need to make sure you are standing out and highlighting the important information that recruiters/employers are looking for!

WHAT ARE RECRUITERS LOOKING FOR IN A SALES RESUME?

Amongst other things – A HIGH ACHIEVER. A “Do-er”, a driving force, a self-motivated, energetic and positive person. Whilst I am very interested in hearing all about the HOW (relating to targets, KPI’s, day to day activities), I really want to see WHAT you have achieved.
Recently I placed a very senior sales person. To put it bluntly, she is a Sales Rocket when it comes to driving new business. She’s fearless and her resume showed that as soon as I opened it. I booked her in immediately and I had no issues in engaging clients to meet with her the minute I put her resume in front of them. Yes, she had to sell herself in the interview but I strongly believe that the points she outlined on paper were just as important when it came to securing the role.

WHAT DO I INCLUDE IN A SALES RESUME?

Here is a snippet of bullet points from her resume, the ones that showed me WHAT she had achieved:

Duties:

• Successfully drove a permanent recruitment desk and managed end-to-end recruitment processes across a range of organisations from large global companies to ASX listed businesses
• Built and managed relationships with key stakeholders by maintaining a regular account management strategy
• Negotiated Terms of Business, fee, rates and figures with existing and new business
• New business development on a weekly basis
• Meeting all KPI’s on a weekly basis relating to call volumes, client visits, interviews and activity

Achievements:

• Winner ‘2013’ Business Activity Incentive Award
• Top Biller Quarter 1,2,3 ‘2013’
• Organiser for client training program in 2012, 2013 & 2014 (weekly group fitness with clients)
• Organiser for the Women In Leadership events through XYZ
• Successful on pitching, winning and placing over 8 retained assignments

Billings:

• Q1 2013: XXX – Q2 2013: XXX – Q3 2013: XXX – Q4 2013: XXX

Obviously these points were coming from a sales person who worked in the recruitment industry,. But whatever your industry the same method applies. Be VERY descriptive with regards to what you did, your achievements and make it sales specific. List the outcomes and your achievements with an emphasis on financial wins/gains (at the end of the day – this is what counts in sales and to our client who wants results).

Tailoring your resume for the role you want and highlighting the key factors that make you the right candidate for the role are often overlooked by candidates. If you want to work in sales – be proud of your results and sell your most important product… yourself!

If you have more questions about putting your resume together, be sure to refer to Sprint Coach and see our other tips. Alternatively, contact us directly at sprint@sprintpeople.com.au

Naomi Marshall – Director
P: (02) 9271 0011
M: 0422 139 910
E: naomi@sprintpeople.com.au