Dumb it down for success!

January 26th, 2009 Posted in News

Quick Sales Resume Advice (applicable in any economy…paramount in contemporary times)

Save yourself a lot of time when creating/updating your CV by focusing on the facts. Hiring managers in this environment (every hire is critical, new revenue is critical to sustaining the business, and loads of talent on the street) are assessing resumes for potential sales candidates through a very critical filter. They are principally looking for one thing when reviewing your resume…performance history.

Consequently, creative writing, fancy formatting, hyperbole and three-dollar words are less effective ways to promote candidacy. At a minimun, the gratuitous narrative can be an uncessary distraction and, at worst, can undermine the effort if a time strapped manager misses your sterling accomplishments amidst the flowery fodder and files your resume in the PASS folder.

So, here are a few tips:

•  Results and performance metrics should permeate your resume from the opening section through each of your previous positions.
• Use empirical facts/figures to showcase quota attaiment (include actual figures as well, e.g. Did $2m on a $1.5m quota).
• Document large deals or strategic wins
• Stack ranking against peers…very powerful if compelling and credible (don’t make them up or indicate that you were #1 out of 2 reps)
• Companies want “Hunters”..if you indicate that you are a ”Hunter” it will only have impact if you back it up with examples and quantifiable bullets. 

The hackneyed adage less is more is the golden resume rule in the not so guilded age of 2009. It is about..what you sold, who you sold to, and most importantly, how you did. Focus on these areas to maximize the percentage of times your resume ends up in the “interview asap” column versus the “pass column”. As an added bonus, you’ll save a lot of content creation time!