Your Curriculum Vitae, or CV for short, is more than a documentation of your employment
history and your core skills. It’s the first impression your potential employer gets of you, and so
it has to convey something of your character beyond a rote series of lists. After all, a potential
employer in the sales industry is banking on your personality as much as your credentials.
You shouldn’t view your CV as just a piece of paper. It’s a firm handshake; a well kept
appearance; the ability to maintain eye contact. Taking care of your presentation during the
interview is important, but without similar care when writing your CV, you’ll struggle to make it
to the face-to-face stage. In the below guide we’ll take you through some of the essential dos &
don’ts to ensure you remain a cut above the rest.
- Keep things concise. Your CV should be two sides of A4 as a maximum. You want to
reflect your sales technique from step one, and someone who waffles on and on about
extraneous details is going to get left by the wayside. Strip away anything not relevant
to your desire to work in sales — they don’t need to know about the paper round you
did when you were 14. - Give examples when outlining your role within previous companies. It’s not enough to
say that you worked as part of a sales team; emphasise specific instances where you
specifically received recognition, quoting statistics as and where it’s possible. What CRM
do you use? How many team members do you manage? How do your average sales
targets compare to what you are achieving? In the sales industry numbers are essential. - Indicate an awareness for industry terminology. Remember that you’re not writing the
CV for a layman, so discuss your qualities and past experiences using sales jargon.
Describe your goals in terms of KPIs, clarify whether your focus is B2B or B2C, and in the
process you’ll emphasise your immersion within the sector. - Make your opening personal profile short and snappy. Explain your core qualities,
drives, and what it is that has pushed you to take this specific role. Each time you apply
for a new job you should tweak this section so that it reflects the particular position.
Employers know you’re applying to another companies, but you should give them the
impression that this role is the one you want. - Don’t be afraid to detail why you left past jobs. By its nature career progression will
always involve leaving certain companies, but this can be turned into a strength. Show a
clear sense of intent regarding your decisions for moving between different positions,
and illustrate why this advancement has led you to the job in question. - Detail what your previous employers sell. Often people will only talk in terms of figures
and statistics, but the subject of your sales is key too. The perfect salesman can sell anything, of course, but emphasising how your sales history relates to the product line
of your new potential employer will only further emphasise the thought you’ve given
this individual role.
If you are keen to know more, please call our team on 01212274690
