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When writing an effective sales CV it’s important to remember who you are targeting and what you are trying to achieve. If you are applying for three different companies who have slightly different products, services or even sales methods then you should ideally design a unique CV for each so that you can hone your wording and phraseology to match the role that you are applying for.

2. It’s important to remember that in our industry there are hundreds of different titles for similar positions. In certain organisations these titles are not an accurate representation when compared to the actual job role. For this reason it’s important to give enough clear and concise details about the role that will allow a hiring manager or decision maker to easily get to grips with your actual experience in as short a space as possible. No matter what your title make sure that you highlight your duties and any specifics such as whether you were office or field based, what revenue targets you had to achieve/achieved, number of people you were managing etc.

3. For every job advertised on the net or recruited for by an agency the company involved will probably receive between 50 and 100 CVs and will probably only bring one 10th of these people forward for interview. Using an agency is a great start as if they have a good relationship with their clients it gives you an almost definite chance of securing the interview. To make sure that one of the candidates brought forward is you, you need to focus on the key area that is the biggest clue as to whether or not you can be successful in the given role: YOUR EXPERIENCE - It’s invaluable. Remember that the biggest proof that you can do something is the fact that you’ve done it before! Separate skills from your duties and even where your experience was not in a similar role, highlight the duties and in particular the skills which you gained which are going to be important in the role you’re applying for.

4. The present is most relevant. List your work experience first and in reverse chronological order and list it before your educational qualifications, hobbies and interests etc.

5. As we say in sales: Keep It Short and Simple! Decision makers have a lot of CVs to read. Make yours a pleasure by sticking to what’s relevant and important and keeping it interesting, yet easily understood. Avoid overusing jargon or technical terms that people may either misunderstand or that they may not see the relevance to.

6. Make it personal. Talk about your hobbies and interests and where relevant your major achievements as these will give a good insight into your personality and ability to work within a team. Be tactful though as Base Jumping and World Travelling are not always seen as great when you’re a highly paid executive!

7. As our employment market becomes more competitive staff retention is becoming a number one priority within organisations. Quality employers will be looking to hire and develop staff over a period of four to five years therefore it’s important to list your Reasons for Leaving at the end of each position on your CV. Make sure they’re positive and never bad mouth a previous employer.

8. Give references. References show that you left on good terms and built a good reputation for yourself within your last organisation. You should list at least two on your CV and where possible they should be from your most recent employers. References should always include a land line work number, name and title of the referee, and their relationship to you in your position. This will give employers comfort that the person they are checking your reference with is legitimate.

9. Use a simple layout with plain text (no colour) and no boxes and/or tables as these may format differently on someone else’s system.

10. Make sure to save your CV as Word 97-2003 document (.doc). It’s the most readily accessible and corporate computer systems don’t always open Works/PDF documents. Remember that corporates don’t always allow staff to install their own programmes and they may not be able to download relevant readers for your document types. Make it easy for them by allowing people to view your CV with ease or else they may just skip your application!

Courtesy of: SOS School of Sales

http://www.schoolofsales.com