Sales Resume Advice

Ask A Recruiter

Dear Recruiter,

I recently started searching for a new sales opportunity. I have one year of experience working at a fast paced and rapidly growing software company. I like working in the technology industry, but I am looking for a position with more growth and stability within the company. I am a hard worker and make between 70-80 cold calls everyday. I have received advice to add numbers to my sales resume. However, does it really help to include a bullet expressing that I make 70-80 cold calls a day, considering I am only making three sales per week?

Dear Candidate,

The accomplishment summary section should simply include bullets with accomplishments expressed numerically; this is what sales hiring managers will see first when they give your resume a ten second scan. The short bullets can express numbers and percentages about activity, revenue, results (including quota and goal attainment), conversion, and ranking. Together, they cause the reader to perceive you as someone driven for success in sales. As an entry level sales person and recent college grad, this is very important to express in this job market.

Calls per day, even if only 40 per day, makes the point that you were not just waiting for the phone to ring; you were going after it. Three deals a week could be perceived as a healthy conversion rate (unless the average first year rep typically closed many more per week than three). It seems good to me… A ratio of calls made to appointments scheduled could be another healthy metric to express. Success in sales at the entry level is about attitude, consistent effort, process, and conversion; this is the lens through which hiring managers are scanning resumes.

For example, the "Business Development Representative" role can add a lot of value to a candidate's resume. This is a typical entry level sales role in growing software companies; BDR's respond to inbound interest but also make outbound calls every day. The conversion is calls to prospects generated and defined. These prospects are handed to the more senior inside sales force to close. After twelve to twenty four months in a BDR role, you would be a candidate for a technology inside sales role based on success achieved in the BDR role.

Again, there are many types of numbers you can add to your resume to create favorable positioning while remaining truthful.

Hope this helps.