How do you rise above all other sales candidates to get noticed by a sales recruiter? It’s important to understand what sales recruiters are actually looking for when sourcing candidates. I have been a recruiter for over 4 years and nothing frustrates me more than receiving a resume that has nothing to do with the job posting. This shows me that you are submitting your resume to all sales postings in your area with the hope that someone calls back with a great comp plan and quick hiring process. You’ll submit a resume with no accolades, no rankings, nothing that screams “hire me”, and above all, you’ll submit a resume with a LinkedIn profile link only to find out that the profile is out of date and sloppy.
See below for the 3 ways to get noticed by a sales recruiter
Create a targeted resume
Sales resumes can be difficult to navigate and understand. On average, sales recruiting agencies will spend no more than 9 seconds on a resume. This partially because an average job posting attracts over 250 resumes before a successful hire is made. That is a lot of resumes to sift through. So, you have 9 seconds to capture the attention of a sales recruiter! How can you possibly do that? Take your time and do your homework. Create a resume that will echo the responsibilities of the position you’re applying for. There are plenty of things to leave off the resume, but we’ll get into that in a different article.
Focus on the objective. If this is an industrial sales role, and your resume screams software sales, you may need to push different key words to the top. Key words that represent the position’s responsibilities.
Show off a little, or a lot
Very few things tell your story better than results. So make them stand out from the rest of the resume. Don’t be so wordy, let’s remember, you only have 9 seconds!
Change the way you write.
Sales Talent Inc suggests changing ‘Received President’s Club award within first year of employment, which recognizes outstanding sales professionals and leaders that fall within the top 10% of the organization’. Instead use this format:
- President’s Club, 2017
- #11/164 reps 2017
- $1,340,000 revenue (125% of goal)
- 8 sales/weekly average
Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. The recruiter will see your successes and appreciate the simple approach. This will help you stand out from the rest.
LinkedIn Profile
It’s widely known that LinkedIn is the Facebook of Business Professionals. Having the ability to look at a candidate’s professional life before reaching out is one of the most important aspects to Sales Recruiting.
Here are a few things a sales recruiter is looking for when viewing a candidate’s profile.
- Consistency. Does the resume match the LI profile?
- Does the candidate have a professional image?
- Is their profile full and well-written?
- Did they take this profile seriously?
The first on the list, easily the most important. Your resume, dates, rankings, jobs, all need to match your LinkedIn profile. If they do not, the sales recruiter may just delete the resume and move on to the next. Clearly this candidate did not take their profile seriously, will they take the job seriously?
In order to stand out from the crowd, you have to do something different. Think different/be different than the rest of the resumes that the recruiter will look at during his/her workday. Again I will reinstate, on average, a job posting attracts over 250 resumes! Only a handful of those resumes will be selected for an interview and only one or two will be hired. Will it be you?
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