Preparing Your Resume
A resume is a selling document. It helps buyers (employers) understand the features and benefits of hiring you. It must clearly represent your credentials and your career goals to people with the authority to purchase them. How can you develop an effective resume?
Resumes and other employment documents have standardized components that employers want to see. In addition, there are proven formats for presenting your information. And there are focusing documents that help you target your resume toward specific jobs.
Resume Components
The components to most professional resumes are experience, credentials, references, and contact. The experience section tells employers what you've done. Credentials outline what you know or have been recognized for. References communicate what others say about you. Contact information tells how employers can communicate with you. Following are some proven tips for developing the components of your resume.
Begin your experience component with the latest event and work backward.
Only include experience that is relevant to the position for which you are applying.
If you have other experience, summarize how it relates to your primary experience if it does.
Use measurable terms: customers, dollars, percentages, etc.
Make sure you get permission to use references before you list them.
Offer multiple ways of contacting you including e-mail, voice, fax, and other methods. If appropriate, list days or hours that you are or are not available to discuss employment.
There are numerous books and online resources available on writing effective resumes. Make sure that the method or product that you use accurately represents you.
Chronological Resume
The chronological resume is popular, especially with people who are selling skills that don't need much elaboration. You worked at Bob's Widget Store as a retail clerk, then became a wholesale salesperson at Acme Widgets. The chronology of your jobs shows growth and increasing responsibility. Chronological resumes list your jobs and responsibilities by the dates that they occurred.
Chronological resumes are especially effective when the companies you've worked for and the positions you've had are recognizable. In addition, they can emphasize your longevity at jobs, showing that you are a stable employee. However, if you have moved from job to job, you may be better represented by a functional resume.
Functional Resume
A functional resume focuses on what you did rather than for whom. It will group your employment by functions. Here's where you've worked as a retail salesperson and here's where you worked in wholesale sales. Each entry will show progressive accomplishments, and they will be ordered to illustrate how you've grown in your sales career.
Functional resumes are useful as you develop your career in a specific trade. It also can help you show related background experience, such as your earlier work in the shipping department of Bob's Widget Store. Functional resumes are a little more difficult to write than chronological, but can be invaluable for presenting an image of professional growth across numerous opportunities that don't look as valuable if presented chronologically.
Lose the superlatives. Sales managers and human resource (HR) personnel are sophisticated buyers of salespeople. Don't try to sell them with phrases like “Fantastic salesperson” or “You won't be sorry.” Instead, give them what other buyers want: factual and usable information. Give them specifics: “Increased sales by 45 percent in three months” or “Awarded Salesperson of the Year in a company with twenty-two offices worldwide.” Sell yourself as you want to be known.
Combined Resume
For many professional positions, the chronological-functional resume format works best. It shows your growth in abilities and responsibilities. The combined resume is most effective if you have worked for fewer employers, but have risen in position. At Bob's Widget Store, you began in the shipping department, moved to retail clerk, then assistant manager.
The Cover Letter
The purpose of a resume is to earn an interview. The function of a cover letter is to get the resume read. It is a focusing tool. It bridges the gap between the employer's job description and your resume. Your resume can earn you numerous sales jobs. The cover letter will help the employer understand why you are the right candidate for their specific job.
There are four common elements in the typical resume:
Subject
Qualifications summary
Focused qualifications
Urge to action
For example:
SUBJECT: Thank you for your considering my credentials as a sales manager for Acme Widgets.
QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: I offer your firm five years' of progressive experience in selling to business clients. (Elaborate.)
FOCUSED QUALIFICATIONS: Most importantly, I am a proven self-manager with experience helping other salespeople to reach their own and their employers' goals. (Elaborate.)
URGE TO ACTION: Please contact me at your convenience to discuss your position further and to discover how I can help your business grow.
Your cover letter will be more detailed and relevant. The suggested outline can guide you in writing a focused letter that transitions between the job and you. It can help the employer buy what you are selling.
