Everything
else!

We recruit Salespeople across various industries at all levels. It is amazing that quite often, salespeople who are selling to their clients all day long, who know how to show a value proposition and who know how to overcome objections, quite often do not sell themselves at all.

We are not mind readers, so when you send us a CV after you have applied for a sales role, surely you should be thinking about what you want us to see? Do you think we would be interested in the product you sell and to who you sell it too? Do you think we would be interested to see your sales achievements that show you are a salesperson? Do you think some information about what you are looking for would be pertinent to your job application? And lastly, do you think your LinkedIn profile should at least have some similarity to the CV you have just sent us? More relevantly, you should be thinking about what do prospective employers want to know about you?

Sales is a hard job with all of its different permutations, whether it is a phone or a field based role, whether you are paid commissions on revenue generated or are given KPI’s with team bonuses or whether you are involved with short transactional sales cycles or long solutions based sales cycles, that involve herding stakeholders! In any event, as recruiters, we see hundreds of applications every day for jobs that we advertise and if you stand any chance of being considered for a role you apply for, you need to at least look like you have the experience and qualifications on paper to do the role that will warrant us calling you to discuss further.

Furthermore, you need to ensure your LinkedIn profile is a good sales tool for you. Every client we recruit for, will accept our CVs and the first thing they do is check out your LinkedIn profile. If they don’t match, or worse you do not have a LinkedIn profile, especially if you work in Sales, you have killed your chance of getting an interview.

LinkedIn uses Boolean search protocols, so ensure you use relevant keywords related to your job search in your LinkedIn profile so recruiters and talent teams can find you. That is especially true if you have activated the Open to Work banner on your profile.

Please consider everything being said when you make any job application. You are the best seller of you, and you have to get it right in the first instance when creating your CV and your LinkedIn profile. That does not mean paying someone to do that for you, they do not know you! The construction and design of your CV (unless you are in multimedia) is irrelevant, what is important is factual information about your sales career, that will make us take notice of you, your sales capability and sales achievements are important. We can help you construct your CV when we meet.

We see so many people whose confidence has been knocked, as they feel they are not getting interviews or any feedback from recruiters, this thinking is justified if you are selling yourself well in the first instance. You should be getting feedback if you have a great CV! Your CV is a living document and you need to think about how you sell yourself every time you make a job application. Your CV is only a tool to help you find your next job but it is the first thing people see when you apply for a job.

Looking for a job is a job in itself; you have to give it the time and consistency it deserves to get the feedback you require. Now that we are seeing more layoffs in this uncertain economic climate, you are up against lots of people all doing the same thing as you, looking for a new job! If you help yourself, we will be able to help you.