Most resumes make me want to throw up! What does yours say?
I talk to people almost daily who all have the same question — “I’ve sent out XX copies of my resume and I haven’t received a single response. What should I do?” Of course, I always start out by asking them to email or fax me the resume, although I really don’t even need to read it to know why they aren’t getting any response. These are people who are applying for a sales position and they don’t even know the first thing about selling themselves! 99% of the resumes I see are so generic and boring that I want to throw up.
I’ll cut some slack to the recent college graduate who has never put together a sales resume before, but how about doing some research to find out what a killer medical sales resume looks like? I understand that for the most part, most of these candidates have not held a real sales position before. But there are ways to construct your resume and tell about yourself in ways that some hiring manager will say, “I like this. This person thinks like a sales professional.”
And then there are the quote, “seasoned pros” who really want to make me throw up. I mean, here are men and women who claim to have a solid history of sales performance, yet their resumes still look and read like everyone elses’! This could lead the reviewer to believe that you are going to position his company’s products or services just like everyone else’s and get the same results that everyone else is getting — average.
Focus your resume on why the company is going to hire you in the first place — it’s not because you were president of the chess club or played fullback on the JV team. What’s in it for them if they hire you?? Can you tell them succinctly and in precise terms what you are going to bring to the table and how they stand to benefit once you are on board.
Look at your resume right now. What makes you stand out? If you can’t tell from your resume, do it over. Everyone has unique qualities and experiences that can be leveraged towards their next sales position. If you’re not getting any replies to your resume, it’s because there is something wrong with your resume — not you. My advice - fix it!
