Resume Help - Sales Executive
Below is the first half of a résumé written by a sales candidate. We will call him John.
John’s résumé is substantially sub standard. It is unlikely that John will be able to secure the right types of interviews despite the fact that he is well educated and has a fairly good track record of success.
John begins the résumé with his contact information as an indented section. This is extremely unusual and is aesthetically displeasing to the eye. He also has an extra space before the name John and extra space after Iowa.
The formatting of his phone numbers and email is unappealing and confusing. This lack of attention to detail, early on in his résumé, makes a very poor initial impression. The bolded all caps appearance is not ideal. John should either left justify his name and contact information or center it.
His name should be larger than the address and contact information and he should consider removing the brackets from either the area code or the (H) home and (C) cell. They are bunched together and could be typeset in a much more appealing manner that would be easier to read.
John’s career summary leaves me wondering what he wants to do. Does he want to sell, market, practice law, or be a recruiter? After speaking with him, I found out he would like to become an Account Manager for a staffing firm and possibly leverage his background in the legal industry.
To improve the clarity and focus of the résumé, John should choose a Headline that shows the reader immediately his focus is on sales and account management. It could say the following:
Next, John should let the reader know that he has a legal background in addition to his staffing background. This can be accomplished in numerous ways; a trained professional résumé writer can help John to position himself well for the specific type of role he wants.
If John likes, he can have multiple branding statements below his Headline and can modify them based upon what type of role he is applying for. This will give him maximum flexibility.
John should provide a list of key word rich competencies. His summary should be rewritten to paint a picture of his overall strengths and capabilities.
Because John’s history in staffing and the legal industry is dated and appears early in his career history, a hybrid résumé format that has a career highlights section would be very useful to him. It will allow him to pull relevant achievements up to the beginning of the résumé, rather than burying them at the bottom.
To view specific comments about John’s résumé, click on the image below.;)
Would you like to have your résumé critiqued by a certified professional résumé writer?
If so, email Debra@careersdonewrite.com.
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