Preparing your resume for a sales and marketing career

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In preparing your resume for a sales and marketing career, you should review resume advice and draft your resume accordingly. By following tips to craft your job search resume, you can put together an application that will stand out.

Choose a resume format

If you haven’t previously worked in sales and marketing or if you’re trying to change roles, consider using a functional or combination resume. That way, you can put the emphasis on your transferable skills. If most of your career to date has been in sales and marketing, stick with a chronological resume. This will show your time in the sales and marketing field and highlight your progression.

Determine points to highlight

Emphasize your accomplishments. Instead of including a laundry list of responsibilities, focus on the problems you solved and the results you delivered. For example, let’s say you started collecting the names and contact information for people who made inquiries on your website or at tradeshows over the summer. You might write something like this: “Generated 900 leads in three months, through web and event marketing tactics.” Wherever possible, use numbers – doing so shows that you’re resulted oriented.

Create a sales pitch

As a sales and marketing professional, you need to show you can sell your most important product – yourself. Work hard to create a winning resume career objective and cover letter, so that you sell your skills and experience to potential employers.

Include keywords

Sales and marketing pros draw from a wide variety of skills. No matter whether you come from a sales and marketing background or not, you probably already have some of those skills. For ideas, spend some time reading job ads. Try to include some of the following terms:

· Advertising

· Analyzing

· Coaching

· Closing sales

Communicating

· Creating

· Designing

· Hiring/firing

· Implementing

· Leadership

· Managing

· Marketing

· Merchandising

· Mentoring

· Motivating

· Planning

· Public relations

· Relationship building

· Selling

· Serving customers

· Team work

· Training

· Writing

Use numbers

Sales and marketing professionals base their careers on numbers. Those numbers include contacts made, leads generated, sales inquiries handled, sales closed, revenues generated, market share increased and so on. Use numbers in your resume to give examples of how you added value to an organization.

Get an edge
Review job postings for the positions you’d like to have, so that you know what employers want. Use social networking sites to make connections with people who can provide leads and references. And consider building an online brand, so that you can influence employers who look you up on the web. By going beyond what usual job seekers do, you can capture an employer’s attention.


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