There are people who don't bother with writing a resume, they quickly draft a document listing their professional experience and qualifications and send to multiple companies. However, such an approach can hardly bring any positive results because there are other types of candidates who care enough to spend over 3-5 hours on a resume. The problem with the first group of job seekers is they don't tailor their CV for specific requirements of every job opening and that's why they lose the competition. But they do it not necessarily because they are lazy. Many job seekers simply don't know how they could polish up a resume in order to stand out among the crowd of other candidates...
Think Like a Salesperson When Writing Your Resume
Today we would like to look at the resume writing process from the standpoint of a salesperson. The reason why we want to do this is that we believe it will help you understand the purpose and main aspects of a successful CV. If you think about the value and purpose of the resume itself you will soon realize it is not very much different from a product a salesperson is trying to sell. Only in the job search process, you are the product and your resume is a sales/marketing tool with the help of which you are trying to convince clients (employers) that the product (that is you) would be of great value to them... So thinking like a salesperson can actually help in developing an effective resume.
A good salesperson before offering a product to a potential buyer will get to know him/her better in terms of one's needs. This will help to make an effective product presentation. It is a great lesson for those drafting a resume - to learn of the potential employer. Anything that could be used in a resume or cover letter is worth your attention: company's philosophy, needs, etc. Go beyond the job advert and visit the company's website as a salesperson goes beyond to learn more of a potential client. Even if you can't incorporate much of the information into your CV or cover letter it will definitely help you during an interview. Secondly, you probably know that numbers sell. If you have ever talked to a good salesperson you probably have heard in numbers how effective is the product he/she was selling. Statistics, quantity of sold goods, customer satisfaction rate, % of returned goods, etc. Such kind of things will have impact on whether you want it or not. Numbers convey more than descriptions. It is analogous with resumes. Employers may not be impressed by descriptions of your responsibilities, but they won't be able to ignore your achievements backed up by specific numbers. For example, the amount of money saved for the company, the number of new customers gained, percentages of revenue increase, etc.
Thirdly, salespeople understand very well that potential buyers will not listen for product presentations for a long time. Either because they are too busy or it can get boring... In either case when they present a product they try to be concise by choosing to present only those facts that might interest a prospect. Otherwise, there is a risk of losing a client. The same thing with resumes (remember they are sales documents or marketing tools) - including irrelevant (for the employer) information and listing too much of it will become a turnoff. Therefore, before putting something on your resume think it through whether it is something that a potential employer will be interested in.
