Throughout my career, when I would receive a badly constructed resume, I wouldn’t bother with an interview. You see, I viewed the resume as a clear indication of the quality of work. I thought if you won’t even put in the effort for yourself, why would I expect better from you when it comes to my business?
I have had to change this hiring method recently because frankly, 99% of resumes from sales people completely suck. They are disorganized, either excessively long or a single paragraph, contain incomplete information, and mostly, are completely dull.
They tell me “documents” or “admin stuff” isn’t their thing.
The general details are also lacking beyond the resume. My email is Braedi@asalesguy.com…so what’s my name? I can’t tell you how many “Brandi” “Brandy” “Brady” “Bradley” etc… I receive in emails.
And this is not because my name is usual. Keenan also receives “Kennan” “Keanan” “Kenean”…
The absolute worst: the frequency of candidates failing to show up for the first interview. Do you miss your client meetings too?
Why is this hard?
It is hard to believe you when you say you are a top performer with great client relationships when I’m having a hard time building a relationship with you.
Would you botch a client’s name? No? Are you sure?
When I ask you why you think the position is a good fit, and you tell me because you’re the best, I wonder if this is how you are going to sell my product.
Let me break it down for you
If I take most sales people’s method of selling themselves and change the situation to a client conversation, this is about how it would go…
Client: “Why should I go with your product?”
Sales Guy: “Because it’s the best.”
Client: “Why are you the best?”
Sales Guy: “Because we have been selling the product for 10 years.”
Client: “Can you tell me more about what the product can do for me.”
Sales Guy: “I think I outlined everything well on the documents I provided you.”
Seriously, would you buy anything with these answers? Whether you are B2C or B2B, as any kind of consumer, I would not buy from you after a conversation like this.
Finding Solutions
With this, I’ve started discussing the idea of approaching resumes, applications, and other job hunt materials from a sales perspective. To treat the job hunt like a pipeline and the product is you.
And I’m astounded on how many experienced sales people respond, “I’ve never thought of it like that…”
If you treated your job hunt like a sale, would you do it differently?