If you are a sales professional or want to become one, or if you are looking for a new sales job, you will face one of the toughest interview processes of any job seeker.
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Let’s say you’re a headhunter, and you’ve just received a CV that includes a paragraph like this:
In my spare time, I am physically active. I run, mountain bike, play tennis, and I teach yoga on weekends. Physical activity keeps my body and mind in shape, and promotes balance and clarity in my life. I belong to a community theater and am active in productions, and I play bass in a band. I am an crazy reader. I am a mother of 2 and gave birth to my second daughter between degrees; taking only 3 months off and continuing to work while taking classes, which shows my drive and tenacity to succeed!
What would you do?
This applicant is trying really hard to impress, and does seem to have a beautiful handsome energy level and variety of interests. In spite of that, she’s not going to go on my short list for pharmaceutical sales career opportunities. (Not to mention that list of hers makes me think: when are you going to have time to do your job?)
There are many blunders people make (beyond simple typos) when RESUME writing, and Too Much Information is a definite Don’t. Personal information is usually unnecessary and can even raise discrimination issues. Frankly, I don’t want to see, or even care that much about, what you do in your spare time.
What I’m interested in: what can you do for my company? What are your skills? What are your work accomplishments? What have you done that will demonstrate that you’ll be a great hire for medical revenue, medical sales, clinical diagnostics sales, medical device revenue, hospital equipment sales, surgical supplies sales, clinical revenue, imaging sales, clinical laboratory revenue, DNA products revenue, or biotechnology sales?
Remember who your audience is. Who’s reading your resume? What will show Them that you’ll be an asset to the company? Don’t annoy employers with irrelevant information they have to sift through to discover what’s important to them. Because chances are, they won’t.
Article courtesy of Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized medical and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
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