{"id":1169,"date":"2014-01-08T08:09:37","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T08:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.comblog\/words-we-would-rather-not-see-on-sales-resumes\/"},"modified":"2016-06-24T07:55:58","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T07:55:58","slug":"bad-words-to-see-on-sales-resumes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/bad-words-to-see-on-sales-resumes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Words We Would Rather Not See on Sales Resumes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

For a lot of people hoping to land a new sales job, it is a priority to create a resume that is search engine friendly. Unfortunately, this often leads to resumes that are less succinct and are jammed with keywords which distract from the accomplishments and abilities of a salesperson.<\/p>\n

To those of us that make a living separating good from great salespeople, a poorly written or confusing resume can be a signal that someone is not all that capable. And, by the way, we are pretty strong when it comes to separating the good from the great (96% success ratio in picking salespeople over the last several years).<\/p>\n

Here are some of the worst words and phrases that find their way into sales resumes with a tongue in cheek explanation of why we\u2019d rather not see them:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responsible for \u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Hiring managers aren\u2019t as much interested in what a salesperson was supposed to do versus what the salesperson did do.<\/p>\n

Results-driven<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Kind of like saying motivated\u2026.I think. Maybe? Wait it might mean that they want to achieve results but can\u2019t. Not sure. Why not just identify the results that have been delivered which implies a familiarity and comfort with driving for results?<\/p>\n

Well rounded<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Hiring managers care about hiring someone who can sell. They don\u2019t care what shape the person is.<\/p>\n

Experienced<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Everyone who has worked one day in their life has experience so using this word doesn\u2019t say anything about what makes the resume\u2019s owner unique. Superfluous.<\/p>\n

Seasoned veteran<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Does this mean the sales rep comes with pepper and cajun spice? I would rather see years served which tells me a bit about maturity.<\/p>\n

Team-player<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 One of the most overused words and least understood. In my career, I have heard about 500 different perspectives of what constitutes a team player (some of them contradictory) and if I saw that on a resume, I would have no idea which of the 500 definitions was being referenced.<\/p>\n

Solid<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 We see this a lot in conversation, but the adjective means not having the form of gas or liquid, which is good I suppose, but usually doesn\u2019t give us much insight about sales capabilities.<\/p>\n

Dynamic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Ever changing? Energetic? Not quantifiable and will be\u00a0measured subjectively\u00a0depending on who is measuring.<\/p>\n

Motivated<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Everyone is motivated or at least they should be. But can the rep sell better than the rest?<\/p>\n

Objective<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Opening a resume with the career objective of the job seeker is like starting a conversation with a prospect with how much commission you want to make. How about a summary of what the rep does well and the tangible results delivered to employers?<\/p>\n

Contentious and hard worker<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 This one is more of a typo. Sales reps that want to make a good impression proof read their documents before sending them to a prospect.<\/p>\n

We<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 A hiring manager is looking at a resume and seeking to hire an individual so they are interested in what the sales person did, not what the sales person did with their friends.<\/p>\n

Creative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 When someone describes themselves as a creative sales professional, I wonder if the person is trying to tell me they like to paint and do artwork on the side? And then I wonder if they can sell, because they haven\u2019t yet answered that question.<\/p>\n

What We Like To See<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s simple. We look for results and examples to support claims of talent.\u00a0The best salespeople let their accomplishments do the talking and as we have said before, the best resumes say a lot by saying a little, so if you are reviewing a group of candidates for your open sales position, watch for candidates who use superfluous words and resume filler that distract from what really matters.<\/p>\n

To your success!<\/p>\n

image courtesy of nuttakit | freedigitalphotos.net<\/p>\n

To those of us that make a living separating good from great salespeople, a poorly written or confusing resume can be a signal that someone is not all that capable. And, by the way, we are pretty strong when it comes to separating the good from the great (96% success ratio in picking salespeople over the last several years).<\/p>\n

Here are some of the worst words and phrases that find their way into sales resumes with a tongue in cheek explanation of why we\u2019d rather not see them:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Responsible for \u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Hiring managers aren\u2019t as much interested in what a salesperson was supposed to do versus what the salesperson did do.<\/p>\n

Results-driven<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Kind of like saying motivated\u2026.I think. Maybe? Wait it might mean that they want to achieve results but can\u2019t. Not sure. Why not just identify the results that have been delivered which implies a familiarity and comfort with driving for results?<\/p>\n

Well rounded<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Hiring managers care about hiring someone who can sell. They don\u2019t care what shape the person is.<\/p>\n

Experienced<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Everyone who has worked one day in their life has experience so using this word doesn\u2019t say anything about what makes the resume\u2019s owner unique. Superfluous.<\/p>\n

Seasoned veteran<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Does this mean the sales rep comes with pepper and cajun spice? I would rather see years served which tells me a bit about maturity.<\/p>\n

Team-player<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 One of the most overused words and least understood. In my career, I have heard about 500 different perspectives of what constitutes a team player (some of them contradictory) and if I saw that on a resume, I would have no idea which of the 500 definitions was being referenced.<\/p>\n

Solid<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 We see this a lot in conversation, but the adjective means not having the form of gas or liquid, which is good I suppose, but usually doesn\u2019t give us much insight about sales capabilities.<\/p>\n

Dynamic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Ever changing? Energetic? Not quantifiable and will be\u00a0measured subjectively\u00a0depending on who is measuring.<\/p>\n

Motivated<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Everyone is motivated or at least they should be. But can the rep sell better than the rest?<\/p>\n

Objective<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 Opening a resume with the career objective of the job seeker is like starting a conversation with a prospect with how much commission you want to make. How about a summary of what the rep does well and the tangible results delivered to employers?<\/p>\n

Contentious and hard worker<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 This one is more of a typo. Sales reps that want to make a good impression proof read their documents before sending them to a prospect.<\/p>\n

We<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 A hiring manager is looking at a resume and seeking to hire an individual so they are interested in what the sales person did, not what the sales person did with their friends.<\/p>\n

Creative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2013 When someone describes themselves as a creative sales professional, I wonder if the person is trying to tell me they like to paint and do artwork on the side? And then I wonder if they can sell, because they haven\u2019t yet answered that question.<\/p>\n

What We Like To See<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s simple. We look for results and examples to support claims of talent.\u00a0The best salespeople let their accomplishments do the talking and as we have said before, the best resumes say a lot by saying a little, so if you are reviewing a group of candidates for your open sales position, watch for candidates who use superfluous words and resume filler that distract from what really matters.<\/p>\n

To your success!<\/p>\n

image courtesy of nuttakit | freedigitalphotos.net<\/span><\/p>\n

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