Use These Sales Manager Resume Tips & Templates to Get the Job

Posted on January 11, 2020 | by Chhing Chhut in News | 1672 Views

Ready for a career change?

You’ve spent hours searching job boards, identified the ideal job, and now it’s time to apply. Then the panic sets in …

You begin to question everything: How do I begin writing my resume? Do my skills even apply to this role? What does the employer want to know?

Not to fear! Here are some sales manager resume tips and templates to calm your nerves and help you get the job of your dreams.

Best Resume Format for Sales Manager

After reading your resume, a potential employer should understand the impact you had in your previous roles and how well those experiences and skills will translate to the new role you’re applying to.

I spoke with Pratik ‘Tiki’ Biswal, a senior sales manager at HubSpot, and he provided some resume writing tips. He recommends highlighting:

Coaching experience or your passion for coaching.
Projects you worked on to elevate the entire division (especially ones that are outside the scope of your normal job).
How you helped others progress their career.
How you led from the seat you’re in: explain how you mastered your sales job and took on leadership opportunities.

So, you brainstormed some of your highlights and you’re ready to write your resume. But, what should you include? For starters, your resume should have a strong objective to get the reader’s attention. Let’s break down what that should look like.

Sales Manager Resume Objective

The resume objective, also known as a professional summary, is the first thing that a recruiter or hiring manager will read on your resume. This is where you’ll provide a brief, one to two sentence summary of your experience which should demonstrate to the employer that you’re qualified for the position.

When applying for sales manager roles, here are some elements you’ll want to include in your objective section:

A summary of your experience, including years of experience in sales, relevant skills, and high-level qualifications.
How you will add value to the organization you’re applying to work for.
Your career goals related to obtaining the position.

For example, if you are a seasoned sales rep who is ready to take on a position in management your objective could say:

“High-performing sales professional who sold $200K in B2B software products using data-driven sales strategies. Seeking a sales manager position to use my coaching, analytical, and relationship-building skills to motivate and develop a winning sales team at XYZ Company.”

Now that you have a well-written objective, let’s complete the rest of your resume. Here are the key elements of a resume that a recruiter or hiring manager will be looking for.

1. Contact Information

How will a recruiter get in touch with you? Include your name, phone number, and email address at the top of your resume so they can reach out.

2. Work Experience

This is where you highlight the specific jobs that helped you gain your sales and managerial experience. List your most recent jobs first and include action words to emphasize your impact in each role:

Achieved
Established
Coached
Influenced
Expanded
Improved
Collaborated
Trained

Bold any keywords, numbers, or statistics that highlight your impact so they stand out from the rest of the text. Many resume templates and builders allow you to add links as well. Add a link to your LinkedIn profile, a piece of content you wrote, or a project you worked on to provide additional context.

Include keywords that were used in the job description for the role you’re applying to. If you upload your resume to a website, the keywords make it more likely to appear in search engines. And applicant tracking systems (ATS) will scan your resume for keywords to help recruiters see if you’d be a good fit.

3. Education

Include your education experience and academic achievements. If there are any specific leadership roles you took on during that time (e.g., team captain of a sports team or president of a club), add them to your resume. And don’t forget to list any sales training or managerial courses you participated in.

4. Skills and Qualifications

There should be keywords from the job description used throughout your resume. This section of the resume should highlight specific skills and qualifications the employer is looking for.

Add any certificates you earned and any skills that match the qualifications from the job description. Here are a few common sales manager skills and qualifications that sales professionals will list on their resumes: