3 Simple Things You Can Do to Strengthen Your Resume

As a medical sales recruiter, I specialize in placing salesopportunities. It won't. What it will do is capture the
and sales management professionals, and I've seenreader's attention and lead him or her into reading the
tens of thousands of resumes throughout my career.rest of your resume. (So make sure it's compelling and
Since I often sift through them quickly, it takes a greatnot a canned filler statement.) It's entirely appropriate to
resume to stand out from the crowd and get mytailor your objective statement to the job opportunity
attention. And job seekers in health care sales, medicalso that you can highlight what you can bring to that
device sales, laboratory sales, and pharmaceuticalparticular organization. Once I've read the rest of your
sales always ask "What can I do to get my resumeresume, I might see that you'd also be a great fit for
noticed?" Beyond the basics of an easy-to-read,another opportunity.
error-free, well-structured resume, there are qualities3. Add something special. If you're new to the field, try
that catch my eye and cause me to considera preceptorship, and put that experience on your
candidates more closely, and I'd like to share them withresume (it's a great keyword source). It shows that
you. Here are some easy changes you can make toyou're serious, and willing to go the extra mile. And it
your resume:can go a significant way to answering the
1. Highlight your performance. If you're in sales, it's vitally"experience" question for hiring managers. Also, I have
important that you demonstrate that you can ring theseen resumes with quotations that sum up their
cash register. You show the hiring manager why heattitudes, drive, determination, etc. Or, I've seen others
wants you on the team by highlighting your saleswith a list of their recent reading material (although you
numbers, number of closes, key influencer sales,must be able to talk intelligently about those books). But
expense budgets, revenue, profit, growth, salesbe careful about listing too much information. For
rankings, goal attainment, and so on. You can list thatinstance, hobbies work only if they're relevant to the
as numbers, dollar amounts, percentages, or whateverjob. Don't let anything on your resume take away from
is appropriate. I have seen some eye-catchingyour message: you have something to offer to
resumes that incorporate colored graphs to illustrate,contribute to an organization's success.
but be careful not to overdo it. Use whatever styleAbove all, remember that your resume is not about
that best represents your growth.you; it's about the employer. You're using the resume
2. Write a well-crafted objective statement. Thinkas a marketing document that highlights why you're the
elevator pitch. Don't make the mistake of assumingperson to help them succeed.
that a resume objective statement will limit your