Top Sales Manager Blog

You dont have to meet a sales candidate face to face to tell a ton of stuff about them. All you need to do is simply analyze their resume for a few key points.

In this sales training series on screening sales resumes we tell you exactly how to do it…so you can place your sales superstar quickly…and get your sales humming.

So continuing our series on how to screen a sales resume, here’s our next helpful tip:

Do they list extracurricular interests and activities?

If they do, then great, these are good conversation starters for the you the interviewer. If there are sports achievements, especially those from very good college sports programs (Division II wrestling or Division I Women’s lacrosse), it may indicate that the candidate possesses solid discipline and mental toughness. If top sports accolades are listed in combination with a very high GPA, then you can bet the candidate is pretty sharp, disciplined and well-rounded.

Also, if there are activities such as running marathons, volunteering for National Guard or working for charities such as Habitat for Humanity, you can bet you have someone who is very altruistic, self-motivated and organized; especially if the work track record is solid.

However, beware of the candidate who has too many extracurricular activities (soccer coach, baseball coach, golf, etc); these extracurricular activities may end up distracting them from working their real job, namely the one with you.

For example, I once saw a resume that listed a golf handicap in this section. I interviewed him just for the heck of it, extremely curious because he had after all actually played on the PGA tour…so I thought that may actually be a positive.

I was sorely disappointed because during the interview I figured out he was just trying to find a job so that he could continue to try out for the next tour. Oh well.

In reality though, how much time can you spend actually selling if you’re constantly out on the golf course?

To learn more helpful sales management training insights, get our free video on the sidebar of this post or by clicking here.

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Filed under: Hiring by ralphburns