In this sales training series on screening sales resumes we tell you exactly how to do it…so you can get your sales superstar quickly…while wasting minimal time.

“Power Words”

When describing their achievements or does the sales candidate use powerful “power words” to describe their accomplishments or “passive words”?

Sales is a combination of action and results. You definitely need someone who takes action to be working for you – especially someone who proactively creates action, without you have to “motivate’ them to do so.

Words like “achieved”, “won”, “accomplished”, “catapulted”, “exceeded” and “generated” are action-oriented “power words”. They bespeak confidence and striving, both important traits that all high performing sales representatives possess.

However, “passive words” like “managed”, “responsible for”, “completed” or “promoted” are far more submissive. If you see too many passive type words, it may indicate that you may have a passive candidate.

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How about you? Do you pay attention in this kind of details? Please post a comment.

Without even talking to a sales candidate face to face, you can tell a lot about a potential sales candidate by simply analyzing their resume.

In this sales training series on screening sales resumes we tell you exactly how to do it…so you can get your sales superstar quickly…while wasting minimal time.

Age, GPA and Education

They tell you in every interviewing course or class you ever take and in every interview book you ever read…

Human Resources rails you for it if you ever ask it…

Its the “age question”.

OK, so keep everyone happy (and you from any sort of legal issues) – don’t ask it, just figure it out instead. Either way, you’re only in the resume screening phase, so don’t sweat it.

Determining the age of a sales candidate is an important part of the resume screening phase of hiring a sales person. As important is examining their degree and GPA – very important tidbits of info you can gather way prior to meeting a candidate. In this tip, we show you how to do it so you can screen out the junk and get to the good.

1. Determine their age by when they graduated from college.

If they graduated from college in 1992, than as of this writing, the candidate would be roughly 37 years of age or so.  Not that age really matters, but at this stage all you are trying to do is to get a clear sense as to who the person is, so gaining a mental picture of their approximate age is a useful tool to deploy.

Whatever you do, don’t discriminate due to age, because great sales people come in all sizes and shapes, as well as all ages.

2. Is there a Grade Point Average?

Under the “Education” section, you’ll either find a G.P.A. listed or not. The G.P.A. is a good indicator of the “self-starting”, internally-driven nature of the candidate. If there is no GPA, there’s probably a reason why. It simply means its not that good.

GPAs are easy to check and are done in most background checks with employers, so if its missing, that means that the candidate purposely chose not put it on there.

In my opinion, if you had a high GPA in college, you were either naturally smart, very disciplined or both. As you may know, there are a lot of distractions in college, so a candidate who achieved a high GPA may indicate that he is impervious to distractions, self-starting and focused – all good attributes for a sales candidate.

3. Do they have an advanced degree?

If they do, then that’s great. That degree, even though it looks real good, won’t necessarily help them sell any better however.

If they are in the process of completing their advanced degree, then the current GPA will tell you a lot about their ability to manage time effectively.

Even better, if they are pursuing an advanced degree and concurrently have outstanding sales accolades, then you may have found your next sales executive!

However, be cognizant of your company’s tuition reimbursement program, because the candidate is bound to ask you in the interview, so do your homework.

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Please post you comment and insights below.

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?

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Leave a message after this post for your comments and feedback.

The question is, are you as prepared as the applicant sitting at the other side of the table?

There are five time-proven methods on how to effectively screen an applicant. With these tips, whether you’re doing an interview or a phone screen, you get to hire the best people, just like George did.

The countdown…

1. How’s the layout?
On a resume, how something is written is just as important as what is written on it.

The thing to remember is that every resume is a reflection of the candidate. When you sit down to study a resume, don’t read anything just yet. Scan the layout first for how the descriptions, achievements, dates, descriptions and accolades flow together. This should give you a good insight of the candidate’s knack for organization.

2. Accolades?
A list of accolades is the first thing you ought to look for when you sit down to look at a candidate’s resume. Specific accolades pretty much guarantees that you’re hiring top talent into your sales team. In sales, unlike the mutual fund industry, “past performance is indicative of future performance.”

3. Where are the accolades?
Same thing applies here. Where the accolades are written on the resume is as important as what they are for.

Are the accolades listed at the bottom of each paragraph? Are they written at the top?

A candidate who lists his accolades near the top is someone who values his achievements and isn’t afraid to showcase it as proof of his good performance. You want this candidate.

4. Are the accolades consistent in each job they’ve had?
One good hair day doesn’t mean anything. Tomorrow you’re back to looking like you’ve just had you finger inside an electrical socket.

Anyone can have a “good sales day.” But to consistently churn out a high level of performance, one year after the other, that’s something else. As a sales manager, you want someone who brings his A game year in and year out.

5. Typographical errors
A typo in a resume isn’t a sign of something good. If anything, it’s a sign of the candidate’s lack of attention to detail.

It also means he can’t write. Period.

So what are your methods in screening top talent into your sales team?

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Post a comment to this post and tell me what methods work best for you in selecting top sales candidates.