A lot of people struggle to craft a resume when they are thinking about a career change.  What details should you include? What is relevant, and what is not?

When you consider how many resumes each recruiter or a single company receive daily, you realise that they don’t spend much time reviewing every single bullet point on it. They scan them very quickly, looking for keywords that grab their attention. If you are thinking about a career change, you will have to revamp your CV and show the skills that apply to the new job. 

Put yourself in the state of mind that the intention is to create a resume that stands out.  Your resume is a “brochure” of what you have achieved and how you can use that for your new employer in the future. Its main purpose is to sell your skills and experience, and the product you are selling is YOU. You have to think about it as your sales pitch. 

If you are going into a new line of work, here are some best practices that you should follow when you start working on your CV. 

1. Craft your resume based on the Job Description.

Read the Job Description and analyze the keywords, key qualities, and competencies required for the role. Look for matching traits. Use the right language in your resume that matches the language of the Job Description. 

2. Write your summary statement to explain what type of position are you looking for.

In a couple of sentences, you have to answer the question of why someone should hire you! It doesn’t have to be long but include a brief description of professional you.

3. Highlight the skills that are directly related to the work objective and position. 

I know that the career can be a rocky road, but focus on skills directly related to the role that you are applying for. Don’t use the same standardised CV that includes all you did so far in your life- you limit your chances to be selected to the next stage of the interview. 

4. Articulate clearly your previous work history. 

It sounds obvious, but it’s a widespread mistake that I still keep seeing. Make sure that your resume includes all company names, length of the service and position titles. If you moved internally in the same company or got promoted, make sure that your CV reflects that too.

5. Quantify your achievements.

Instead of listing your main responsibilities, show your direct impact during the time with the tie company. It’s important to include in your CV your responsibilities, but when you do that, tell the story showing your direct impact on the business within your role and relevant to the role that you’re applying for.

Job interviews can be a stressful experience for anyone who is looking for a new job. There are plenty of different types of interviews, but I’m sure that you’ve heard about behavioural interviews in the past. If you are looking for a job now or preparing for this type of interview, it should be your priority no 1 to understand it. Well build CV can tell the recruiter if the candidate has a skill required for the role. However, an interview is a critical step to evaluate this skill. Don’t panic! We have some practical tips on how you can be more tactical and master your skills here.

What is it a behavioural Interview?

Behavioural interview, known as a competency-based, is an interview where the candidate is asked to give an example from their previous experience to predict their future performance. The best way to answer them is to use STAR methodology to help people structure their answers for behavioural questions in specific and easy to understand compile way.

Let’s break down the STAR framework.

STAR stands for:

STAR Framework is invisible but gives you structure and strategy to come up with the impressive answers. It’s practical in application, helping to articulate your experience and tell the meaningful story. It’s challenging to know what type of questions exactly the interviewer will ask you. Questions are designed based on the competencies that are required for the role and usually  start with:

“Can you tell me about the time, when…?”

“Describe the situation when …”

Based on the Job Description, you can predict some of them. Having that in mind, it’s important to have a few examples, you can adapt to a different situation. Mastering how to use the technique will help you organize your thoughts and ideas and build your confidence during the interview.

Nail the STAR framework

1. Be tactical! Learn how to read the job description and aim to find the required competencies for the role. Look for the keywords that will lead you to those competencies.
2. Think about the examples of your success and practice telling the story using the methodology. Great to have a few examples you can adapt to a different situation.
3. Have a mature reflection on your failures. How would you speak about them using the STAR framework?
4. Quantify your success, use numbers and data to show your direct impact on the result.
5. Be specific and concise- 1-2 sentences to each part is enough!
6. Do not memorise the answers; learn how to answer questions using the technique!
7. Practice, practice, practice!

Have you applied for a sales role and the recruiter has reached out to you inviting you for the first stage interview? You haven’t been interviewing for a while, and you don’t know what type of questions you can expect? Feeling nervous? Of course, more you prepare- less nervous you will feel on that day. I’ve been interviewing for sales roles for almost 2 years, and here come 5 tips that can help you prepare for the first round of the interview process:

1. Read about the company.

Always come prepared to the interview, do research about the company and have a good understanding of the company’s culture and mission. A quick look over the company website isn’t enough. Know the product and service that they offer- you don’t have to be an expert but be capable of having a good discussion around it.

2. Understand the role.

Remember to read the job description carefully and be able to discuss it. If you are interested in more than one role- that’s perfectly fine! But be familiar with both of them! Map your skills against each of the job descriptions. Think about why you want this role, and why you think you are a good fit.

3. Be able to sell your previous experience.

Usually, you have only 30 minutes to make your first impression and make sure that you sell yourself as a solid candidate for the role.  You need to have a story to tell about yourself. We want to know what was your sales cycle in the past. Have you been in a farmer or hunter role? Did you focus on net new business or existing accounts? How big were your customers?

4. Speak about your targets and previous deals.

The best way to show your success in sales is your previous metrics. Be ready to walk the recruiter through your previous KPIs and most successful deals that you’ve closed. Any deals that you are proud of?

5. Ask questions.

I love questions, and I ALWAYS leave some time in the end for a candidate to ask them! Have a good set of them ready.

If you haven’t been interviewing for a long time, remember, practice makes perfect! Here comes a list of most common sales job interview questions and how to answer them.  You can ask someone to help you practice answering them!