Resume Work Experience

One of the bullets I see on a lot of sales resumes is very similar to what this sales person wrote:

Create relationships with all levels of personnel as well as cultivate relationships in the managed care arena.

The problem with this is that it does nothing to differentiate the job seeker. I would hope that a sales person would create and cultivate relationships. The added detail of “all levels of personnel” doesn’t stand out either.

The big problem is that the text is very general and appears on a lot of resumes.

Now, this is a candidate that received awards for their sales performance and was the leading sales person in their company. A little more detail would make a huge difference. For example, these bullets make a much bigger impact:

• Created and developed client relationships resulting in ## new customers totaling $$$K in sales.
• Maintained excellent customer relationships, with ##% repeat business.
• Negotiated a contract for $$ million with the CEO of a new account

These bullets require a little more data on the job seeker’s performance.  This extra information makes a huge impact, though.  Not only do they help the job seeker stand out by themselves, they provide the background that validates and reinforces the awards that the job seeker had listed.