Sales Recruiting Blog

Stupid Resume Tricks

Resumes can be very deceiving as a way of evaluating talent.  I want to point out ways that sales candidates can lie or mislead you into thinking that they are better than they really are.

Stupid Resume trick #1 - When listing dates of employment sales reps will only put down years employed and leave off the month.  The reason is simple - they have a big gap that they are trying to cover.  Always verify the month the sales rep began and ended each position.  Another reason that they will do this is to cover up a sales job that they were employed in for a short period - say three months.  I don’t have a problem with sales reps making themselves appear better on paper but I do want to know about it.  Dig in when you interview the sales candidate.

Stupid Resume trick #2 - under education I often find sales reps putting down having attended a particular college on their resume.  When I question the rep I find out that they never graduated.  They aren’t technically lying as they don’t put down that they actually graduated.  Some sales reps will put down that they graduated when they are short of finishing their degree.  Once again, ask them straight up if they have graduated.

Stupid Resume trick #3 - under sales accomplishments I have seen sales reps put on their resume that they averaged say 102% of quota during their time in a particular sales job.  What they are hiding is the fact that they were 120% of quota 1 year and 79% of quota the next.  Ask how the sales rep did each and every year for each sales job listed.  Verify these sales accomplishments via their brag book.

I think I have given enough examples of how a resume can mislead you into thinking that a sales rep is better than they actually are.  When interviewing sales talent don’t assume anything, ask good questions and verify everything.  This might be obvious but it is a big step in reducing sales force turnover and hiring top performers.