Sales Associate Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Sales Associate resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Sales associates are the face of their companies, interacting with customers on a daily basis and building relationships that will last long beyond the transaction. If you’re a friendly, outgoing person with a passion for customer service, you might have what it takes to succeed as a sales associate.
Sales associate jobs can be found in virtually every industry, from retail to finance to healthcare. So when you’re writing your resume to apply for a position in this field, think about how your previous experience could translate into a role at the company you’re hoping to join. Then highlight all of your relevant skills, achievements, and experience to show hiring managers why you’d be a great fit for the job.
How to Write a Sales Associate Resume
Here’s how to write a sales associate resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most important part of your resume because they’re the first thing recruiters and hiring managers will read. And they’re the best way to showcase your experience and qualifications.
But many job seekers make the mistake of using generic bullet points that don’t really tell a story or provide any context about their experience.
Instead, you should use your bullet points to tell a story about your experience. And that story should be about how you helped a company achieve its goals or overcome a challenge.
For example, rather than saying you “assisted customers,” you could say you “increased sales by 15% by developing new customer referral program that incentivized referrals and increased customer retention rate by 10%.”
The second bullet point provides much more detail about what you did, how you did it, and the results of your work.
Related: What Is a Sales Associate? How to Become One
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you apply for a sales associate role, your resume is likely to be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. This program will search for words and phrases related to the job, like “customer service” or “sales” in order to determine whether your skills are a match for the position.
If your resume doesn’t include enough relevant keywords, the ATS might disqualify you from the pool of applicants. To increase your chances of getting an interview, use the most commonly used sales associate keywords below as a guide to help you identify the right terms to include on your resume.
- Sales
- Customer Service
- Retail
- Teamwork
- Social Media
- Marketing
- Microsoft Access
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe InDesign
- Time Management
- Communication
- Organization Skills
- Adobe Illustrator
- Photography
- Merchandising
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Public Speaking
- Strategic Planning
- Marketing Strategy
- Customer Satisfaction
- Management
- Sales Management
- Leadership
- Negotiation
- Accounting
- Accounting & Finance
- SAP Products
- Business Planning
- Business Strategy
- Team Leadership
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Sales associates need to be proficient in a variety of technologies in order to do their jobs effectively. Some of the most commonly used technologies are point-of-sale systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and social media platforms. Additionally, sales associates need to be familiar with the products that they are selling, so experience with product catalogs and websites is also beneficial.
Related: How Much Does a Sales Associate Make?
Remember The Basics
As you write your resume, it’s important to keep a few basic rules in mind.
Create Easy-to Scan Sections
There are a few things you can do to your resume to make it easier to read and understand quickly. Aligning everything to the left, using a standard font type and size, and keeping bullets under 2 lines will help make your resume more skimmable. You should also try to leave some white space on the page to help the recruiter easily scan through your information.
Be Concise
When it comes to resume length, think quality over quantity. A one-page resume is typically best, especially if you’re a recent graduate or don’t have a lot of experience. If you have more than 10 years of experience, you can go to two pages, but be selective about what you include. Remember to focus on the most relevant and recent experience, and be succinct in your writing.
Check Your Work
Proofreading your resume is an important step in ensuring that it looks its best. There are a few key things to watch for: spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and grammatical mistakes. You should also be aware of easily confused words, such as their/there/they’re and to/too/two. Spell checking your resume is a good start, but you should also have someone else proofread it for you to catch any mistakes that you may have missed.
Use a Summary
When writing a resume, it’s important to highlight your skills and experience in a way that helps potential employers see how you can be a valuable asset to their team. One way to do this is by using a resume summary statement. This is a short paragraph at the top of your resume that explains who you are, what you do, and what you’re looking to do next. This can be a great way to put your past experience and future goals in context, and it can help recruiters see how you can be a good fit for the role you’re applying for.
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