A résumé is a valuable tool in securing a great position in the automotive industry. We’d like to think that the days are gone where a Sales Manager would put on anyone, even without a résumé or an interview, ‘to give ‘em a go’ knowing that he can sack them within the first three months if they don’t ‘work out’, but there are still a few of those dinosaurs out there. However, the industry is so competitive that most dealerships are now well aware of professional recruitment procedures and the benefits of ensuring that they hire the right person the first time.
So a great résumé is even more important to make sure that you get an interview. That’s your résumé’s job – to sell an interview to the employer. A résumé is written summary of your career, experience, education and achievements. We have seen some terrible mistakes made far too easily with these important documents so here’s our Top 5 mistakes to avoid:
1. The ‘Three Musketeers’ Résumé
Apparently the three musketeers had a catch-cry: ‘All for one and one for all.’ Very noble, but not effective when it comes to résumés. A one-size fits all approach to your résumé will almost guarantee that your résumé is average or below average for each role that you apply for. Make sure you tailor your résumé and your cover letter to the role. Match the employers’ wording and re-word the language and achievements in your résumé to suit the employer.
2. The ‘Goldilocks and the 3 Bears’ Résumé
Too big or too small is a common mistake (usually the former). You want to ensure that theer is enough detail to reasonably convince the reader of your suitability for thr job, but you do not wnat to list so much detail that there is nothing left to talk about at the interview.
According to Sean Morahan, an automotive industry trainer and consultant, résumés should be ideally 2 to 3 A4 pages.
”When I’m consulting to employers and we are going through more than 100 applications for one role, we start by culling those with too much waffle and those with not enough relevant detail. A professional salesperson needs to be good at assessing what information to present to clients and how to present it. If salespeople can’t get this right in their résumés, dealerships don’t want them anywhere near the dealership’s clients.”
3. The To-Do List Résumé
These are résumés that simply list mundane tasks that the salesperson has performed in previous roles. They just itemise the job description, e.g., “Telephone follow-up of customers, meet and greet of showroom customers, keep showroom and desk neat and tidy.”. This is ridiculous, because anyone looking to hire a salesperson is already familiar with salespeople’s job descriptions. What they want to know is what did you achieve? What results did you get? What targets did you surpass? Don’t list the tasks, list your results and achievements!
4. The Scrap Paper Résumé
Poor presentation tells a prospective employer straight away that you don’t really care about how you come across – so you are going to be a nightmare with their customers. Guess what? No interview! If it’s a hard copy, make sure it is printed on clean, good quality paper and perhaps presented in a clean, neat folder. Imagine a prestige car dealer handing out brochures printed on rough cardboard – it’s a cheap image that makes you think twice about the product. The same applies to you and your résumé. If it’s in electronic form, make sure that your résumé is spaced and formatted properly. Use easy to read fonts (like Arial or times New Roman in 10,11 or 12 point only). Number your pages with your name on each page and use bullet points for easier reading.
5. The Miss Speld Resumay
We see way more of these than we would ever want to. Spelling mistakes on a résumé are unacceptable and inexcusable. Even if you don’t know how to spell, you must know how to run a spell check and how to give your résumé to someone who knows how to spell. The person you give it to must not know how to spell better than you do – they must know how to spell better than your prospective employer does! Thsi is a document that is meant to symbolise and represent you at your best. If it has spelling mistakes, then your best is nowhere near good enough.
Contact us to discuss your résumé and get the right car sales position!
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