Standing Out: Writing A Strong Food & Beverage Sales Resume
You’re an expert in landing new accounts. Retaining key clients. Increasing penetration within existing accounts. How about a strong food & beverage sales resume?
But how savvy are you in “closing the deal” with a hiring manager?
The ability to effectively sell yourself is one of the most important skills a food & beverage sales professional can have – and the “sales cycle” starts with your resume.
What are food & beverage hiring managers looking for?
Kinsa Group developed a series of resume optimization posts, each dedicated to a specific professional job category within the food & beverage industry.
Previously, our recruiters shared what they and their clients look for in Food Science resumes, Plant Operations Manager / Food Production resumes, Food & Beverage Supply Chain / Logistics resumes, as well as Food & Beverage Quality and Food Safety resumes.
Below, three Kinsa Group recruiters explain how to optimize your Food & Beverage Sales resume – so it stands out and showcases your talent:
Robert Navarro – Senior Recruiting Consultant:
Make sure your resume includes:
- Company and market description. For each employer, create a brief description of the company. Don’t assume that your reader knows who they are or what they do. Indicate whether products were sold to retail, food service and/or industrial accounts.
- Product category per position/employer. For each position you’ve held, include the food or beverage product(s) for which you were responsible.
- Direct supervisor. Include the title of the individual to whom you reported.
- Employees managed. List the size of your sales team and the titles of your direct reports.
- Measurable accomplishments. Not surprisingly, the best resumes include specific information on how the candidate increased sales, added new clients and boosted profits. Whenever possible, include a full or partial P&L to quantify your achievements.
From Mitch Hawk – Senior Recruiting Consultant:
When crafting your food & beverage sales resume, be sure to include information on:
- Budget sizes and revenue responsibilities
- Growth delivered
- Market expansion
- New product innovation and introduction
- Existing relationships within the industry you can leverage
- Include names of key accounts you served
- Experience with private label and/or branded products
- Details regarding your territory—regional, national or international
- If you have international sales experience, include location(s) as well as the percent of travel you are willing to do
- Whether you worked with distributors and/or brokers
- Sample list of trade show and industry events where you’ve presented product
- Successes participating cross-functionally
- If applicable, incorporate the following keywords and terms throughout your resume:
- Leveraging existing connections
- Innovation
- Expansion
- Deliver growth
From Karen Engelmann – Senior Recruiting Consultant:
To get the attention of hiring managers, be sure to list this important information on your resume:
- Your success in driving sales volume (quantify amounts to back up your accomplishments)
- List your channel experience and include a cross-sample of accounts in each channel
- Your demonstrated ability to generate new business
- Marketing knowledge and experience using Nielsen, IRI and other market intelligence tools
- Cross-functional team involvement (detail the benefits and results you delivered to other teams and/or departments)
- Recognition awards (such as a “Top Performer of ____ due to increased ___”)
- Professional Association memberships
- Professional development activities and training
- Buzz words to include (when relevant):
- Proven track record
- Strategic and tactical (solutions)
- Collaborate
- Empowering team
- Partnered
- Relationships
- Profitability
From George Blomgren – Recruiting Manager:
To impress hiring managers, follow these resume tips:
- Avoid anything other than a traditional chronological resume. Include your address (at least city and state)
- Describe your success in driving sales (quantified results are always best)
- Make sure it’s clear exactly what you were selling in each job, and to who
- Describe the territories or channels you were responsible for
- If you had any side gigs, such as consulting, leave them off your resume
- If you are a “hunter” style salesperson, make that clear. Describe how you found, approached and closed new business.
- List technologies you have experience with, such as Salesforce and market intelligence tools
- Describe your experience with distributors and brokers
- List any awards, memberships, certifications and training you have completed
- If you are strategically-oriented, list examples. If you are more focused on tactics and execution, make that clear
- If you managed direct reports, be sure to share how many
Head over to the Resume Tips category of our blog. In addition, we offer great food & beverage résumé writing tips and other résumé critique resources in the Kinsa CareerEdge library.