So, you’re looking to write the perfect sales development representative resume to put you at the top of the hiring list? Well, there’s some stiff competition out there, so you better have a good handle on it.
Since a sales development representative aka business development representative is an entry-level job, the recruiter is likely going to get inundated with applications. There could be hundreds of sales development representative resumes for a recruiter to review within the first week.
This makes having a rock-solid sales development resume essential if you want to have any chance of getting an interview for a sales development position. This will serve as your complete guide for crafting a perfect sales development representative resume no matter your background.
If you want to learn how you can completely skip the recruiter and make sure your resume gets seen, then read our ultimate guide on how to get into software sales.
What Recruiters Look for in Sales Development Representative Resumes
When crafting any resume, the key is to always work backward from what the recruiters are looking for. This is the most fundamental truth of writing any great resume.
One of the easiest ways you can figure this out is by searching google from the perspective of the recruiter/hiring manager. An example of this could be searching “What to look for when hiring a sales development representative”. You will end up finding articles such as this to reference.
The job of the recruiter when looking at resumes is to find signals that would indicate success on the job. These are the top signals on a resume that I’ve found recruiters value the most when hiring an entry-level sales development representative starting with the most important ones.
Top 5 Signals for a Perfect Sales Development Representative Resume
1. Relevant work accomplishments
The single most valuable thing you can have on your resume that will almost guarantee you an interview for a sales development representative job is relevant work accomplishments. These are the things you did that brought value to the company. In sales, the most common ones are sales quota attainment, new revenue generated, companies closed, etc.
2. Relevant work experience
Recruiters look for relevant work experience that shows them you at least know how to do the job. These are the things you did in your previous jobs that are relevant to the job of a sales development representative. These could be things such as total daily activities, building company lists, cold calling, cold emailing, using Salesforce CRM, etc.
3. Desire to work in the role.
Recruiters want to know that you have a strong desire to be successful as a sales development representative and turn it into your career. They want to know this is more than just a job to pay the bills for you. This is especially true if you don’t have relevant work experience. They will look at your summary, education, and skills to help determine this desire.
4. Ability to communicate clearly
Recruiters will be looking for signs that you are able to communicate clearly and have experience dealing with people, aka interpersonal skills. They want to know that you’re able to talk and write in a clear, concise manner. This is especially true if you don’t have relevant work experience. They will look for things such as groups, clubs, customer-facing work experience.
5. Ability to learn quickly
Lastly, recruiters want to know that you’re smart enough to learn their processes, product, and industry fairly quickly. They want to know that you won’t have trouble understanding new concepts, so they look for signals that indicate intelligence such as college degree, GPA, or self-education.
Sales Development Resume Format
The format of your resume includes the different components and overall structure. The goal of this formatting is to make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to quickly identify these positive signals.
This formatting will differ based on your previous work experience. If you have lots of great work accomplishments and experience to put on your resume since you worked as a sales development representative at another company, then you want your resume to focus on that.
If you are just looking to start your career as a sales development representative, but don’t have yet any relevant experience, then you will want your resume to focus on other positive signals without showcasing your lack of experience.
I recommend that you type it up in google docs or Microsoft word and save it as a PDF.
Sales Development Representative Resume Format With Experience.
If you previously worked in a B2B sales job and have great accomplishments and work experience, then here is what your resume should include:
- Name, title, contact info
- Summary
- Work experience & accomplishments
- Skills
- Education
If you have work experience, then this is a great simple resume format for you to use. It showcases all of the important signals that recruiters are looking for without the fluff.
Sales Development Representative Resume Format Without Experience.
If you don’t have any relevant work experience in a B2B sales role, then you will want to change up the format slightly to focus more on your other great aspects. It should include:
- Name, title, contact info
- Summary
- Softs skills
- Technical skills
- Education
- Work experience & accomplishments
If you don’t have relevant B2B sales experience, then this is a great resume. It clearly showcases your strong desire to be in sales while showing your ability to communicate and learn quickly. It also ties the relevant experience back into how it will help them be successful as a sales development representative.
Sales Development Training
If you don’t have previous B2B sales experience, then it will be substantially harder to get your first sales development representative job. At the very least companies will want to see a relevant degree or internship experience.
If you don’t have this, then I highly suggest you look into a program like ours where we train you in sales development and help you get connected with internships whether you have a degree or not. This allows you to showcase all of your soft and hard skills that employers value. It also shows how serious you are about starting your career as a sales development rep. You can go through our free introduction course to sales development to learn more about how it can help you get a job as an SDR.
Ultimately, this is the biggest component of your resume that separates you apart from the many others.
Sales Development Work Experience
If you don’t have a glamorous work history, then don’t worry. Include what you think would show you have dedication, communication skills, team skills, etc.
You should try to find a way to tie each one of your responsibilities or accomplishments into how it would make you successful as a sales development representative. This is especially true when you’re in an interview and they’re asking you questions about your work experience.
Sales Development LinkedIn Profile
Something to note down is that your LinkedIn profile should be up to date and align with your resume. You don’t want a recruiter to read your resume to only search you up on Linkedin and find something completely different.
I suggest that if you think you skipped over some information a recruiter would find valuable since you wanted to keep your resume concise, then you can add that to your LinkedIn. Many times a recruiter will start with a resume scan and if they like it, then they will search you up on LinkedIn.
Any other positive information on LinkedIn that’s in addition to your resume is only going to benefit you.
