6 Tips on How to Successfully Apply Online for a Sales Job
It might seem like sales jobs are abundant in the job market, yet many prospective salespeople have difficulty applying online for sales jobs. While there are many factors at play when it comes to a sales manager deciding on the right candidate for their sales team, there is an application process that the candidate must go through. These days, that is invariably an online process.
If you’re looking for a role in sales, here at 6 tips to help you successfully apply online for the sales job of your dreams:
1. Narrowing Down Your Sales Focus
Applying for any job online is arduous. There are hundreds of thousands of postings everyday, and ten times the number of job seekers. Obviously, you’re looking for work in sales, so you’re able to narrow your search to sales. Then, go a bit further. What type of sales are you interested in? Perhaps you’re into selling cars or you want to sell medical devices to hospitals and help save lives. Or maybe you want to sell the latest, hottest tech crazes because they will earn you astronomical commissions.
Whatever your goals as a salesperson, you have to narrow down the kind of sales job you want (i.e.; don’t sell potatoes if you want to sell TVs) and then begin your search. It will feel daunting, but keep at it and you’ll discover your sales opportunity.
2. It’s All In the Keywords
Searching for sales jobs online is no easy feat, simply because of the sheer volume of sales jobs advertised online. Now that you know what kind of sales you want to do, think about keywords that are related to those sales jobs and use them to hone in on those jobs. Keywords are very powerful when it comes to contemporary job hunting. But, they’re not only helpful during your job search, they’re also what you want to pepper your résumé with to make yourself even more appealing to hiring managers.
Employers now look for those very same keywords when reviewing candidates, as the keywords help them match the job criteria with the most qualified candidates. The takeaway here is that using strong keywords will help both you and the employer find each other.
3. Mirror the Sales Job Description
Your résumé is your lifeline to employers. As you endure the stormy seas of the online job-hunting world, your résumé is cast out in hopes that an employer will eventually find you and reel you in. However, this is not a productive way of selling yourself to employers. If you can’t even sell yourself, how are you going to be expected to sell anything for a company?
Don’t fret though. There is a trick that works almost too well—you want to mirror the job description in your résumé. What this will do is find the keywords that the employer is searching for as related to their job description itself. If your résumé contains a mirrored version of their job description, regardless of whether a human or a bot reviews your résumé (more likely the latter these days), you run a higher chance of being selected simply because your résumé fits the job description.
4. Tailor Your Sales Cover Letter
Depending on the type of sales job you’re looking for, there can be a variety of factors related to a sales position that will differ depending on the company you’ll be selling for. When you finally decide on a job and apply for it, never send a canned cover letter to an employer. Hiring managers are savvy and can tell if you really put the time and effort into your letter, which only introduces you and your skills. Show that you have the desire to work for their company, which you should have already researched before applying to see if you’re a good fit and if you can handle the work that will come your way.
The good thing about sales is that if you know your company and its products and services perfectly, you can apply your salesmanship to anything with any brand. But, your cover letter must be tailored for that employer specifically if you want to have a chance at piquing a hiring manager’s interest.
5. Network with Other Sales Pros On Social Media
Many salespeople are outgoing Type-A’s with large social and professional networks. Do you know how the Beatles sang “with a little help from my friends”? That’s right, it means that sometimes to be successful, you have to lean on your friends for help. Sometimes that means having to tap your network because you never know, a friend might have a friend, whose friend knows so-and-so in the marketing department at the company you want to join. That’s how it works.
Hollywood dreamers are all-too-familiar with the antiquated-yet-unfortunately-still-relevant adage of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. Essentially, you are the company you keep. Use your social media responsibly, including on Facebook and Twitter, but also LinkedIn, to build your network into a veritable web of opportunity with a little help from your sales professional friends. What does your network look like and who among it might be able help you on your career path?
6. Apply, Apply, Apply
This one is important because it is one that deters a lot of job seekers. You have to be out there applying for these sales jobs. Maybe you don’t find your dream sales job (whether it’s the brand or the industry) but you find something similar. Would you apply for it? If you answered “no”, get up from your screen and reassess what you want to do for a career, because the closest thing to working in sales you’ll ever get to will be asking, “Do you want fries with that?” Seriously.
However, if you answered “yes” then you show a willingness to put your nose to the grindstone and apply to as many sales jobs as possible, even if it’s not exactly the job you want. You never know, you could end up finding out that one of those jobs becomes your dream sales job. Applying is a numbers game as it is with the job market in general, but don’t give up, the more applications you submit, the greater chance you have of being found. Use Craigslist, job sites, industry bulletins, social media ads, company websites and job boards, and other online job listings for the best results.
What Else Can You Do?
Obviously there are other tips and tricks to successfully apply for a sales job online, but these are a few to get you started in landing the perfect sales role. If you’re currently looking for a career in sales and want to work for a fast growing, AI-powered CRM software company in the Boston area, then perhaps a sales job at Spiro may be right for you.
