on some websites, not just car companies they have a button to click fo avaliable jobs, try their websites first and see whats that comes up with! Or call whoevers recruitment dept???
What on earth would you want to sell cars for anyway!!! :-)))
|
Welshy - rule number one is never ASK for anything.
Take a tour of local dealers, pose as a customer, see how well/badly you're treated and then approach said dealers with your offer to do it better. BS is easy and people don't like it so be prepared to back up your claims with evidence of how successful you were in your previous car sales job and what skills and techniques you employed to that end.
As I said, BS is easy but nobody who's doing that would offer to work for a week/month unpaid in order to proove themself would they so why not make such an offer as a means by which to get your foot in the door ? Of course being in the right place at the right time helps so maintain some form of contact with any dealers over a period of time - you never know when one of their staff might leave and if you're available there and then why would a dealer go to all the expense and hassle of advertising ?
Provide a CV which is professional in appearance and convincing in its message. This should give details of not only what you've done but how well you've done it and exactly what you feel you have to offer. If possible, get proper professional advice on this aspect - the world is full of bad CV's and contrary to popular but misguided opinion there is far more to producing an effective CV than simply laser printing up your basic career and personal details on a nice piece of paper using a template from MS Office. Presentation is very important but CONTENT is more important so make sure your CV sells you properly in a convincing and intriguing manner which you can both live up to and expand upon at interview. Don't be arrogant but do be persistent. When you're selling anything you must expect a degree of failure and 'selling' yourself is no different. Expect some failure therefore but learn from it and don't give up. Finally, don't set yourself an unrealistically short timetable - do your homework, approach target companies over a reasonable period of time and learn as much as you can from the interview process whether formal or informal. Use this knowledge in subsequent contacts, build your confidence and sell yourself as professionally as you would sell that car. Good luck.
|
Volvoman
That's the best piece of universal job hunting advice I've seen in a long time. Give yourself a pat on the back!
Regards
Charles
|
Thanks Charles - it's what has been my profession since 1987 and although I've chosen to become 'semi retired' for the time being, I still keep my hand in with existing clients and referrals.
There really is so much bad advice out there that most people don't know how to go about marketing themselves properly and wind up believing they're on the scrapheap when in fact they're nearly always failing to market themselves properly. When the desperation sets in they start applying for jobs they're overqualified for and hence very unlikely to be considered for and a cycle of increasing frustration and desperation sets in.
Most people put together their CV's before they've even thought about their potential marketplace and what information is most relevant to it. They tend to use the same 'two dimensional' multipurpose CV and in so doing miss a vital opportunity to impress their target audience by conveying just how well they have anticipated and dealt with the employer's specific requirements.
Not so long ago I dealt with 1 of the 3 divisional executives of one of this country's largest food companies. A highly successful man in his late 50's who didn't have a clue how to go about selling himself. It's a very common problem exacerbated by the fact that it's oh so easy to churn out documents which look professional but are in fact just the opposite.
Sorry for all the non motoring stuff Mods. but the original poster is looking for a job in car sales ;-)
|
|
|
|
or the sales manager incredibly thick
I know just the Vauxhall dealer...
|
|
Thankyou very much for the replies ! I will have to see how brave I am now , dont like being let down for some reason .
|
OK. this is the HR Director talking and you've got to get my attention if your resume is going to get past me and land on the Sales Manager's desk.
One page only please. A4, neatly laser-printed. Arial 11 point is fine, please no fancy fonts or graphics. A photo would be nice so please have one scanned into the top right hand corner of the one page of A4. It raises your chances if we feel we are looking at someone who is more or less physically normal, and we won't get you confused with a potential customer when you pitch up at our office. We are busy people and what we really want to feel is should we shred your CV and move on to the next, or should we get Tracy in Personnel to put down her knitting and call you for interview.
Now, if you want to sell for us then it would be really helpful if you could give some details (in one or two lines only) of your past achievements in this direction. As a guide we like to see statements like "consistently exceeded revenue targets by 8% with a bottom line contribution over the last 12 months of £xxx,xxx. We are less impressed by grandiose phrases like "a competent and motivated salesperson who consistently out-performs all goals". We'd rather we came to that conclusion ourselves than have you do it for us. No copies of certificates attached please -- O Level Algebra isn't going to be a lot of use round here and please no references from previous employers. We'll get those ourselves: we feel more comfortable about them that way.
While we certainly respect assertions of undying loyalty such as "if appointed I will leave no stone unturned etc" , we have warmer feelings when we are looking at a record of measurable targets and progress against them....... Please be specific.
You may well be a stalwart of the Round Table, have engaged in praiseworthy fund-raising ventures for local single mothers, disabled children and have excelled at your hobby of nine-ball pool, but these attributes do not appear in our competency profile for this position, so please spare us these data. We do not require you to be a model citizen, just to be able to sell rather second-rate cars to a gullible public.
Dress neat but not flashy. Spiky hair-do's plastered with grease are off-putting to the genteel and well-heeled prospects who make up our client base and target market. They prefer to deal with someone who looks like that nice well-mannered nephew of Mrs Carruthers at No. 32. Grey is good. Blue makes you look like an auditor and black is what undertakers and stretch limo drivers wear. Beige is definitely out, it makes you look like you've come straight from selling Costa Blanca townhouses off the plans to unsuspecting pensioners from Nuneaton. Floral ties have us wondering about gender orientation. Not of course that that makes any difference to your chances of getting the job (let us say at once we are a equal opportunity employer, naturally) but we have to think of the other staff if you take my meaning. Rolex watches are out because customers are wary of how you got the money on the one hand to buy a real one, or whether it's a $10 fake you bought in Bangkok. We'd prefer to have them thinking about the car you're trying to sell them.
Know how to use Features and Benefits to overcome Objections, and be sure you're hot on your Trial Closes. Nigel our Sales Manager is a master himself of the Assumptive Close and he'll be looking to see that you know how to use these by using some role play, but don't be too clever and make him feel threatened either.
Sorry, it's all TIC, but if I had a dollar for every salesman I've hired......
|
Growler - accept your note (TIC) and could diagree with you for years about CV's but won't 'cos Mark will slap my wrists ;-)
Suffice it to say that one page of verbiage is one page of verbiage. Presumably the company(ies) you represent(ed) followed the same policy when producing their marketing literature. You know the stuff that bloke you're hiring @ £100k pa based on a 1 page CV with a photo on the top is going to be producing for you and upon which the future of your company rests. Beats me why anyone would seek to restrict CV's in such an arbitrary manner and in reality, although that's what many of them think they're doing, when they're faced with a proper CV they find themselves chucking out the rule book.
Marketing is marketing - market youself in a similar fashion to the way successful businesses do it an you have a good chance.
I've always wondered why Tracey is doing the vetting for such important posts when all she appears to be able to do is judge a photo and check the number of pages each CV is comprised of.
Doesn't seem a very good way to hire decent staff and presumably if Sir John Harvey-Jones made the mistake of applying using 1 too many pieces of paper Tracey in personnel would reject him and you high powered execs. at the top would either be none the wiser or happy in the knowledge that you'd lost a huge potential asset to the competition because his CV was on 2 pages instead of 1.
|
I too am in the HR field and, with the poss. exception of the 1 page bit, rather liked Growler's post!
I think the key point in CV drafting is to THINK about the messages you wish to convey to the recipient. Sadly, most of us find thinking uncomfortable and therefore elect to "just throw something together".
I don't do much recruitment these days, but when I did, the people who got called in were those whose CVs were interesting enough to remember without being oddball.
|
Preparing a CV properly demands a degree of objectivity which is very difficult for most people to get even close too. Very few job hunters are relaxed and confident about the prospect. They tend to be exremely aware of their perceived weaknesses and either unaware of or unwilling to convey their strengths. Often it's a problem of being unable to see the wood for the trees and in that sense preparing your own CV is about as difficult and productive as giving yourself marriage guidance advice.
The problem is that it's easy to blame failure to secure interviews on your age, lack of qualificationbs etc. when 99% of the time it has a lot more to do with the ineffective way you've presented yourself. It's easy to say and even believe that if, for example, you're over 40 nobody will employ you". However anyone running a business who's confronted with the solution to their problems in the form of a candidate who's over some arbitrary age limit is hardly likely to turn them away. The key to success is making sure that the impression you create is the right one - i.e. that you really can do it better, faster, cheaper, more profitably, to a higher standard etc. etc. It's astonishing how attitudes and preconceived ideas change when the presentation is correct and ££££'s are at stake.
Finally, I really can't understand how any company can justify or explain spending a great deal of time and money assessing, comparing and purchasing equipment/ services whilst at the same time being so unprofessional in the recruitment and selection of the people who will ultimately manage it all. I believe recognising and hiring the right calibre of staff is the more important function but there are not so many free agency lunches in that and it's quite nice to be able to pass the buck onto some recruitment consultant if/when it all goes pear shaped.
|
|
|
Agree. OT again but my birthday's coming up so indulge me.
Motoring: a spotless 1982 Merc 230E has been offered to me by a neighbour of 87 years of age who thinks maybe he should give up driving (!) and it's so beautiful I'm tempted to plunder Growlette's inheritance to buy it. It feels and drives like it was carved out of a solid block of metal and gives me feelings of world domination. What should I look out for?
Thread topic...
A resumé should be targeted towards the job you want and the recruiter's requirements to get his attention. That's all it is, a trailer, a flyer. That means you may have to rewrite it every time you respond to a job ad so that you can make it fit. It's just the key to get you in the door, the rest is up to you both and should come out at the interview. Why do you need more than a page to do that? Help the guy out, he's busy. You in person expounding your achievements in ways you can be questioned about and have them discussed beats a load of weasel-words on a CV.
Yes I know executive placement agencies (read snake-oil salesmen) will tell you otherwise. Ignore them, they're only doing for you what you could do for yourself, and for free.
Let's say I am a recruiter, as I was for many years. I know what I want. If you take the trouble to find out what that is you may just get my attention, so it's worth the effort. Call the company, talk to the recruiting manager or to the HR department, find out what they really want, see if you can connect with other employees and find out what it's like to work there.
I still hold that if you can't get your salient features and accomplishments and how these relate to the job you want to get, and the recruiter wants to fill, on to one page then you have some work to on critical thinking and how to present yourself. I don't want your autobiography: what I want to know is what can you do for me and what checkable evidence can you put forward to convince me you can. What you did after leaving school is of no interest, what you did in the last 3-5 years may be.
Like any good business plan, for that is surely its purpose a resumé should express outcomes not inputs. Measurable objectives not good intentions. Results not activity. So you managed a team of 12 regional sales execs and were responsible for their performance (Let's call them salesmen, after all that's what they really were and there's nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade rather than a manually operated earth-moving implement). Well terrific, what did they/you accomplish along with attending monthly sales meeting lunches at the Goat and Compasses?
Talk bottom-line, that's what speaks to me, because don't forget my boss is going to want this stuff before he decides to interview you, so it's my ass as well as yours.
Now and then I get a request from promising individuals to help them with preparing for job opportunities. First thing I do is tell them rip up whatever you've got and we'll start all over. Then we work on the company(ies) they've targeted to find out what we can, then we redefine their own qualifications and achievements and express these in ways which seem to fit what the recruiter is asking for.
Not blowing any trumpets, but I've got a few stars out there.
Hell I'm supposed to be retired, maybe I should charge for this stuff.
|
|
'a few stars out there...' '...supposed to be retired...' Me too Growler :-)
|
"That means you may have to rewrite it every time you respond to a job ad."
Precisely! As a rule I only want to hire you if you aspire to work for MY organisation. If you're adopting a scattergun approach, I'll probably notice and won't want to know....
|
Therein lies the root of the problem - the world is full of boring 1 page CV's based on standard templates and text copied from the same paperbacks on the subject.
Job hunters take the cheap and easy option, produce a homegeneous largely irrelevant CV, send out as many as they can as quickly as possible and then wonder why they can't get an interview let alone a job!
A qualified S&MM once informed me that, despite his initial thoughts, he was very hapy with my work and advice. When i asked him how he was going to present his CV he said he'd either get it photocopied at work or e.mail it to prospective employers - failing to appreciate that by doing either he was losing a very important opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
Another client - a buyer for one of the big 3 supermarket groups - once asked me to include his current salary details in his CV. His view: "It makes me look successful" My view "It's not very astute is it ? Do you tell your customers what your cost prices and margins are ?"
I won the argument.
|
Very good and interesting information from all; but I think we can leave CVs there now, thank you.
Mark.
|
|
A comic judge - very rare!
|
|
|
|
|
