You've been in sales. You know how to close. So why does your CV keep getting rejected before anyone even picks up the phone?
Here's the uncomfortable truth: most sales CVs are terrible. Not because the person can't sell. Because nobody ever told them what a hiring manager actually wants to see.
Recruiters spend an average of seven seconds scanning a CV. Seven seconds to decide whether you're worth their time. If your CV doesn't immediately communicate "this person can hit a number," it's gone.
The problem isn't you. It's that no one ever gave you proper feedback.
What Sales Hiring Managers Actually Look For
After years on both sides of the hiring table, I can tell you what jumps out immediately.
Numbers. Specifics. Context.
Not "responsible for managing a territory." But "grew territory revenue from £180k to £340k in 14 months by targeting mid-market accounts the team had deprioritised."
Not "worked closely with marketing to generate pipeline." But "partnered with demand gen to build an outbound sequence that delivered 23 qualified meetings in Q2."
The difference is enormous. One tells me you had a job. The other tells me you can think and deliver.
Most CVs also bury the lead. Your most impressive achievement might be sitting in bullet point six under a role from three years ago. Hiring managers will never find it.
The Five Mistakes That Kill Sales CVs
1. No numbers. If I can't see what you hit, I have no way to judge you.
2. Responsibilities listed as achievements. "Managed a pipeline of enterprise accounts" is not an achievement. It's a job description.
3. Wrong length. One page for under five years' experience. Two pages maximum after that. Every word must earn its place.
4. Generic skills sections. "Strong communicator. Team player. Results-driven." Every single candidate says this. It means nothing.
5. No story. Your CV should show a clear arc. Where you started, how you've grown, where you're heading. If there are gaps or pivots, address them.
Why Most CV Advice Misses the Mark
Generic career sites tell you to "use action verbs" and "tailor your CV to each role." That's fine as far as it goes. But it's surface-level stuff.
What you actually need is someone who has hired sales professionals. Someone who has read thousands of CVs and knows within ten seconds whether this person can sell or not. Someone who will tell you exactly what to change and why.
That kind of feedback used to cost money. Or it came from a recruiter who had their own agenda.
Introducing the meritt CV Coach
We built the meritt CV Coach at cv-coach.ai because we got tired of watching great salespeople get overlooked for the wrong reasons.
It's free. Completely free.
It's trained on thousands of real CV feedback calls, all with sales professionals at every level. From SDRs looking for their first role to senior AEs targeting six-figure OTE positions. The feedback it gives is the same feedback I'd give in person.
Here's what makes it different: once you've made your edits, submit your revised CV and it scores how much you've improved. You see the before and after in real terms. Not vague encouragement. Actual evidence that your CV is getting better.
Try it today at cv-coach.ai. It takes ten minutes and it might be the most useful thing you do this week.
The Bottom Line
You can't control whether a company is hiring. You can't control who else applies. You can control how good your CV is.
Most salespeople put hours into perfecting their pitch decks and zero time into the document that decides whether they get a meeting. That's a fixable problem.
Fix it.