You threw together your CV in an hour before applying to that SDR role. You copied the job description into your bullet points, changed a few dates, and hit submit. It looks fine to you. Professional enough, covers your experience, gets the point across.
Then nothing. Not even a rejection email.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: you have no idea what a good sales CV actually looks like. And neither do most candidates. You're guessing at what recruiters want, hoping your CV is "fine," and wondering why you're not getting callbacks.
The problem isn't effort. It's that you're optimising for the wrong things. You think a good CV means describing your responsibilities clearly. Recruiters are looking for proof you can hit quota. You think two paragraphs per role shows thoroughness. Recruiters see someone who can't prioritise information. You think 2.3 pages is close enough to two pages. Recruiters see someone who lacks attention to detail.
Most sales professionals have never seen a truly excellent sales CV. They've only seen their own and maybe a mate's. They don't know what hiring managers actually want because no one's ever told them. They're making it up as they go, hoping it works.
It usually doesn't.
This guide shows you exactly what a professional sales CV needs to look like. Not vague advice about "action verbs" or "being authentic." Concrete standards that separate CVs that get interviews from CVs that get ignored in seven seconds.
The Seven-Second Scan
According to CV-Library research, recruiters spend an average of 7 seconds on their initial CV scan. Not seven minutes. Seven seconds.
In that tiny window, they're checking three things: can this person do the job, do they job hop constantly, and is this CV professional enough to send to a hiring manager?
If your CV is 2.3 pages long with inconsistent formatting and vague achievement statements, the answer to all three questions is "probably not." Next candidate.
At meritt, we review over 2,000 sales CVs every week. The pattern is consistent: most fail within seconds because candidates fundamentally misunderstand what recruiters are looking for. Candidates write CVs that feel impressive to them, not CVs that pass professional screening standards.
The gap between what you think is good and what actually works is costing you opportunities. Let's close it.
The Non-Negotiable: One or Two Pages, Nothing Else
This is the most violated rule in sales CVs: your CV must be exactly one page or exactly two pages. Not 1.5 pages. Not 2.3 pages. Not "almost two pages with a couple of lines on page three."
One page if you're a graduate, career changer, or have less than three years of sales experience.
Two pages if you're an experienced SDR, AE, or sales manager with a track record worth showcasing.
Nothing in between. Ever.
Why does this matter so much? Because precision in presentation signals precision in work. Sales is a profession built on attention to detail: tracking metrics, following up consistently, managing complex deal cycles. If you can't format a CV to professional standards, hiring managers question whether you'll format client proposals properly or maintain clean CRM data.
This isn't pedantic. It's how recruiters think. A CV that runs to 2.3 pages tells them you either don't know professional standards or you couldn't be bothered to meet them. Either way, you're not making the shortlist.
How to fix it: Open your CV. Check the page count. If it's not exactly one or two pages, you have work to do.
Too long? Cut entire roles from early in your career down to one line. Remove generic duties that don't prove sales ability. Delete the "references available on request" line. Tighten bullet points.
Too short? Add an "Achievements" section. Include relevant training or certifications. Expand on your key wins with context and numbers.
The goal is simple: make it exactly one page or exactly two pages. No exceptions.
File Format: Always PDF, Always Professional
Submit your CV as a PDF unless the application system specifically asks for Word format. PDFs preserve formatting across different devices and operating systems. Word documents can break, shift, or display incorrectly depending on the recruiter's software version.
Name your file professionally: Firstname_Lastname_CV.pdf. Not "CV_final_v3.pdf" or "resume.pdf" or "My_CV_2024.pdf."
Before you submit, open the PDF and scroll through it. Check for:
- Hidden third pages with just your footer
- Half-pages that suggest you couldn't commit to one or two full pages
- Formatting that broke during conversion
- Links that don't work
This takes 30 seconds. Most candidates skip it. Then they wonder why they're not getting responses.
Results Over Responsibilities: What Experienced Salespeople Get Wrong
If you've been in sales for more than a year, your CV should be built almost entirely on results, not responsibilities.
"Responsible for managing a pipeline of enterprise accounts" tells recruiters nothing. Every AE is responsible for managing accounts. What they want to know is: did you actually do it well?
Compare these two bullet points:
Weak: Managed a territory of 50+ accounts across the UK, responsible for new business and account growth.
Strong: Generated £340K in new business revenue across 50 enterprise accounts, achieving 127% of annual quota and ranking 3rd out of 18 AEs.
The second version proves you can sell. The first just proves you showed up to work.
What recruiters look for in experienced sales CVs:
Quota attainment: Did you hit your number? Express it as a percentage. "Achieved 112% of quota" is better than "exceeded targets."
Revenue numbers: Absolute figures matter. "Closed £250K in ARR" gives context that "exceeded revenue targets" doesn't.
Rankings: Where did you finish on the leaderboard? "Top 10% of sales team" or "2nd out of 12 reps" shows relative performance.
Deal metrics: Average deal size, sales cycle length, conversion rates. These prove you understand the mechanics of selling, not just the results.
Awards and recognition: President's Club, Salesperson of the Quarter, anything that signals you were recognised as high-performing.
At meritt, when we assess experienced sales candidates, we're looking for proof of consistent performance. One good quarter doesn't tell us much. Two years of quota attainment, steady rankings, and quantified growth tells us you're a reliable hire.
How to fix it: Go through every role on your CV. For each bullet point, ask: does this prove I can sell, or does it just describe what my job was?
If you don't have exact numbers, use approximations or ranges. "Generated approximately £200K in pipeline" is better than "responsible for pipeline generation."
If you genuinely can't remember your metrics, contact former managers, check old commission statements, or review LinkedIn recommendations. The numbers exist somewhere. Find them.
Skills Over Experience: What Early Career Candidates Get Wrong
If you're a graduate, career changer, or entry-level candidate, you can't compete on results you don't have. You compete on skills, traits, and potential.
This means structuring your CV differently from experienced salespeople. Add a "Key Skills" section near the top. Include:
Technical skills: CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot), sales tools (LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo), Microsoft Office, data analysis.
Soft skills: Communication, resilience, relationship-building, problem-solving, time management, adaptability.
Training and certifications: Sales bootcamps, online courses, SDR training programs. If you completed Pavilion's SDR certification or HubSpot's sales training, list it.
Languages: If you're bilingual, this is valuable for international sales teams.
Then reframe your previous experience through a sales lens. Worked in retail? You were persuading customers, handling objections, and upselling. Waited tables? You were managing multiple stakeholders, working under pressure, and maximising table turnover. Tutored students? You were communicating complex ideas clearly and adapting your approach based on feedback.
Weak: Part-time retail assistant at JD Sports, responsible for customer service and stock management.
Strong: Consistently exceeded weekly sales targets by 15% through product recommendations and upselling, while managing customer queries and resolving complaints in a fast-paced retail environment.
The second version positions retail work as sales-relevant. The first makes it sound irrelevant.
At meritt, we look for four key traits in early career candidates: curiosity, coachability, grit, and communication. If your CV demonstrates these through any background (academic projects, part-time work, volunteering, sports), you're a credible candidate even without sales experience.
How to fix it: Create a "Key Skills" section. List 6 to 8 skills that are genuinely relevant to sales. Then go through your work history and rewrite every role to highlight how you demonstrated those skills.
Don't lie. Don't claim you "led a sales team" when you worked a till. But do frame your actual responsibilities in language that shows you understand what sales requires.
Only Include What's Relevant
Your CV is not your life story. It's a targeted marketing document designed to get you an interview for a specific type of role.
If you're applying for sales jobs, recruiters don't care that you worked in a warehouse for six months during university unless you can reframe it as customer-facing, target-driven, or communication-intensive work.
They don't care that you were a lifeguard unless you're positioning it as responsibility, quick decision-making under pressure, or managing difficult situations.
They definitely don't care about your GCSEs if you have a degree and two years of work experience.
What to cut:
- Jobs from more than 10 years ago unless they're directly relevant to the role you're applying for
- Part-time or temporary work that has no connection to sales, communication, or targets
- Hobbies and interests unless they're genuinely unusual or relevant (competitive debating shows communication skills; "reading and travelling" shows nothing)
- References (everyone knows you'll provide them if asked)
- Personal information like date of birth, marital status, or photo
What to keep but condense:
If you have early-career roles that aren't directly relevant but show work ethic or progression, keep them but reduce them to one line.
Example: "Retail Assistant, Tesco (2018-2019): Part-time role during university, managing customer service and cash handling."
That's enough. It shows you worked while studying without taking up valuable space.
How to reframe borderline-relevant experience:
If you're not sure whether to include something, ask: can I describe this role in a way that demonstrates curiosity, coachability, grit, or communication?
Bartender job? That's managing multiple customers simultaneously, staying calm under pressure, and maximising tips through service quality (sales skills).
Volunteer coordinator? That's stakeholder management, persuasion without authority, and project delivery (account management skills).
University society treasurer? That's financial accountability, reporting to stakeholders, and managing competing priorities (business acumen).
If you can make the connection, include it. If you're reaching, cut it.
Career Gaps and Job Hopping: The Red Flags Recruiters Actually Care About
Recruiters see two major red flags on sales CVs: unexplained career gaps and frequent job changes.
Career gaps: A gap of three months or less barely registers. Six months gets noticed. A year or more without explanation raises serious questions.
Why does this matter? Because sales is a profession where momentum matters. If you've been out of a quota-carrying role for 18 months, hiring managers worry you've lost your edge, your network has gone cold, or there's a performance issue you're not disclosing.
How to handle gaps:
Be honest and brief. You don't need to over-explain, but you do need to acknowledge them.
"Career break (Jan-Sep 2023): Returned to education to complete HubSpot Sales Certification and Pavilion SDR training."
"Parental leave (Mar-Dec 2023): Full-time childcare responsibilities, now actively returning to sales."
"Freelance consulting (2022-2023): Advised early-stage startups on go-to-market strategy while exploring new opportunities."
One line is enough. It shows you're not hiding anything and you've used the time productively where possible.
Job hopping: Sales has higher turnover than most professions. According to Hays 2024 data, sales roles see 30-35% annual turnover. Recruiters know this. But there's a difference between strategic moves and a pattern of short stints.
If you've had three roles in two years, each lasting less than 12 months, that's a problem. It suggests you're either underperforming (getting managed out), difficult to work with, or unable to commit.
The standard for sales roles is 18 to 24 months minimum. Longer is better. If you're leaving every 10 months, you're signaling risk.
How to handle job hopping:
If your short stints were genuinely outside your control (company shut down, redundancy, contract roles), state that clearly.
"Business Development Representative, StartupXYZ (Jan-Aug 2023): Role made redundant following Series A funding round failure."
If they were contract or project-based roles, group them together:
"Freelance SDR (2022-2023): Contract roles across fintech and SaaS, supporting new business pipelines during scaling phases."
If they were performance or culture issues, you can't lie, but you can frame them as learning experiences without dwelling on them:
"Account Executive, SalesCorp (Jan-Jun 2023): Transitioned to a better cultural and product fit at [next company]."
Then make sure your next role lasts longer. The best way to fix a job-hopping CV is to stay in your current role for at least two years.
Common Mistakes That Kill Sales CVs
At meritt, we see the same mistakes every week across thousands of CVs. Here are the most common ones that get candidates rejected instantly:
More than two pages: Explained above. If your CV runs long, you're not making hard decisions about what matters.
1.5 or 2.3 pages: Shows you don't care about professional standards or couldn't figure out how to format properly.
Buzzwords without data: "Results-driven sales professional with a proven track record of exceeding targets." This means nothing. Every candidate writes this. Give actual numbers.
Typos and inconsistent formatting: One typo might be forgiven. Three typos and random bolding means you don't proofread. Sales is about details.
Generic responsibilities: "Managed client accounts and grew revenue." So did everyone else. What were the results?
No quantification anywhere: If you have sales experience and zero numbers on your CV, recruiters assume you didn't hit quota.
Inconsistent date formats: Pick one format (Month Year or MM/YYYY) and stick with it across the entire CV.
Vague job titles: If your actual title was "Customer Success Champion" but you were doing sales, list it as "Customer Success Champion (Sales-focused role)" so recruiters understand what you actually did.
What Recruiters Actually Look For in Seven Seconds
When a recruiter opens your CV, they're scanning for specific signals. Here's what they check in order:
1. Page count: Is this exactly one or two pages? If not, move to next candidate.
2. Current or most recent role: Does this person currently work in sales? What level? What type of company?
3. Tenure: How long have they stayed in each role? If they're averaging less than 18 months per job, flag as risky.
4. Progression: Are they moving up (SDR to AE to Senior AE) or sideways (AE to AE to AE)? Progression suggests ambition and competence.
5. Numbers: Do they quantify anything? If an experienced salesperson has no metrics, they probably underperformed.
6. Formatting: Is this professional and easy to scan, or cluttered and amateur?
7. Red flags: Unexplained gaps, constant job changes, irrelevant experience taking up space, typos.
If you pass all seven checks, you get a proper read. If you fail any of them, you're out.
This isn't subjective. At meritt, we assess candidates based on four key traits (curiosity, coachability, grit, communication), but before we even get to that assessment, your CV has to meet professional standards. If it doesn't, you never get the chance to show us what you're capable of.
Quick Fixes for Common CV Problems
Problem: I don't have metrics from my previous sales roles.
Fix: Use approximations or relative performance. "Ranked in top 25% of sales team" or "Consistently exceeded quarterly targets" is better than nothing. Check old emails, commission statements, or ask former managers for numbers. If you genuinely can't find them, focus on qualitative achievements: "Secured three enterprise deals in competitive market" or "Rebuilt dormant territory to generate £120K pipeline in six months."
Problem: My CV is too short (less than one full page).
Fix: Add sections that demonstrate sales-relevant skills:
- Key Achievements: Highlight your three to five biggest wins
- Technical Skills: List CRM systems, sales tools, languages
- Training & Development: Include relevant courses or certifications
- Education: Expand on relevant modules, dissertation topics, or projects
Don't pad with irrelevant content, but do give hiring managers enough information to assess your potential.
Problem: My CV is too long (more than two pages).
Fix: Be ruthless. Every bullet point should either prove you can sell or demonstrate a trait that predicts sales success. Cut:
- Roles from more than 10 years ago (condense to one line each)
- Generic responsibilities that don't show results
- Bullet points that repeat the same idea in different words
- Hobbies, references, personal statements
If you're still over two pages, look at your most recent roles. Can you condense five bullet points into three tighter, more impactful ones?
Problem: I have an unexplained career gap.
Fix: Add a one-line entry explaining it. "Career break (dates): [reason]." Keep it factual and brief. Recruiters just want to know you're not hiding something.
Problem: I've job-hopped and it looks bad.
Fix: If roles were contract-based, group them under "Contract Sales Roles (dates)" with one line per client. If they were permanent but short, be strategic: frame each move as intentional ("Promoted to Senior AE at NewCo after exceeding targets at OldCo") or acknowledge fit issues briefly without dwelling on them. Then stay in your next role for at least two years.
Problem: I'm applying from a non-sales background and my CV looks irrelevant.
Fix: Add a "Key Skills" section at the top and rewrite your work experience using sales language. "Managed customer complaints" becomes "Resolved objections and retained customer accounts through consultative problem-solving." Focus on transferable traits: communication, resilience, target-driven work, relationship-building.
The Bottom Line: Your CV is Your Sales Pitch
If you're in sales, your CV is your proof that you can sell. If it's sloppy, vague, too long, or missing key information, you're failing at the most basic sales task: selling yourself.
The standards in this guide aren't arbitrary. They're based on what actually works in sales recruitment. At meritt, we review over 2,000 sales CVs every week. The ones that succeed follow these rules. The ones that fail ignore them.
Most candidates don't know what good looks like because they've never seen it. They guess, hope for the best, and wonder why they're not getting interviews. You now know better.
Go open your CV. Check the page count. Look for numbers. Cut the fluff. Add the proof. Make it exactly one or two pages.
Then ask yourself honestly: if you were hiring a salesperson and this CV landed on your desk, would you interview this person?
If the answer is anything other than "absolutely yes," you have more work to do.