A powerful resume is the first step toward landing an interview.
This guide walks you through creating a standout sales resume - from choosing the format and writing each section to optimizing for ATS and incorporating recruiter feedback. We have included concrete examples, action-oriented phrases and sample templates for you to pick from for a winning resume.
Open a word doc, and follow each step. By the end, you would have your sales executive resume created!
How to create an effective sales executive resume format?
🔍 Analyze the job description
The first step is to understand the job requirements. What are the key skills & qualifications required? (e.g. cold-calling, CRM, quota).
📌 Choose your sales CV format
Are you going to pick the chronological cv, functional or a combination of both?
The chronological resume is highly recommended for experienced sales professionals, who can list out their achievements and career development in reverse chronological order, best to highlight contributions, its impact and outcomes.
The functional template focuses on skills, excellent for those making career shifts. If you’re somewhere in between, use a combination of both.
Chronological Resume Template

Functional Resume Template

Hybrid Resume Template

✍️ Build your header and contact details
Top of the page should include your name, professional email, phone, and location. Also fit in your LinkedIn URL for recruiters to find you.

📜 Write a profile summary for sales executive role
Introduce yourself in this section mentioning who you are and what you have to offer. Keep it precise to the role you are applying for. This should not exceed 2-3 lines.

🎓 Detail your education and certifications
As an entry level sales professional, list your latest degree and year of graduation. Include any sales-related certifications you might have or a high GPA (if >3.5).
- For example, a certification on “B2B and territory sales strategies and techniques”.
💼 Showcase experience & projects
Even if you lack sales executive experience, add internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work or even projects you have worked on to display industry knowledge and leadership skills. Title this as experience or relevant experience and list the content in reverse chronological order in bullets.
- For example, “signed up a corporate order worth ₹1,00,000 for an event”
- In case of no paid experience, use college projects. E.g., led a sales case competition, or managed fundraising. Focus on transferable skills like teamwork, leadership or data analysis.

Include a key achievements section listing all accomplishments for a quick glance.

🛠️ Highlight key skills
Include both hard and soft sales executive skills that align with the job description.
What do recruiters look for in a sales executive experience resume?
Results & metrics: Quantifiable accomplishments is what recruiters want. They want to see numbers, and stats. Mention quota attainment, revenue generated, rankings or awards. E.g., increased engagement by 20%.
Industry skills & tools: Eg: CRM tools, sales engagement & outreach tools, sales analytics and forecasting, marketing automation.
Cultural fit & enthusiasm: Express genuine interest in the company and role. Write a cover letter to convey the same. Personalize your resume so it reflects the company’s values (e.g. mention a sales achievement or coursework related to their industry).
What are some ATS optimization techniques to follow for your sales cv format?
- Use exact keywords: Use a keyword tracker to compare your resume against the JD to fill in the missing terms, increasing the chances of passing the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) scan.
- Stick to standard headings: Do not experiment with unusual headings that might confuse the ATS. Follow standard titles like “Experience, education, skills”.
- Choose a simple formatting: Avoid charts, images, or symbols. ATS will scan plain layouts only. Use bullets and consistent date formats (e.g., May 8, 2025). Upload resume as PDF or word doc.
- Avoid text boxes: Place important information in the main body, not in text boxes or headings.
- Mention both full form & acronyms: For example, “ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)”. ATS can search for either.
How to format your sales executive experience resume?
Once you have created your resume, follow these steps to enhance readability.
- Font & style: Keep it clean and legible. Use (Arial, Calibri, or Rubik) at 10-12pt. Maintain a 1.0-1.15 line spacing and 1 inch margin.
- Use bullet lists: No long paragraphs. Break text into bullets.
- Page limit: Limit your resume to one page. If your resume is two pages, make sure it is strong.
- White space: Space your sections so the content doesn’t cram and overwhelm the reader. Or ATS to parse and humans to read, a clean layout is important.

Sales resume examples for freshers with no direct experience
- Spotlight transferable experience: If you don’t have direct sales experience, highlight the transferable skills from other roles like customer service, call center.
- Project & internship: Mention projects & internships with sales skills. E.g. “Led a campus campaign that secured 50 new sign-ups” or “Interned at TechFirm, supporting the sales team by compiling lead reports.”
- Volunteering and extracurricular: Volunteer roles (e.g. fundraising, event planning) often involve persuasion and organization. Mention them if they showcase sales-y skills (e.g. “Raised $5K for charity through outreach and negotiation”).
- Career objective: If you have no experience, frame your objective to express goals, strengths and enthusiasm to drive growth.
- Certifications & online courses: Complete sales courses from Linkedin, Coursera and other platforms. List them under certifications or education.

Tools & platforms to tailor your sales executive experience resume
- Templates on sites like Indeed, ResumeGenius, Zety, Novoresume, or Canva can jumpstart layout and content. (Ensure any design from Canva is ATS-friendly: avoid heavy graphics.)
- Use Jobscan to compare your resume against the JD. It’ll flag missing keywords.
- Grammarly will help correct spelling or grammar errors or even MS Word’s editor can help catch it.
While this blog ends, your opportunities don’t. Here’s a sales executive resume format. Your next career breakthrough is closer than you think! 👇
Heading text
Nunc sed faucibus bibendum feugiat sed interdum. Ipsum egestas condimentum mi massa. In tincidunt pharetra consectetur sed duis facilisis metus. Etiam egestas in nec sed et. Quis lobortis at sit dictum eget nibh tortor commodo cursus.
Odio felis sagittis, morbi feugiat tortor vitae feugiat fusce aliquet. Nam elementum urna nisi aliquet erat dolor enim. Ornare id morbi eget ipsum. Aliquam senectus neque ut id eget consectetur dictum. Donec posuere pharetra odio consequat scelerisque et, nunc tortor.
Nulla adipiscing erat a erat. Condimentum lorem posuere gravida enim posuere cursus diam.