Car Salesman Resume Example
Pursuing a career as a car salesman provides opportunities for career progression and responsibilities involving conducting test drives and selling vehicles, meeting KPIs. A strong resume for car salesman applications showcases your skills, experience and achievements and helps you stand out from other candidates. In this article, we'll showcase resume tips and examples that can help you create a professional car salesman resume that catches the eye of hiring managers.
After reading this article, you'll feel confident creating a car salesman resume that effectively showcases your relevant skills and experience. You'll find valuable tips on writing a resume that best showcases your unique skills and achievements. There is also extensive guidance on how to structure your resume to match the job description, and to reflect your experience levels to impress HR specialists and employers.
Continue reading to find the best car salesman resume tips from careers experts at Jobseeker.
Core sections to include in a car salesman resume
Although the content of a car salesman resume may differ according to your experience and seniority, the main sections will remain the same. For junior candidates with little work experience, other sections of the resume take on more prominence and might be placed before the work experience section. These could include education, skills, projects, hobbies and volunteer work.
The order you present these sections can vary according to your career stage, but it's still essential to include each of the following:
Resume Header
In your car salesman resume header, list your name, email address, phone number and address or location. You can also add your LinkedIn, if you have one, to help employers better understand your work history and skills. While in some countries, you might include additional personal information or a photo, these aren't necessary. Be aware of the amount of space your resume header takes up. You don't want your contact details to take space away from the main content of your resume, so keep this section as brief as possible.
Use an email address that's professional and appropriate for professional communication. Typically this would be an email address based on your first and last name, or your initials. If necessary, you could include your profession or another unique identifier. Avoid using old email addresses that could be considered unprofessional or inappropriate. Additionally, always check your contact details before sending your resume to ensure they're up-to-date.
Harold Williams
harold.williams@example.com
(111) 222 33 444 55
5150 Maple Drive, Twin Peaks, WA
linkedin․com/in/harold–williams123
Resume Summary
Your resume personal profile is a short, concise paragraph to highlight two or three key skills and achievements in car salesman roles. You may also see this section named as 'resume summary' or 'resume objective'. Resume summaries tend to focus on your career experience, while resume objectives cover your ambitions and plans for the future. Additionally, make sure your resume summary reflects the job description and focuses on qualities that are relevant to working as a car salesman.
Alternatively, use this summary to introduce your personal career ambitions and explain why car salesman roles are a good fit for you at this stage of your career.
A good resume summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for car salesman roles, while leaving the reader with an impression of your unique qualities and strengths. The most effective resume summaries also provide evidence to back up the claims made in them. See below for some great examples of how to approach your car salesman resume.
Dynamic and results-driven Car Salesman with a proven track record as an Automotive Sales Consultant. Adept at building strong customer relationships, exceeding sales targets, and delivering exceptional customer service. Skilled in product knowledge, negotiation, and closing deals to drive revenue growth and customer satisfaction
Worked in selling cars and talking to people about buying them. Have done this for a while and have met goals. Know a bit about cars and how to talk to people about prices. Try to make customers happy and help the company sell more cars
Conversely, an ineffective resume summary would include generic, unspecific information on your skills and experience, while failing to provide any useful information on what makes you a unique and interesting candidate. In the graphic above you can find some negative examples of how to write a resume summary.
Skills
The skills section of a car salesman resume is a chance to list any skills you have that match those of the job description. You could include salesforce automation tools, strong customer focus or any other skills that show you're a suitable candidate. Again, refer to the job description and make sure you include skills that the employer has listed as essential or desirable for employment as a car salesman.
Highlighting your hard skills
For your hard skills list, include any technical abilities or specific industry knowledge that's essential to working as a car salesman. These could be skills gained through work experience or qualifications. Furthermore, it's important to show these skills in a car salesman resume as they provide a strong indication of your experience in the sector. It's best to aim for four or five key hard skills that match the job description. These can really showcase your suitability for the job.
If you want to make a strong impression with your hard skills list, focus on hard skills that align with your specific industry expertise, and that reflect the job description. For inspiration on the right type of hard skills for a car salesman resume, see below.
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Automotive product knowledge
- Salesforce automation tools
Listing soft skills on your car salesman resume
Soft skills are the personal skills and qualities that make you a good fit for the job. They include transferable skills and strengths that help you settle into the role, adapt to new challenges and build effective working relationships. Indeed, without soft skills, you may struggle to adapt to car salesman roles or meet the standards expected of you. So make sure you include several key soft skills on your resume. Aim to include approximately five soft skills that reflect the skills listed in the job description.
A good soft skills section would include skills that match the job description, and also reflect your key strengths and qualities. See the graphic below for an indication of what to include in a strong soft skills section for a car salesman resume.
- Excellent communication skills
- Strong customer focus
- Effective time management
Education
Under education, add details of any degrees or professional qualifications relevant to car salesman roles.
Working as a car salesman doesn't usually require a degree. Even though a degree-level education isn't a necessity, it's still important to highlight your key educational achievements, including a Certified Sales Professional or other courses or training that showcases your customer relationship management (CRM) or automotive product knowledge.
List every relevant qualification, including the name and level of the course, the name of the school, college or university, its location and your graduation date. You can also add some bullet points outlining any high grades, awards you won or specialist subjects you studied. Adding this information will show the employer your dedication to learning and your areas of specialist knowledge.
If you organized or participated in any clubs or societies while at university, or you took part in any voluntary work, you could also mention these here.
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), 2017 - 2020
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Licenses and Certifications
Under certifications and licenses, add any further qualifications that show you're a good fit for the job. These might be licenses that show you're qualified to operate certain equipment, or certifications that give you the edge over candidates with otherwise similar career history. Therefore, add any necessary licenses and certifications in this section, along with valid dates so employers can see you're still qualified for the job.
See below for some suggestions of relevant certifications for a car salesman resume:
- Certified Sales Professional, 2022
- Automotive Sales Certification, 2022
- Master Certified Sales, 2022
Work Experience
Under your work experience section, add any jobs you've had in the past that are relevant to the position of a car salesman. Include any relevant jobs you've held in reverse-chronological order. Start with your current or most recent roles and work back through previous roles. For each job, list your title, the name of the company, its location and the dates you worked there.
Under each job entry, add several bullet points highlighting your responsibilities and achievements. Consult the job description for a list of the key requirements for the role and make sure your work experience section showcases how you meet these requirements.
An effective resume work experience section is one that constantly echoes the skills and experience listed in the job description, and shows how you used your skills to positive effect in each job. Each bullet point should be carefully crafted to showcase a particular skill or achievement relevant to car salesman jobs, with evidence to show the value you added. There are some examples of strong resume work experience sections below.
Automotive Sales Consultant, January 2022 - Present
Velocity Motors, Charlotte
- Consistently exceeded monthly sales targets by 20% over a 3-year period, achieving the highest sales in the region
- Awarded "Top Sales Consultant" for exceptional performance in client satisfaction and retention for two consecutive years
- Successfully closed high-value deals with key corporate clients, contributing to a 15% increase in dealership revenue
Automotive Sales Consultant, January 2022 - Present
Velocity Motors, Charlotte
- Responsible for driving sales and enhancing customer satisfaction in a competitive market environment
- Played a key role in improving team performance and meeting company objectives
- Engaged with clients to promote products and services, fostering long-term relationships
See above for some of the pitfalls to avoid with your resume work experience section. Ineffective work experience sections tend to focus too much on everyday responsibilities over skills and achievements. If you use vague descriptions of activities and fail to back up your achievements with evidence, you're likely to fail to make an impact on the reader.
Hear from experts:
If you have limited formal experience, highlight other achievements, like completing training programs, certifications, or successful personal projects. (1) Present this information in a clear and concise format with easy-to-read sections and plenty of white space. (2)
Optional Sections
There are several additional sections you could add to a car salesman resume, to improve your chances of success. Choose any optional sections that showcase essential or desirable skills or experience for car salesman jobs.
Hobbies and Interests
Add any hobbies and interests that reinforce your credentials for the position. Your hobbies and interests are useful for a car salesman resume if you want to show a different side to your personality, or to stand out among other candidates. They can also be valuable if you're a junior candidate without much relevant work experience. Think about adding hobbies and interests to your resume if they add some insight into your personality that you can't express elsewhere in your application.
Volunteer Experience
Listing volunteer work is another useful way to prove your relevant experience for car salesman roles. Add your volunteer job title or role, the name of the organization, its location and the dates you were involved.
References
Standard car salesman resumes don't tend to include references, but you might find them requested occasionally. Check the job advert to see if you'll need to add references to your resume. Before adding any referees to your resume, ask them for their assistance and prepare them for contact by the employer.
References are avaiable upon request.
Best words to use in a car salesman resume
Add strong verbs to your work experience section to show the hiring manager the impact you made in your previous roles. Choose from the list of words below to make the best possible impression.
- Sell
- Negotiate
- Demonstrate
- Consult
- Promote
- Advise
- Close
- Assist
- Analyze
- Facilitate
For help creating an eye-catching resume design to catch the attention of hiring managers, see Jobseeker's professional resume layouts. You can also use our clear, effective cover letter templates to complete your application.
Sample resume for car salesman positions
Now we've covered the main sections to include in your car salesman resume, let's take a look at how it all comes together in the example below:
5150 Maple Drive, Twin Peaks, WA
•
harold.williams@example.com
•
(111) 222 33 444 55
•
linkedin․com/in/harold–williams123
Experienced Automotive Sales Consultant with a proven track record of exceeding sales targets and providing exceptional customer service. Skilled in product knowledge, negotiation, and building long-term client relationships. Adept at leveraging market trends and customer needs to drive revenue growth. Highly motivated with a strong passion for automobiles and a commitment to delivering a superior buying experience.
Automotive Sales Consultant
2020
-2022
Vanguard Auto Solutions (Lexington)
- Consistently exceeded monthly sales targets by 25%, earning the Top Sales Consultant award for three consecutive years
- Developed a customer retention program, increasing repeat business by 30% and boosting customer satisfaction scores to 95%
- Successfully trained and mentored new sales staff, contributing to a 20% increase in overall team sales performance
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Automotive product knowledge
Salesforce automation tools
Excellent communication skills
Strong customer focus
Effective time management
Certified Sales Professional
Automotive Sales Certification
English - Fluent
Spanish - B2
Best practices for a car salesman resume
- Use a clear resume format with professional elements, including suitable headings, line spacing, fonts and margins, to make your resume as readable as possible for hiring managers.
- Tailor your resume to make it as relevant as possible to the role you're applying for. Consult the job description and adapt your resume to reflect the required skills and experience.
- Showcase your key car salesman qualities with a strong resume summary or objective to catch the attention of the reader.
- Proofread your resume before sending it, to avoid any unnecessary mistakes that may harm your chances.
- Add key skills throughout your resume that match the job description, along with a dedicated 'skills' section.
- Don't use passive language - steer away from phrases like 'I was asked to' and use action words instead.
- Don't use an email address with offensive, funny or casual connotations. Instead, create a professional email address based on your name.
- Don't include any personal details, such as a photo, your age or marital status. These can create unwanted bias in the recruitment process.
- Don't forget to review your contact information before sending your resume, to ensure it's all up-to-date.
- Don't use elaborate formatting or layouts. These can make your car salesman resume less readable and harder for applicant tracking systems (ATS) to scan.
How to make your resume ATS compliant
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help recruiters and employers to manage their hiring process. They can handle some of the more time-consuming and resource-intensive jobs, such as initial screening of resumes. Employers often receive hundreds of applications per vacancy, and ATS software can quickly and accurately scan and rank resumes based on their likely suitability for any role. When writing your car salesman resume, a few simple tips can help you pass the ATS stage with a higher-ranking resume, giving you a better chance of success with your applications.
Follow these guidelines to create the best ATS-friendly resume:
- Adopt a traditional structure for your resume, such as a reverse-chronological format or a functional format. These are likely to be the easiest layouts for ATS software to scan.
- Use keywords throughout your resume that reflect the job description, so ATS resume scanners can recognize a strong connection between your skills, and those in the job description.
- Include clear headings that make it easy to identify each section of your resume. This will help any ATS software navigate your resume during the scanning process.
- Use a resume design that includes clean, professional design elements to give your content space to breathe. This might include clear, readable fonts, subtle color accents and simple design elements.
- Adopt simple, professional language to keep your resume as concise as possible. This tends to make your document more readable, and easier for ATS software to scan.
If you're looking for inspiration for your resume, discover our comprehensive resume examples and in-depth, expert career blog.
A car salesman resume FAQs
As well as writing a professional car salesman resume, you'll need a cover letter to introduce yourself and emphasize your credentials.
In some situations, a full, professional cover letter may not be necessary. Check the job advert and decide whether to write a formal cover letter, or if a brief email is more suitable.
A traditional cover letter should follow formal letter-writing conventions and structure, including a header, the recipient's address and professional greetings and sign-offs. For the main body of the letter, open with a short paragraph introducing yourself and explaining your reasons for applying for the car salesman role. Follow that with an explanation of your skills and experience and how they're relevant to the position. Close by expressing your gratitude and enthusiasm, and leaving a call to action that encourages the employer to open a dialogue with you.
Jobseeker's HR-approved cover letter templates can help you produce a cover letter that really catches the eye of employers.
If you're an experienced car salesman, your resume should focus on your extensive work experience and the achievements in your career to date. Your car salesman resume is likely to have a longer work experience section than resumes for less experienced candidates, any you may wish to go back further than the standard 10 to 15 years of employment history, depending on your experience levels. Your car salesman resume could also include optional sections that demonstrate your experience levels and reputation in your industry. These could include, for example, awards, achievements and successful projects.
A strong resume headline can give the reader an immediate idea of your suitability for car salesman jobs. A well-written resume headline is also a way to increase your chances of passing the ATS resume scanning stage, by referencing keywords that match the job description. Write a concise headline including the job title, a reference to your experience or track record and one or two key skills.
Here's an example of a strong resume headline:
- Aspiring Automotive Sales Specialist
- Top-Performing Automotive Sales Expert
- Veteran Automotive Sales Specialist
The best resume format for you depends on two things. Firstly, it depends on your experience level. Secondly, it depends on the type and level of position you're applying for. If you don't have much experience, for example if you're applying for a graduate role or changing careers, you might consider a functional resume format. This focuses on your skills and education above your work experience. For more senior roles where you have plenty of relevant experience, use a reverse chronological format. This resume structure places work experience at the heart of the document, using it as a showcase for your skills and achievements.
Key takeaways for your car salesman resume
An effective resume is a concise, professional summary of your relevant skills and career achievements, showcased through a chronology of your career history. Pick a resume format that matches your experience levels, and tailor the content of your resume to reflect the details of the job description.
HR-approved resume templates and other tools by Jobseeker are the easiest way to create a winning job application. Sign up and follow the simple instructions to complete a resume that stands out from the crowd. A stylish, professional cover letter can make all the difference to your job prospects. See Jobseeker's cover letter examples, written by careers experts, to help you craft an eye-catching application.
Sources:
(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx
(2) Resume Tips, Duke University: https://careerhub.students.duke.edu/resources/resume-tips/
