Here are the keywords and skills that appear most frequently on recent Hardware Sales Associate job postings. In other words, these are the most sought after skills by recruiters and hiring managers. Go to Sample Templates ↓ below to see how to include them on your resume.
Remember that every job is different. Instead of including all keywords on your resume, identify those that are most relevant to the job you're applying to. Use the free Targeted Resume tool to help with this.
Does your resume contain all the right skills? Paste in your resume in the AI Resume Scan ↓ section below and get an instant score.
Paste your resume below and our AI will identify which keywords are missing from your resume from the list above (and what you need to include). Including the right keywords will help you get past Applicant Tracking Systems (i.e. resume screeners) which may scan your resume for keywords to see if you're a match for the job.
Go through the Hardware Sales Associate posting you're applying to, and identify hard skills the company is looking for. For example, skills like Inventory Management, Retail Sales and Retail are possible skills. These are skills you should try to include on your resume.
The following word cloud highlights the most popular keywords that appear on Hardware Sales Associate job descriptions. The bigger the word, the more frequently it shows up on employer's job postings. If you have experience with these keywords, include them on your resume.
Here are common soft skills that appear on Hardware Sales Associate job postings. Unlike hard skills, which refer to tools, software or techniques, soft skills focus on character traits and interpersonal skills. Instead of listing these phrases on your resume, try to show them through your bullet points like in the examples below.
Tip: Do not list these words or phrases on your resume, and instead focus on the hard skills we described above.
Here are examples of proven resumes in related jobs and industries, approved by experienced hiring managers. Use them as inspiration when you're writing your own resume. You can even download and edit the resume template in Google Docs.
Operations associates can learn about business operations as they work to support the day-to-day functioning of a company. While you do need to be organized and conscientious for this type of role, you don’t need management experience for this entry-level role -- so use your resume to underscore your education and internship history, as shown in this resume.
As an entry-level applicant, you won’t have a lot of work history to discuss -- so start your resume off with what you have accomplished in school and internship experience. If you’ve done coursework in relevant areas such as data analytics or operating systems, it’s great to mention that up-front.
This resume points out accomplishments at internships that directly relate to being an operations associate. The bullet points show that even though you’re early in your career, you’ve already made an impact with your work.
Inside sales account managers are similar to sales account managers, and are responsible for maintaining their portfolio of accounts and generating new sales. The main difference is that an inside sales account manager carries out their duties virtually. In the wake of the pandemic, this is a role that has exploded in demand as companies need to hit important sales targets without endangering their workforce.
Like with other roles, it’s important to brainstorm the qualities of what a successful account manager would look like in this position before starting on your resume. Inside sales involves a significant amount of managing many portfolios and making cold calls, hunting leads, filing reports, etc. Thus it’s important to demonstrate your stellar project management skills. Include any certifications you have earned, or past experiences with project management and/or similar roles.
As mentioned above, the sales world is often driven primarily by hitting quotas and meeting sales targets. It is essential to include your experience in sales and to highlight your accomplishments with relevant metrics and strong, relevant action verbs to the role, e.g. “improved” or “facilitated”. In addition, include numerical evidence of your abilities such as the dollar amount of how much you contributed to a client’s revenue growth, what percentage you increased sales by in a certain amount of time, etc.
Regional sales managers should aim to indicate their proficiency with sales management at both the lower and upper levels to show they have both the fundamental skills and greater vision needed for a sales position with more responsibility. This resume does that with its heavy use of quantifiable data points and by showing progressive growth along the sales management career path.
At the higher levels in particular, businesses are interested in knowing how particular employees within their company will affect their bottom line. When this applicant notes how they increased sales by 30 percent, helped the company go from 100 to 500 installations in a year, and managed a $20 million territory, it spells out in clear terms how much they will be able to help the business that hires them. You can accomplish this effect by including numerical data points with every bullet point on your resume.
For a sales manager to make it to the regional level, it would make sense for them to have taken steps along the sales manager ladder to get there. This resume shows that the applicant began with basic accomplishments (such as upselling products as a sales associate) and progressively grew into positions that have greater responsibilities (up to overseeing four branches at the national level) at the company. By including the promotions that you’ve had within a company, you can show to hiring managers that you have successfully demonstrated your competency to your superiors on a consistent basis. Beyond individual companies, hiring managers like to see that you’re moving upward in your career trajectory, so be sure to indicate that when you can.
Hotel sales managers are involved in the marketing of the hotel itself, and so it helps to indicate your ability to develop and implement successful marketing strategies. In this resume, the applicant references their marketing accomplishments alongside their ability to improve staff performance (including implementing CRM tools and educating the staff accordingly), giving the impression of overall capability when it comes to hotel brand management.
Note how this applicant includes how they “implemented social media strategies that increased client interest by 20%” and attended more than 10 industry networking events with the net result of increasing sales by 20 percent. If you have similar accomplishments related to sales outreach, marketing, or developing campaigns (online and offline), you should include them to let hiring managers know that you won’t be slacking when it comes to promoting the hotel to gain business.
This hotel sales manager includes their success at working with a variety of team members to improve the overall hotel performance, showcasing their well roundedness in hotel management. Their accomplishments include educating concierges, training staff, executing sales strategies with five national level sales managers, and working with hotel sales teams. To demonstrate that you have experience working with staff, sales teams, and team members at a variety of levels, you should opt to include any accomplishments that showcase your ability to lead.
As automobiles are high ticket items, automobile sales managers should be prepared to indicate that they have familiarity with the financing process and have made measurable gains within that field. This applicant does so by including finance-relevant data points. Furthermore, by including a relevant additional information section, the impression of overall competency is boosted.
Automobile sales can be dependent on the availability of financing, and financing is the vehicle (if you’ll pardon the pun) that enables some dealerships to stay afloat. If you can similarly demonstrate that you have the capacity to improve the finance income of a car sales business (such as by developing a business plan or by improving relationships with financial institutions), you’ll show hiring managers that you take this portion of the business seriously.
Including an additional information section with relevant accomplishments, techniques, or skills for car sales management will cement the impression that you have experience in this niche. “Negotiation” and “Dealer Management” are both strong techniques that car sales managers should aim to include, while having familiarity with tools like CRM and Reynolds shows you have a solid sales background. Lastly, if you have any certifications that are relevant to the field, you can list them here.
Retail sales managers are on the front lines of sales, meaning they will be having more customer interactions than sales managers in other positions. This applicant shows that they have the ability to work with both customers and employees in a way that supports business sustainability.
Businesses that are looking for retail sales managers are primarily looking for competent, friendly faces that will be able to handle any situation that arises for customers on the sales floor (or off of it). This applicant does that by referencing their focus on fostering “a positive customer experience”, attaining over 96 percent customer satisfaction with their team, and expanding the customer account base by 35 percent, to highlight a few instances. To demonstrate that you have an affinity for building and maintaining constructive customer relationships, you should aim to emphasize customer- or client-centered accomplishments at your past positions.
While all sales managers can be expected to have a degree of interpersonal skills, retail sales managers generally need to have the ability to keep both their customers and their employees happy. In this resume, the applicant includes several accomplishments that give the impression that they have a solid ability to work with others. As examples, they list how they were among the few who received a teaching fellowship at their university, as well as their work to develop a project that led to 85 percent employee retention. If you want to show hiring managers that you care for others in a way that elevates their performance, provide data points that support it.
On top Hardware Sales Associate resumes, skills like Retail, Forklift Operation, Inventory Management, Merchandising, Sales, Retail Sales, Cashiering and Customer Service appear most often.
Depending on the exact role you're applying to, skills like Stocking, AutoCAD, 20/20 Design, Sales Management and Millwork can also be effective keywords to include on your resume.
While the keywords above are a good indication of what skills you need on your resume, you should try to find additional keywords that are specific to the job. To do this, use the free Targeted Resume tool. It analyzes the job you are applying to and finds the most important keywords you need on your resume.
It is personalized to your resume, and is the best way to ensure your resume will pass the automated resume filters.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
