How to Write a Strong Computer Sales Associate Resume

Updated June 10, 2023

Most strong resumes offer a good first impression of a job candidate, providing relevant work experience and skills that can make them a great option for the role. Computer sales associates have many relevant skills to highlight in their resume, from technical computer skills to interpersonal people skills. Learning how you can craft your resume for a computer sales associate role may help you craft an impressive document and increase your chances of getting the job.

In this article, we explore how you can format a computer sales associate resume, list relevant skills to highlight, share tips to create a resume, and offer a sample resume.

How can you format a computer sales associate resume?

To format a computer sales associate resume, you can use a structure that highlights achievements in sales, customer service, and industry standards. When including your previous sales experience, it's beneficial to highlight your sales figures and how you contributed to the overall progress of the sales team. Here are some of the elements to include:

Header: Your personal information, including your name, city and province or territory, e-mail address, and phone number.

Professional summary: Share a brief statement about your skills and why you're the best candidate for the position. You can consider it as a personal sales pitch and tailor this pitch to the job description.

Work experience: Share only work experience that applies to the position you're pursuing. Include all recent sales positions, and highlight results you achieved in those jobs.

Education and volunteer experience: List any relevant courses or training experience that you've learned, as that might differentiate you from other job candidates.

Skills: The skills to be successful in a sales career involve both technical knowledge of the products that you're selling, and the essential people skills to sell a product.

Hard and soft skills to include on a computer sales associate resume

Including sales skills on your resume may help your chances of getting the desired job. These skills may be keywords that can help you pass applicant tracking systems (ATS), a computer system which scans resumes by relevant keywords. Including sales skills on your resume can also benefit you when you advance to the next stage where a recruiter may read your resume. Here are the most important hard and soft skills to include on your resume:

Hard skills

Unlike other sales positions, a computer sales associate may have more technical skills to include on their resume. Include only the most important technical skills you possess, such as:

Merchandizing knowledge: Having a good understanding of the products you're selling is essential to being a good salesperson. Employers often require salespeople to have a computer engineering degree, so that they can understand the hardware and software related to the products they're selling.

Point of sale systems: Point of sale (POS) systems are necessary to request and receive payments from customers. Sales associates who have this technical knowledge can also help the IT department provide technical support if the POS system fails.

Inventory systems: Another technical skill that you can list on your resume is your background in restocking procedures.

Soft skills

Soft skills are interpersonal abilities which salespeople use to build rapport with clients, communicate major selling features of the products, and provide impeccable customer service to clients. On your resume, you can mention specific instances and share numbers and figures which show your ability to sell products. Here are some of the key soft skills to include on your resume:

Self-motivation: To thrive in the competitive sales environment, it's beneficial to be self-motivated, track leads, and close sales. In other parts of your resume, you can provide specific instances when you showed initiative through different programs you led.

Customer service skills: Sales strategies often centre on customer satisfaction, and successful candidates for sales jobs have a proven ability to lead potential customers to become loyal clients. On your resume, it's beneficial to include that you excel at explaining products' difficult technical specifications.

Goal setting: If you thrive at setting goals to reach quarterly sales figures, include that in your resume. This is also another skill that you can choose, highlighting quantifiable achievements.

Tips when creating a sales resume

Hiring managers want to know that you're the right person for the role, and there's some information you can include on your resume to make your application more appealing. Here are some tips you can follow to achieve this:

Focus on facts and figures. Focus on quantifiable facts and figures from your most recent sales experience. Mention specific numbers and percentages, like when you reached a significant sales quota, the largest sales that you completed, or the number of customers you attended.

Explain what type of sales you did. Not all sales positions are the same, so explain on your resume whether your sales experience involves business-to-customer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), or wholesale.

Keep it brief. As you highlight relevant experience related to previous positions, try to keep the points brief. Condense your resume into a one-page, easy-to-read format where you list all of your current experiences in chronological order.

Include all relevant training you've received. Within the information technology field, most managers prefer candidates to be lifelong learners who continue to gain skills through training and courses. It's also beneficial to include certifications on your resume to show validation of the areas of expertise you have.

Proofread your resume. Check your resume for grammatical and spelling errors, and read it several times to make sure that everything is exactly as you want it. If the role asks for a cover letter, make sure that the information on the cover letter matches that on your resume.

Organize your resume into sections. When you format your resume, divide it into separate sections to make it easy to scan. Some resume templates online have colourful borders where you can include your personal information, skills, and volunteer experience.

Related: How to Write a Resume

Resume Template

Resume templates offer a job applicant the ability to see and understand how to format a resume. Here's a resume template you can use to craft your own document:

[First name] [Last name], [Degree or certification, if applicable]

[Phone number] | [E-mail address] | [City], [Province or territory]

Professional summary

[Two to three sentences that highlight years of experience, relevant skills, education or certifications, and achievements as a professional.]

Experience

[Job title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City], [Province or territory]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome, or quantified results.
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City], [Province or territory]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome, or quantified results.
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

Skills

Education

[Degree and major] | [Name of school or university]
[City], [Province or territory]

[Certification name], [Host organization] - [Year completed or expiration date]

Example resume for a computer sales associate role

Resume examples offer a job applicant a greater understanding of how to create and format an engaging resume. Using the example below, you can see all the unique skills and work experience you can highlight on your resume. Here's an example:

Joshua Schmidt
123-456-7890 | jschmidt@email.ca | Dundas, Ontario

Professional summary

Dedicated and motivated computer sales associate with the ability to create rapport with clients, provide excellent customer service, and sustain long-term client relationships. Proven experience in increasing sales within a wide variety of roles. Having the perseverance to overcome objections and make sales.

Experience

Computer sales associate | January 2019–current
Hamil Computers | Hamilton, Ontario

Establish a wide network of organizations to sell merchandise
Improve sales technique, presenting different options available for customers to purchase the products
Mentor and train new sales team members, teaching them the skills and abilities I've gained during my career
Organize and track inventory
Provide excellent customer service to clients to return products, and offer suggestions for replacement products

Assistant manager | March 2017–December 2018
Grilled Burger Inc | Dundas, Ontario

Organized and managed a team of 18 fast-food employees
Created and implemented monthly schedules and helped mediate any scheduling issues
Provided marketing expertise to both the manager and the franchise owner