So you work in hospitality, you’ve found a vacancy you want to apply for, what do you do next?
The first and I believe the most important task (if you haven’t already) is to talk to a few friendly reps / field sales people who actually do the job now.
Ask them for a good chat and then ideally a few hours ‘in trade’ with them to allow you to job shadow so you can see exactly what they do and how they do it.
Take down lots of notes and make an effort to ask them questions so you fully understand their role, and especially the challenges.
Next, you need to tackle your CV.
I’ll bet that right now it’s written very much towards a hospitality role. There will be lots of relevant information, but it will need to be stripped back and re-written to ensure you showcase the skills and experience they are looking for in a Field Sales Role. I am sure you will have a lot of this experience, now it’s about rewriting the CV to highlight & showcase those key points.
Something which we recommend doing as part of your CV prep is working on ‘situational questions’. These enable you to highlight the experience you have in ‘real life’ that’s relevant to the role. They will come up as interview questions, so it’s a great idea to prep them and include in your CV.
An effective way of preparing for situational interview questions is using the STAR method (situation, task, action and result). This is a general outline, consisting of four steps that allows your to answer questions concisely and comprehensively. So basically, think of a situation you have been in, what task(s) arose out of this situation, what your actions were and what the result was.
Prepare for situational questions that refer to situations such as:
• When you succeeded above all expectations
• When you failed
• When you closed a deal / sale
• When you worked as part of a team
• When you worked alone
• When you dealt with a very stressful situation
• When you saved the business money
• When you exceeded targets set
Can you showcase any of these key areas or skills whilst in a hospitality management role on your CV?
• Self Motivated
• Excellent Organisation
• Great Communication Skills
• Build Rapport Quickly & Easily
• Present a Product / Brand
• Create a Basic Commercial Deal
• Understand Return on Investment
• Build long term relationships
• Manage a Brand
• Build a Brand
• Close Sales
• Deliver Results / Beat a Target
Are you keen to prepare for a career in Drinks Field Sales? Would you like support on rewriting your CV or coaching to prepare for an interview?
Would you like to work with JME to look for your next opportunity?
Email Jenny today, we work with lots of brands and are usually recruiting for entry level field sales roles in the drinks industry!
Jenny@JMEdrinksconsultancy.co.uk
