When applying for jobs, it is extremely important that your resume is of a high professional standard. Although the purpose of a resume is to highlight your experience and expertise, you are instantly judged by your written communication skills and creativeness. First impressions DO count!

Whether you’re an athlete transitioning into a business career for the first time or you’ve got multiple years experience, here are some tips on creating a professional resume and making sure you’re putting your best foot forward:

1. Have a short and concise career summary section which highlights your professional sports background and how the skills you’ve developed as an athlete have & will enable you to succeed in business. Believe me!…Hiring managers absolutely love elite athletes. If they see that on your resume, they’ll pay extra attention to it and consider you over other applicants.
2. Structure your resume wisely: Hiring managers read 100’s of resumers for each role. Generally, they skim through the resumes and spend about 25 seconds on each. Highlight what’s relevant & important, be smart about your formatting, use wide margins and bullet forms, bold & italics for titles. No more than 4 pages.
3. Tailor your resume to the job description: If they’re looking for a hungry & motivated individual with a hunter mentality, your opening line in the summary should be, “I’m a hungry & motivated individual who’s always been a hunter.” Carefully tailoring your resume shows your listening and comprehension skills. Of course, this is a case by case scenario.
4. Identify accomplishments, not just your job descriptions: Focus on what your accomplishments on the job were, not just your duties. The description & duties for each role should be about 2-3 sentences, the rest should be quantifying the value & accomplishments you brought to the company. Instead of “convinced various businesses to purchase our software,” write “brought on board 2-3 new businesses per month.”
5. No more than 3-4 jobs on your resume: Changing jobs regularly does not look good. It shows you have no commitment nor patience. Focus on 3 or 4 jobs you did that are relevant to the job you are applying for and expand on those experiences. No need to mention every single experience you’ve had to date!!

Below is an example & guide on how to structure your resume for an Account Manager role within the advertising space (if you want a professionally tailored resume for you and your niche, get in touch with the team at Athlete2Business – info@athlete2business.com.au)

John Smith

Sydney NSW 2000

04324987092

Johnsmith@hotmail.com

CAREER PROFILE:

A former professional athlete who’s transferred his work ethic into business and become an experienced and result driven Account Manager, with strong business relationship management experience and the ability to develop creative marketing and advertising strategies with agencies, local businesses and community groups.

A highly disciplined and professional approach to all work, backed by sound communication skills has resulted in the development of profitable and sustainable business partnerships.

KEY COMPETENCIES:

High level sales and negotiation skills

Proven experience in delivering sales. A demonstrated ability to build relationships, negotiate with stakeholders and achieve outcomes.

Honesty, integrity and strong work ethic

Possess strong ethics and have inherent understanding that honesty, integrity and hard work foster and build long lasting and sustainable business relationships.

Demonstrated creative and strategic skills

Demonstrated creative and strategic skills within a business-to-business environment. Development of key advertising initiatives and implementation of strategic plans for clients from various industries.

Strong business acumen

A lateral thinker who understands business, marketing and strategic direction. The ability to see opportunity to bring groups together and broker partnerships to get the desired outcomes.

CAREER OVERVIEW

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Date Length (2016-2017)

Company, location (Microsoft, Sydney)

A quick 1 paragraph summary on the company (what they do and how, highlight successes)

Job Title (Account Manager)

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and grow key stakeholders while finding and securing new business
• Responsibility 2
• Responsibility 3
• Responsibility 4

Key Achievements

• Consistently achieving budget and bringing in the most new businesses amongst 28 account managers
• Achievement 2
• Achievement 3

Repeat above layout for employment experience 2 and 3 (and 4 if absolutely needed)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Education/training 2

Education/training 3

SOFTWARE COMPETENCIES

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Powerpoint
• Microsoft Outlook
• Sales Force

COMMUNITY WORK/PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS 

• Any charity work
• Boys and Girls clubs
• Mentoring programs etc
• If still playing elite level sports, list here

PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Pro athlete (list sport and years)
• Fitness goals reached (climbed mountain, completed marathon etc)
• Mentoring young athletes

INTERESTS & HOBBIES

• Movies
• Books
• Gym

REFERENCES UPON REQUEST