Your resume and cover letter are crucial parts of your job application — but they’re only a part. Today, it’s essential for anyone seeking a position in sales (from reps to managers, support personnel to directors) to fine-tune their social media presence if they want to present themselves with professionalism to employers.
Doing so can help transform an inert, lacklustre or potentially compromising account on any platform (LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and beyond) into a living extension of that core resume.
Here are a few ways to position your social media while seeking a sales position, providing hiring committees (and even recruitment firms like Sales Talent Agency ) with a holistic overview of your expertise and skills while showcasing your unique personality.
Clean Things Up
Your first task is to remove any content (posts, replies, comments, shares) on your page that could be deemed unprofessional or controversial. Corporate sales positions often mandate a squeaky clean, conservative image. So delete (and unshare and unlike) all critical, political, or satirical content (save your sense of humor for real life). Eliminate any argument threads or snarky comments, and unfollow accounts that trade in explicit content.
Take a Proper Headshot
Ensure you have your professional headshot sized properly for various platforms. Use the same photo (or a variation from the same shoot) on all your accounts, and make sure it looks sharp (i.e., it’s not blurry or pixelated). Then, update your background or header photo with something that displays the logo and branding of your current sales position — this shows loyalty to your teammates.
If you’re not employed, use another professional photo of yourself, or a neutral backdrop. Ideas might include a skyline of your home city, for example. You might consider an action shot of you engaged in a positive hobby, like rock climbing or playing music, or while working at a volunteer event.
Optimize Your Introduction
Your top-level information is most important: it’s a quick snapshot of who you are, what you do, and what you bring to the table. On LinkedIn, this is your “Intro”: basic info, pronouns, headline, current position, location, and education; on X, it’s the profile content: name, bio, location, and website. Take your resume headline — something you’ve likely worked on a lot — and repurpose it here. Recruiters should be able to spend a few seconds and immediately get a sense of your expertise and focus.
We won’t get into all the ways you can continue to optimize your LinkedIn account to reflect your resume or CV, your roles, responsibilities, achievements, and metrics — that’s a whole other article. But consider the judicious and occasional use of keywords in fields to ensure you appear in the right searches.
Network with and Boost Others Effectively
Join groups and follow accounts involved in sales and broader industries in which you wish to work. Share the articles and posts of influencers and thought leaders, and comment positively and meaningfully about them as you do, demonstrating your knowledge of sales or that particular industry. Employers will see you’re engaged in the right conversations and have something to contribute to the conversation. You can’t go wrong by also connecting with those who hire sales personnel — such as recruiters. This network could also become an incredible opportunity, so don’t overlook the power of connection.
Share Your Own Content
If you’re not ready to blog or contribute articles of your own, consider posting at regular intervals about milestones in your career, the mentors you’ve had, and ways you’ve overcome challenges. These posts can be short shout-outs to the people who’ve helped you grow as a professional. Express gratitude and optimism and give back to your community. Now and then, use your social profile to showcase more of your personality by posting about hobbies, causes, and learning opportunities that mean a lot to you, so long as these posts don’t dominate your accounts.
The Takeaway
Envision what recruiters are seeking from salespeople. Consider how you can match those expectations. Overall, ensuring your social media accounts represent you in the best way possible will reinforce the impressions you make via application and interview and can help seal the deal for your next position.
