Margie Dana

It’s occurred to me that print reps should have two resumes: one for prospective employers and another for prospective customers. Think about it: what if print reps had to show you their qualification on paper? What would impress you?

Let’s look at the typical sections of a traditional resume and think how they’d be handled.

Executive Summary: Unlike a prospective employer, who wants to see how much business a rep’s done and with what kinds of customers, what matters most to you as a customer? Is it a rep’s technical skill and industry knowledge? How would you describe, in two or three sentences, the ideal print rep?

Work Experience: You’d like to see some history in the industry or at least evidence of a print education. I would. I might be impressed by someone whose family has been in printing, and it would definitely catch my eye if he or she has run presses. Or maybe a rep has a background in the paper or design fields. That’s impressive.

Achievements: What if a rep gave examples of having solved problems or designed innovative solutions for customers – that would be great on a resume. Names of customers who can vouch for this rep would also be a bonus.

Technical skills: Does it matter to you if your rep is Mac and/or PC savvy? Would you give “extra points” to someone who has a design background? Would someone who’s also a color management expert catch your attention? How about familiarity with digital printing?

Additional strengths or interests: Print customers don’t size up their reps by print expertise alone. Here’s the place on that hypothetical resume where you’d like to see other assets and professional interests. Does a rep work magic with mailings? Is he or she a paper pro? Are they social media savvy or connected throughout the printing industry in ways that will benefit you? Are they members of national or local trade associations (not just print, but also marketing, mailing, etc.)?

Education: Did a rep earn a degree in printing, or graphic design, or business, or what? How much does this matter to you? Has he or she completed professional development programs? This points to a commitment to increasing their knowledge and therefore their value to their customers.

References: You want to see customer references, complete with contact info.

Personal info: Normally, I wouldn’t include personal information on a resume. But I’m no longer sure it doesn’t belong here. A glimpse at a personal life and what that includes (very generally) can make a compelling picture. After all, personal biases carry a lot of weight when we’re making hiring decisions.

These are a few ideas about the type of information on a rep’s resume that might impress print customers.

If you had to send a resume to prospective print buyers before ever meeting them, what would yours say? Would it land you the job – or land on the bottom of the resume pile in that big black hole?