In this edition, we’re talking about the intangibles.

What’s getting you considered besides some revenue numbers on a resume.

Read through to give yourself the highest odds at securing the role you truly want.

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Most hiring managers don't need to see a degree to hire a seller. They need a reason to believe you could work out before the interview starts.

That's what a degree does in the corporate world.

It gets you past the first filter without having to prove anything yet. Harvard on a resume means something before you've said a word. Not the same in sales. Sure Harvard will look good, but it’s not getting you the job on it’s own.

Two things come up more than anything else when you're looking at a resume for a sales role: door-to-door and/or athletics background. Not because they teach you how to sell specifically, but because they tell you something about the person before you've asked a single question.

You either knocked on strangers' doors for eight hours a day in the heat and figured out how to keep going, or you didn't.

You either competed at a level that required you to show up when you didn't feel like it, or you didn't.

That's not trainable in a 90-day ramp.

Military service lands the same way. So does fraternity leadership, surprisingly. Peace Corps. Eagle Scouts. These aren't equivalent to each other on paper, but they're pointing at the same thing. Did this person do something hard, optional, and sustained?

Did they operate in a structure that required accountability to something bigger than themselves?

If the answer is yes, you can usually teach them the rest.

The flip side of this is that it cuts both ways. If you're earlier in your career and you don't have door-to-door or a sport behind you, the question becomes: what else signals that you're wired right? Sales training certifications are mostly noise, but the ones from recognizable names suggest at least that you're a buyer or someone who invests in their own development. That's a softer signal, but it's something.

The core idea is that hiring for sales is a top-of-funnel problem. Most of the evaluation happens before the interview really kicks in. Whatever creates the right first impression (be it a resume, setup, background, or prior experience) shapes how generous the person across from you is going to be with everything that follows.

Show up looking like someone they already want, and you're not climbing out of a hole.

You've got room to just be good.