Pick a clean, professional template that highlights sales results and inventory experience. Use a reverse-chronological layout so your latest dealership roles appear first and hiring managers see recent performance quickly.
Keep the resume to one page if you have under 10 years of dealer experience. Use two pages only if you have long tenure with clear, relevant achievements tied to revenue or operational improvements.
Use ATS-friendly fonts like Calibri, Arial, Georgia, or Garamond. Set body text to 10–12pt and headers to 14–16pt so readers scan easily.
Keep margins around 0.5–0.75 inches and add space between sections. White space helps hiring managers and ATS parse sections faster.
Avoid fancy columns, heavy graphics, and nonstandard fonts. Those elements often break ATS parsing or distract human readers.
Use clear headings such as Summary, Experience, Achievements, Skills, and Education. Put measurable results under each role, like units sold, gross profit, or inventory turnover.
Common mistakes include clogging the page with dense paragraphs, using tables or columns for layout, and listing duties instead of results. Also skip personal details that don't matter for the role.
Save the file as a PDF or plain DOCX depending on the employer instructions. Name the file with your name and the word "Dealer" so it’s easy to find.