How Eleva reads a resume
This is the screen Eleva's recruiters run on every sales resume that lands in our inbox, in the order we run it. Eleva's read of a posting and of your fit uses the same lines. If a line is missing from your resume, the read says so; it never fills the gap for you.
Written by Eleva's recruiters at Eleva Search, from the hiring side of the inbox.
- 01
Quota attainment, with the denominator
What we look forThe percent, the quota it was a percent of, the period it covered, the team average, and where you ranked.
Why"120% of quota" means nothing on its own. 120% of a $400k number in a year when the team averaged 140% is a different resume from 120% of $1.2M when half the team missed. The denominator is what a hiring manager asks us for first.
- 02
Deal size and sales cycle
What we look forAverage contract value, the largest deal, and how long a deal took from first call to signature.
WhyDeal size and cycle length are how we match you to the seat. A rep who closes $15k deals in three weeks and a rep who closes $300k deals in nine months are both good; they are not interchangeable, and the posting was written for one of them.
- 03
Segment and buyer
What we look forSMB, mid-market, or enterprise, and the title of the person who signed. Named industries if they mattered.
WhyWho you sold to predicts who you can sell to. Selling to a VP of Engineering at a 2,000-person company and selling to an owner-operator are different skills, and the hiring manager will screen on the one they need.
- 04
Ramp history
What we look forHow long it took you to hit full productivity in your last two roles, and the first quarter you hit quota.
WhyRamp is the number the manager is quietly modeling. A rep who ramps in one quarter is worth more to a team with a hole in it than a slightly stronger rep who takes three, and a resume that shows ramp answers the question before it is asked.
- 05
Tenure pattern
What we look forHow long you stayed in each role, and one honest line on why you left when a stint was short.
WhyShort stints are not disqualifying; unexplained ones are. Two years plus is the pattern most managers want to see at least once. A layoff or a company that missed its funding is a sentence, and the sentence belongs on the page.
- 06
Self-sourced pipeline share
What we look forThe share of your closed business that you found yourself, versus inbound or SDR-sourced.
WhyMost postings say "hunter" and most resumes say "exceeded quota." The self-sourced share is the number that separates the two. If you built 60% of your own pipeline, say so; if you were fed, say that too, and we will match you to a seat that feeds.
- 07
The honesty test
What we look forEvery number on the page has to survive one question: compared to what?
WhyA number without its comparison is a claim. "Grew the territory 40%" against what base, over what period, versus what team? If the answer is on the page, the number counts. If it is not, we read it as decoration, and so does the manager.
The advice that circulates, and the number that replaces it.
Every figure on this page has a source you can read. Where the popular version has none, the rubric says so and uses the measured one instead.
Mostly false. Modern systems rank and surface; they rarely hard-reject on their own. What removes you is a knockout question answered wrong or a resume parsed into the wrong fields.
Source: Enhancv's interviews with recruiters running Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, and Bullhorn, nearly all of whom said their system does not auto-reject on formatting or content.
The figure measures the first scan that decides whether to keep reading, not the evaluation. The original 2012 study said six seconds; the 2018 update said 7.4. The useful version: the top third of page one has to answer what you sold, to whom, and whether you hit the number.
Source: Ladders recruiter eye-tracking study, 2012, and its 2018 update.
No traceable source. The measured version is better: referred candidates reach an interview 40% of the time, cold applicants 3%. A referral does not make you a better candidate; it makes you a candidate who gets read.
Source: Ashby, Talent Trends: 38 million applications across 93,000 jobs, 2021 to 2024.
Read it against the market first. In 2026, 48% of AEs hit annual quota, down from 51% two years earlier. Half the field missed. A real number with its denominator beats a rounded-up one every time.
Source: The Bridge Group, 2026 AE Compensation, Quota and AI Metrics report, 158 B2B companies.
Free, no password, nothing sent in your name. The read runs these 7 lines against your own resume and tells you what is missing, and the note to send to the person who owns the seat.
Questions about a line, or a resume you want read by a person: Eleva's recruiters host the group calls inside the app.