ONLY 1 IN 8Â WOULD CONSIDER A ROLE INVOLVING SELLING
Thousands of graduates are missing out on well-paid jobs with great training and prospects because of old fashioned ideas about what it means to work in ‘sales’.
AÂ new survey has found that only one in eight students said they would even consider a role that involved selling, despite high demand from employers. When well-paid graduate jobs are scarce, that seems shocking. Shouldn’t graduates be exploring their options more thoroughly?
The research – by graduate recruitment company Pareto Law – also found that a third of respondents (33 per cent) claim sales staff are always a ‘certain type’ (whatever that means). Despite strong starting salaries, a further quarter (23 per cent) of the 1,009 people quizzed wrongly believe that all sales jobs are the same – always involving cold calling and hard sell tactics – and something they aren’t keen to get involved with.
Graduate Fog has no desire to push our readers into jobs you don’t want (and we have no connection with Pareto Law). But the idea that graduates could be dismissing a solid career option for reasons not based on fact is troubling. We have written before about graduate job snobbery (Are you a graduate job snob?) – but that was questioning whether graduates should settle for low-paid work, which most sales roles are not. Graduate Fog’s founder Tanya de Grunwald says:
“For many graduates considering their career options, they are horrified if I suggest they look into sales jobs – but they’re not sure why. Perhaps it conjures up images of pushy shop assistants or nuisance phonecalls. Or is it because we’re squeamish about money and spending our time selling and negotiating seems a bit grubby?
“Whatever, it’s time to get over it. Today’s sales techniques and styles (especially for selling high-end products or services) have moved on – meaning many old stereotypes are well out-of-date. Being able to sell is an exceptionally valuable skill – and it’s highly transferable too.
“In a way, whether you stay in sales or move on to something else, you’re likely to find yourself selling something right throughout your career (even if it’s just yourself, in interviews) and being able to present to others is important in most jobs. The psychology of sales and negotiation is fascinating – not to mention useful when it comes to your own salary negotiation, in whatever job you go into next. Wouldn’t it be great to go into those conversations with a bit more confidence?”
So, is the weird stigma around sales jobs just the result of graduates being misinformed – or is there some snobbishness too? Johnathan Fitchew, CEO of Pareto Law, said:
“One in four people admit they have a negative perception of sales jobs, and it puts them off the sector in terms of employment. It seems like that stereotype is compounded by those in higher education not classing sales as a ‘profession,’ insinuating it’s not of a sufficient level for a graduate.
“But in our experience this is simply not true, as many business-to-business sales roles will insist on a degree level education. Sadly, this mis-information means graduates are being discouraged from what could be a fulfilling and rewarding career.
“The majority of the graduates placed by Pareto receive a basic salary of £24,500 with on target earnings of more than £30,000 in their first year. This compares very favourably to the national average graduate salary of £26,000.
“In addition, sales graduates experience a faster progression rate than many other graduate opportunities and management positions can be attainable within the first two years of employment with salaries of more than £60,000. A sales role can help to develop an excellent range of skills and experience to help boost prospects in a diverse range of careers. Graduates should be very wary of ruling out certain career choices based on stereotypes and myths.”
When so many graduates say they’re struggling to get their career started, Graduate Fog feels it’s vital our readers consider all their options properly. The idea that some graduates may be dismissing a good career without proper consideration kills us. Not sure where to start looking? Visit the Graduate Fog Job Board. All the roles you see advertised have great prospects – and we guarantee a response to every application. What have you got to lose?
For more information about careers in sales, download Pareto Law’s guide for graduates ‘A Career in Sales — The Myth Exposed‘
*WOULD YOU TAKE A GRADUATE SALES JOB?
Is there a weird stigma among graduates about jobs in sales? Is it because you’re misinformed or do you feel you’d be ‘settling’ or wasting your degree? Share your views with us below…
I know enough about my own personality to know that at least with the jobs that actually do involve hard selling and/or cold selling and stressful targets (and a high risk of being fired for not meeting them) I wouldn’t do very well.
I did do a German speaking “phone researcher” job after returning from an ERASMUS – phoning up and annoying print companies to get data for a database – which also confirmed that my phone manner isn’t good, my German isn’t good enough for that kind of work and I hate pestering and annoying people, and really would detest doing it for a living – I do admin now but ordinary retail would be better than cold calling.
I guess the other thing is a lot of these high pressure job have basic pay (exc bonuses you can’t assume you’ll get) that are about the same or not much more than far less stressful admin or retail jobs – and surely a lot of people don’t want to spend most of their waking life fearful and stressed if it doesn’t even pay enough to rent a one bed flat outside London?
Interesting post Alex,
We understand that sales isn’t for everyone, but it is not all cold-calling and high-target driven like the traditional perception. Yes targets are involved, but there is a lot more support in sales roles now alongside many benefits, such as incentives and holiday as well as flexible working hours.
The sales industry has broadened now alongside new selling techniques for modern businesses. This means that there are now a whole variation of roles within this specialism, from key account management and internal marketing and customer service sales roles.
It really depends on the individual, but those who are career driven, great with people and are passionate about a product or service can really excel in this field.
@Pareto Law – You mention ambition, passion and people skills as must-haves for sales jobs – what sort of degree might these people have studied? Or what careers might they be considering at the moment? (I sometimes think I’d have been good at it, having studied psychology and ended up in journalism..!)
I know some people from school who work on social media marketing – which obviously didn’t really exist before the mid 2000s as a job, let alone in 1998 when I started secondary school, so yes I can see not all sales jobs are like that.
@Tanya: Well I suppose you’re good at promoting yourself and managed to get paid for your articles in what was already a fiercely competitive market. So those skills could be used to promote other things.
And get two books published 🙂 At least one of them before any Tom, Duck and Harry could self publish print to order and e books on Amazon.
For better or for worse, sales is a profession that holds its members very accountable for their performance. There’s tough quotas to reach every quarter, and everyone knows where they stand. This means that it’s harder for mediocre employees just to scrape by with a minimum of discretionary effort. Given the hard nosed nature of sales it might also be considered too ‘blokey’ and turn women off the profession.
I’m getting plagued by sales people for all sorts now I am trying to run a business. I have to say, they all seem very pushy and I find it incredibly stressful and irritating.
I also used to work for a specialist retailer that became increasingly sales and figures obsessed rather than customer focussed (ie, behaving like a supermarket rather than playing to the strength of the intensive product training/qualifications they gave their staff so customers had experts at hand). 33% off that, 25% off something else- buy 2 save £10 (Having ‘adjusted’ the single item prices upwards!)
I was bullied and harassed out of that role partly for not conforming. ‘Why aren’t you selling enough of the ‘focus’ items etc etc
God forbid you actually consider what customers need and want rather than hawking them mediocre stuff or something that doesn’t fit their needs at all.
Consumers are not stupid- they get wise and they do not forgive mis selling which this type of sales approach only encourages
The answer to Tanya’s question is simple:
1. I’m snooty about sales jobs because I have yet to ever be ‘sold’ to in anything other than an irritating manner (or in other words, the salesman is a ‘certain type’ – a BS filled twit). This is in both a personal and a business capacity. The whole idea of trying to force stuff people don’t need upon them feels rather dirty.
2. I have a paranoid suspicion that targets and ‘KPIs’ are rigged so as to make sure you never actually meet them, so the companies will never have to pay a bonus.
3. If I wanted to put up with the crap banter of a bunch of jumped-up barrow boys at work i would have gone down the market aged 15, not university!
You really don’t need a degree to work in sales….
Wow, the sales world clearly needs to put a lot more work into selling itself to graduates as a good career option!
While all the comments are valid, I notice that people’s comments are limited to their own experiences of being ‘sold to’, particularly consumer good and services.
But sales is more than that – what about companies that sell products and services to other companies that really want them?
What about new products and services that come on to the market, someone has to go out and introduce customers to new concepts and new ways of doing things. This is a long way from someone trying to flog you car insurance when you don’t have a car!
You may wonder why I’m harping on about this… I truly don’t have any agenda for ‘selling’ careers in sales (ha!) to graduates. But I do wish that I myself had had a bit more training and practice in this. As many of you know, Graduate Fog is now on the hunt for corporate sponsors, and I have had to learn how to present the ‘opportunity’ (yes!) to big companies who don’t know anything about GF but who are interested in everything that we do. Then I need to work out what a suitable price is (that works for me AND them), and then I may need to negotiate. While these firms are deciding (dithering?) I need to keep in touch with them and work out other ways to add value and demonstrate what a brilliant site Graduate Fog is and why they’d be FOOLS to pass up the chance to support it.
All this is ‘sales’ – just not the kind of thing you think of when you think of sales. I’ve learnt that it’s both an art and a science, using charm and personality to win people over personally, plus also some tricks to present what you’re offering in a clear and attractive way.
PS. Having gone to my friends in sales for advice on this, I must say I now have a huge renewed respect for what they do! It really is a great skill to know how to present and persuade and negotiate. In fact, it’s even kind of fun 🙂
Having known and worked with Pareto for the best part of a decade, as an employer Graduates on boarding can be something of a revelation.
I have used Pareto 3 times in 3 different roles, the most recent we’ve on boarded 6 soon to be 7 over the past 18 months, With some true fantastic results.
The Academic background is not vital; the character and personality is critical, its not for everyone but with the right employer the possibilities to explore and expand your horizons into different roles within that organisation gives people a great opportunity.
Because this website promotes the notion that some starter jobs are beneath graduates.
Perhaps you need to adjust your sights.
I could not handle sales jobs, too much stress.
All the job websites seem to be permanently flooded with sales vacancies, and it’s often the same ones advertised over and over. That to me suggests that people aren’t going for them or aren’t staying long, meaning it can’t be that great a job.
When I was fresh out of uni I applied for a position called “graduate marketing assistant” with an advertised salary of £18,000-£24,000. The guy who interviewed me was really smarmy. I asked what the job actually involved as the advert was really generic and he kept throwing all this jargon at me and going on about how you could make up to £30,000 a year if you’re ambitious.
In the end, after several attempts to get to the crux of the matter, it turned out to be a job going to people’s houses and workplaces to flog them various products. There was no actual salary, the amount advertised was what you *could* make through commission if you sell enough. Sorry but a) with rent and bills to pay who can afford to take on a job with no salary – what if you don’t manage to sell anything in the first month! and b) there’s no way that’s a genuine graduate job, you don’t need a degree to be a glorified Avon lady.
I know not all sales jobs are like this, but that experience turned me off. Fair enough if they’d been clear about the job from the start – it might suit some people – but it annoyed me, the way they’d dressed it up as something else entirely. I spoke to some of the other candidates afterwards and they felt the same way.
@NV
I wonder how many of these ‘opportunities’ count towards the millions of new jobs that we hear certain people boasting about on the news?
@Simon Hargreaves Yeah these are probably the jobs they keep going on about! Or zero hour, minimum wage jobs that no one other than an 16 year old with no responsibilities can realistically afford to do. Luckily I now have a good job but it was tough when I’d just graduated.
Some enlightening points here, especially NV’s about the ‘marketing job’. So many of these are actually dressed up telesales roles, yet surely anyone who has been studying for a marketing qualification could sniff them out at an early stage?
There is a place for valid (ethical) sales roles, yet unfortunately it is the fly-by-night cold call/hard sell jobs that give the industry a bad name.
The jobs market has changed over the past few generations and whilst it’s interesting to see that just 1 in 8 would consider a sales job, it would be great to see how many of that 8 have ended up in sales – I bet it’s more than 1!!
I will never, ever work in sales. Should be outlawed. The UK “tertiary” economy is simply pathetic when you compare with Germany.
@Bob – Sorry, but I really don’t get this attitude towards Sales! Everyone is selling something surely? And if you’re selling something that people want to buy, why is it such a terrible career?
I believe the main problem with the majority of sales jobs is that these days they are doubly exploitative.
Companies think they can exploit inexperienced young grads that don’t know what the job will really entail, and convince them this is an amazing job! It is exploitative to the person being sold to, often there is an unnecessary and/or redundant “solution” being sold. Pushy hard sell or not, it is annoying, somewhat invasive, and solicitation is banned in many places for a reason: no one likes it.
No one wants to work at a job where the vast majority of people they communicate with don’t want them. Humans naturally avoid being rejected, and sales is a ton of rejection. People simply don’t want to be sold to. They need or want something? They will come to *you* after doing their homework, trust me. Google’s zero moment of truth is a great place to learn about it.
Besides, if what you have is so great, why do you need someone to sell it? Does Google need to sell to you? Nope, if you want to know something, you Google it, it is the first thing that pops into most people’s minds. If your product is good enough it’ll sell itself, if it can’t, it’s garbage, and no one wants to have garbage peddled to them.
And by the way, I have worked in sales, and I knew, mathematically, what I was offering was not generating profits for the businesses I was selling to, it was often a cost with no ROI. I felt so dishonest and crappy, I had to leave.
I went back to school and now work as a pneumatics engineer, and I am much happier.
Sales is a language game. Salespeople use words to demonstrate value, identify business pain, create a sense of urgency, and close deals.
Pareto Law you guys bell me off non stop about sales jobs.
This ‘article’ is so endorsed and biased it’s laughable.
Sales is a lousy bum job, and I can tell you that from the fact I get offered about 5 a day and you guys are so desperate to peddle them. It’s just monkeys working to fill your poctets.
How do you scum sleep at night?
Pareto law have also been contacting me recently. I don’t trust them. I’ve been contacted by similar companies in the past, such as FDM and Devere. When you read the reviews, you find that graduates have lost a lot of money to these people.
I honestly feel like crying about the whole situation.
It is incredibly, incredibly difficult to get on a graduate scheme because there are so few places. I don’t know how people do it.
What are the options going forward? Move to Asia? Join the army? Do a masters? Why not just kill myself?
I am almost out of hope. I hate this country and I hate life to be honest…
Watching out for the scammers is all part of being a jobseeker. Being signed up to Universal Job match meant I got targeted for various job scams, spam texts and calls, pyramid schemes. On one level it was quite funny. You have to embrace the madness of it all I suppose. But some people will be desperate enough to fool for such things.
grad schemes want such high GCSE’s and high UCAS points, they use this because there is that many graduates coming out of uni, they are using it as a way to filter out weaker educated graduates sad fact but true
Graduates want jobs more interesting and meaningful than pushing a product that they’re not interested in down someone’s throat. At the end of the day, that’s what sales is. And some people thrive in that, but a lot of people just don’t have the personality for it so it’s depressing that 80% of the job market seems to be exclusively sales roles.
There’s nothing snooty about it. Working in sales is a living hell.
You said it right people nowadays have this kind of stigma around sales job that is pretty snobbish, but sales itself is a good career option for those who are interested and want to make extra money with their extra effort. This is the quality of sales job I like the most, also you have a sense of freedom of deciding when, where, and how to talk to a customer so that he may listen. For me sales job is fun
Working in sales, admin, retail etc. is no better than being unemployed.
Low wages, unstable employment and you get treated like disposable assets.