For the recent graduate just coming out of college, one of the biggest stressors is finding a job in the career field they want and find interesting. Many times, an entry level job gives you a foot in the door to something bigger at a company. Other times, it is a stepping stone on your career journey. Whether you’re interested in sales, or just looking for a job to tie you over until you can find your dream job, there are many reasons why you should consider an entry level sales job when job hunting.
Reasons for Entry Level Jobs in Sales
1. Universal Skillset
Regardless of where you wind up, selling is universal. Even think about the interview process. Where else can you get a job that pays you to prepare for your next job? Even if that is in a completely different industry. Sales is essentially the art of targeted communication – clear and concise, etc.
These are skills that you can take to any event at any level. Communication is quite literally the most universal skill. And command over communication is one of the most universally priceable skills. While salesmanship is largely rooted in a deep understanding of the product, the product of the sale is rarely the product. The product of the sale is the subject of the sale. The human you are selling to.
If sales are the communication then the words are the topic and the person is the page, read and rewritten. Selling is a skill set that can have any of your future efforts or endeavors sublimated upon it and it will continue to serve you. Like marketing it is a set of skills that function regardless of medium. That makes it a great place to start.
2. Low Barrier of Entry
Sales are often seen as fast-moving, high-stress positions. While there are elements of this that are true, it would be more apt to deem that sales are a metric-driven position that come into focus based on their achievement. This means that it comes down to one simple thing: can you do the job?
If you can, you’re in. Forget the degree. Forget the experience. This gives people who took a path that offered them little money or are not fortunate to have come from the abundant opportunity to work and create abundance for themselves.
It should be noted, however, that this makes the application process far more rigorous as many applicants apply for these roles. Starting in a lower-tier cold-calling position can open this up. Additionally, the interview process is additionally very rigorous and serves as a very, very critical point. Meaning that it can make or break the applicant’s good or bad application.
3. High Ceiling
Sales offer one thing that a lot of jobs do not: a near-limitless ceiling. Sales positions are skill sets like any other, however, in a more juvenile metaphor they are a technique of coloring, not a particular medium of coloring. This means you can throw off the skin of an insurance salesman, and move to software, and eventually, high-grade medical equipment. Sales positions offer ample height in their cash ceiling. And offer work in multiple industries across the marketplace.
Sales also serve as the bedfellow of business operations. That means that if you ever wanted to truly remove your ceiling altogether you can take those skills there. And if you do in fact prove more apt at selling than you are at management or business strategy there is always a slot for you to return to… and likely beat out a sales rep hopeful that did not jump into the field earlier.
4. Teaching Motivation and Self-Starting
Sales teams are ultimately their own island. To keep the poor metaphors rolling. Sales would have you as an island in an archipelago. An island, – but not really. What sales positions do relay to the individual is a staunch appreciation for driving their own schedule and meeting their own metrics.
This confers responsibility and internal motivation. Additionally, learning skills of how to take rejection in stride and keep rolling along. These are elements of individual character that like sales training, can be carried through life. Incidentally making the approach to proper sales an approach to best living a healthy life.
5. No Loss From Experience
Sales skills are universal. There is a low barrier to entry. They can be taken to any industry. The skills can help you with elements of selling yourself in life. They have an insanely high monetary ceiling. They can impart deep life lessons. Many companies are hiring for these positions right now – even in the worst of economic times.
There is not any recognizable loss from the experience of entry level sales jobs- save if you were to spend that time learning one of the other three metrics of economics – either advertisement or production. Both are diametric to sales, with even advertisements sharing much crossover. Regardless, sales stand as one of the three pillars that drive any economy and are necessary for any individual looking to make themselves a fully realized person and an unadulterated master of business.