Why sales is the perfect graduate job

Why a graduate sales job?

When you graduate, the world in your oyster as you contemplate your next career step. Hopefully, your studies will have set you up with plenty of knowledge to take you to the next stage in life, and the life skills you will have picked up along the way will only add to what you can offer the world of work. Now is the time to decide what you want to do – and we would like to suggest that you think seriously about moving into sales.

There are many similarities between studying for exams and sales, not least the need to be driven for success, knowledgeable about your chosen subject, resilient in the face of challenge and being judged on your performance on the day. However, the similarities don’t stop there. Here are five reasons why a graduate sales career can be a perfect next step after graduating from your university, college or higher education course.

Versatility and choice

There are a huge range of sales roles out there, from

• sales executives to account managers
• Business developers
• B2B and B2C
• Field or office
• local, regional, national or international.

So, if you are asking yourself, ‘should I get a job in sales,’ for example, or ‘why is B2B sales a good career path for a graduate?’ take a closer look at the corporate world around you. Pretty much every company or organisation needs a sales function of some kind, so you can combine a passion for selling with immersion into the industry that interests you the most.

From pharmaceutical sales roles to recruitmening; media to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), you can develop a successful sales career across almost any sector, in your home country and abroad. You can sell in person as a field rep, meeting customers face to face and connecting with them in person. Or opt for telephone or online selling, using the many advantages that technology sales can offer to promote your products and/or services.

Be yourself

A sales role calls for a certain type of person who is outgoing, competitive, articulate and creative. A salesperson must love meeting new people, being creative and engaging and be clever and confident when learning how to close a deal.

If this sounds like you, then a career in sales will allow you to flourish and grow as a person. Getting into sales in the first place is also less dependent on having qualifications in specific subjects, so as long as your grades are fit for purpose, you can apply with almost any subject or discipline under your belt.

Sales managers and recruiters are looking more for the skills you bring and your abilities to communicate and engage with potential customers. If you do have knowledge gaps, your new company will normally be happy to train you, so long as your personality and skill set fit their requirements.

In it to win it

As a rule, sales jobs come with a decent remuneration, whether that is in the form of a salary, commission, bonuses or a mix of all of these things. What reward package you choose to accept for your graduate job is, of course, a matter for you and your

future employer to work out. However, the rewards can be very enticing for someone starting out in paid employment. It is common for sales people to be given access to a company car, or to have travel expenses met and appropriate accommodation and subsistence costs covered.

You will get to leave the office and get out and about to see your part of the world, with some sales roles offering even further travel abroad or to visit exciting trade fairs, conferences and other corporate events. Then, there are the training courses that you could be sent on – at the company’s expense – to hone your skills, increase your confidence and prepare you for a rise up the sales team ladder towards management and beyond.

If you prove yourself to be good at sales, your employer will be keen to invest further in you to help both you and them progress.

People skills

Human behaviour and how we interact with each other is a fascinating subject. Salespeople get to witness multiple human interactions close up, every day of their working lives. This can help hugely when it comes to learning how to negotiate, persuade and win people around to your way of thinking.

All crucial skills for a sales career, but also in many other walks of life. You will also gain confidence in speaking in public, debating a point of view and working out when the right moment is to close a deal. Finally, a life in sales is fast-paced, with no two days the same and the goalposts and targets constantly under review.

Going in at the deep end with a job in sales will be exciting and will require quick decisions and keen knowledge to keep people interested in what you are hoping to sell. These are all useful traits for someone set on a seat at the boardroom table one day.

High demand

As already mentioned, practically every type of business needs to sell something. Whether that is a tangible product or a range of services, being able to offer persuasive, confident selling skills will mean that you will always be in demand.

Once you have established a reputation for yourself as an excellent sales person, you can start to negotiate your own terms and to climb the ladder to more senior positions and more ambitious sales jobs. What’s great about that is that this progress can happen much sooner than in other professions, which means that your ambitions and hard work will be very quickly recognised and rewarded. What’s not to like?

For the best chances of securing the best graduate sales jobs, contact a specialist sales recruitment agency to find out how they can help you get started. We wish you every success