I am in sales. Been in sales for roughly 8 years.
I'm in engineering sales for large commercial equipment. There is such a shortage of knowledgeable people in my industry that I have been head-hunted and offered jobs about every month since the first day I started. I can pretty much find a job anywhere, at anytime. And I make pretty darn good coin too.
It helps if you have technical knowledge (I have a mechanical engineering degree) but it isn’t always necessary. One of our better salesman (or I should say saleswoman) started off as our receptionist and now makes about half a mil a year. The president of my company, started off sweeping the floors of the company warehouse and now has more money than you can shake a stick at. Keep in mind they are natural born sellers, but it just goes to show that if “it” is in you, you can really make a lot of money in sales.
On the negative side, if you aren’t used to commission, it can be hard. You live and die by your abilities and some people don’t have the stomach for that. You’ll know if a certain sales segment is for your or not within a matter of weeks. Also, sales is all about reputation. You need a good reputation to get good job, but it’s kind of hard to build up a reputation when you are new. A Catch-22. It helps if someone can vouch for you or if you know someone in the industry. The only resume I ever made was in college. Ever job I got was through a friend, connection or reputation. Oh yeah, salesmen are also usually the first to be:
1) Fired
2) Let go
3) Made fun of
4) Regarded in negative ways (like lawyers)
5) Blamed for problems
6) Yelled at
It helps to have really thick skin. You often have to take a lot of crap from people, but you can get paid a lot of money to take crap from people.
