Advice for Job Seekers

The employment ecosystem has fundamentally changed.

Despite the current gloom and doom of 10.2% unemployment, demographers and statisticians predict an unprecedented shortfall in skilled labor over the next six to ten years.

For sales organizations in particular, this phenomenon has resulted in unprecedented wage inflation. Employers struggle to find individuals with sufficient experience yet, the infrastructure that used to support an orderly transition into a sales career has literally vanished...

Simple Supply and Demand Economics has driven wages up by at least 1/3 over the past 18 months.

To make matters worse, it is highly likely we are entering into a prolonged recessionary period that will last, I suspect, from 12 – 24 months.

The net effect is that employers are paying more for sales resources while their risk of failure has increased and spending by their customers will constrict.

Generally, this does not put companies in a good mood and hiring becomes a prolonged and painful process.

To aid those of you seeking a career in sales, I wanted to provide the following advice:

First some basics…

• Contrary to popular opinion, it is unlikely you will graduate from college into a six-figure sales management position. Sorry to burst your bubble but the first few years in sales are usually the hardest and lowest paid.
• When applying for jobs, get a real email address - hotpants69@gmail.com...not so much
• Google yourself…your next employer will. Ideally your FaceBook page is not a showcase for color photos of your most recent drunken-goat-rodeo.

On to more interesting stuff... Lets talk about how to avoid the plethora of multi-level marketing, door-to-door, commission only, CEO income from home ‘business opportunities.’

• If the ad (or your first conversation) doesn't clearly reveal what the job is about...run away, If you can't find a website...run away
• When in doubt, look up the company via your Secretary of States website. Here is the link for the Colorado Secretary of State Website.
• Do your homework...there are plenty of boards, blogs, etc so it is pretty hard for scam companies to stay under the radar but you have to do some research.
• Anybody promising easy money ($5K your first month, $100K your first year, etc) is full of it while this is possible, it is highly unlikely. Plan on a $30-$35K base your first year with another $10K-$20K in variable compensation. Landing a job with a company willing to invest in your future, you can typically track to earning six figures in your third full year.
• Most of the stuff posted is multi-level, pyramid scam, boiler room nonsense. Unfortunately that is just a reality of the uber-information age. You are going to have to sift through a bunch of crap. If it feels like a scam...it probably is.
• No base salary...see above. Some companies like to hire you on as a contractor for a few months but real companies invest real money. By the way, it shouldn’t take four interviews for you to figure out you are interviewing for a commission only position. While I don’t recommend asking for compensations specifics during the first interview, it is appropriate for you to confirm that the position is a base plus variable arrangement.
• Sales is hard and requires cold-calling...when you take inbound calls we refer to this as 'customer service' and you can expect to make $10-$15 per hour. Six figure income no cold calling no experience required… Did your momma raise a sucker?
• The good news is, picking up the phone and getting people to listen isn't as bad as it sounds...particularly if you are passionate about what you are selling. Think about it...why would sales pay so well if most people weren't scared to death.

Finally, I do believe that selling represents one of the greatest possible careers - it is one of the few places you can make lots of money and, to a large extent, control your destiny.