A career in sales could offer you everything you want from a graduate job. Competitive salaries, perks and bonuses, daily challenges and the opportunity to work in an industry that interests you.
Graduate sales jobs are fantastic for driven and ambitious grads who enjoy a challenge, have great communication skills and are money-motivated. The right graduate sales jobs can offer you fantastic progression, and fast! Sales roles span across so many industries and great sales people are in such high-demand that if you’re a graduate ready to ‘grab the bull by the horns’ you can be climbing that career ladder pretty quickly.
So we can agree that a career in sales is a great path for some graduates, however, while there are many fantastic graduate sales jobs on the market, there are also plenty of poor opportunities too! Being able to spot the good from the bad is key when looking for graduate sales roles. You don’t want to kick-start your career in a position that offers poor training, no progression and is predominantly commission-based.
If you’re looking for graduate sales jobs, here’s what you should bear in mind.
The vast majority of sales roles offer some form of performance related bonus/commission and sales professionals enjoy being able to top up their salaries. However, when commission outweighs the salary on offer, this should set some warning bells ringing.
As a graduate, it’s important that you find a company that is prepared to invest in you with a solid salary. Commission on top is great, but it isn’t guaranteed so be sure to ask about the target expectations and bonus structures in place.
If you’re fresh out of university then you already have a great set of skills that are valuable to employers, but you also have a lot to learn. Choosing a role that offers good training is extremely important.
The start of your career is when you should develop a solid foundation of skills and learn valuable sales techniques. Graduates are sent on reputable sales courses by many companies to get them started. With these in place, you will be able to perform well and successfully start climbing the career ladder.
Graduates sales jobs can vary a lot in terms of responsibilities. Do you want a role that is predominantly office-based, where much of the selling takes place over the phone? Or do you fancy a role where you’re out on the road meeting clients and customers face-to-face? With some roles, there will be clear development paths in place for you to progress from internal to external sales. Establish what you think you would be best suited to before plowing into your job search.
There are plenty of fantastic graduate sales jobs out there and we offer quite a few ourselves. Visit our Graduates Portal to see what opportunities we have in your area.
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