Experienced sales professionals throughout the United Kingdom would be quick to tell new graduates to be deliberate in their approach to the job hunt. These talented veterans of the sales profession understand that the traditional idea that a graduate should find one job for the rest of their lives is unrealistic in today's job market. Graduates who come to this realisation will then understand that they will have several jobs in their lifetime.
Instead of hopping from job to job in order to pay the bills, sales graduates and young professionals should find the best sales job for them at various points in their life. A sales graduate who is uncertain of the industry they are interested in working in should consider utilising temporary positions while their inexperience is a positive. Companies and recruiting agencies often look for inexperienced graduates to mold into sales professionals because their enthusiasm is useful when teaching them the tools of the sales trade. As sales graduates move along in their career, they will realize that these temporary sales positions are great building blocks toward professional success. However, these opportunities are often closed to more experienced professionals because they have expectations of career track or permanent sales positions.
Sales graduates who are more familiar with the industry they are interested in should consider graduate trainee programs. Telecommunications firms, automotive companies, and retail businesses, among others, have used trainee programs to get talented graduates ready for the workplace. These programs combine the benefits of job training and classroom settings with a direct connection to the corporate world offered by company sponsorship.
Sales jobs that are generated from trainee classes often show a higher conversion rate of potential clients into repeat customers, as trainees learn the skills necessary to keep customers coming back for more. As well, graduates get the opportunity to commit themselves to learning about the art of sales in their particular industry. For sales graduates that are interested in opening up the full range of job options available to them, a recruiting agency may be the right option. The best sales jobs in the United Kingdom can be found through agencies, which work with corporate clients in order to fulfil their many sales job openings. The best part of recruiting agencies for the individual sales graduate is that they can work with recruiters to find the ideal job for their professional needs. At the end of the day, sales graduates need to think about their ideal industry and where they want to head in their career before starting the job hunt.
Mark Doherty is a Director of Alexander Chapel Associates. A specialist sales recruitment company with a focus in IT sales jobs, logistics jobs and supply chain recruitment.