In my quest to save money and make more money to get rid of that debt, I decided to go on an interview. Actually I have been looking for another job for a while now since I am not where I truly want to be just yet.
I got a phone call from a company where I submitted my resume and went in for the initial interview. It was for a sales position but I went anyway because the company has had some rapid growth and looked promising. The first interview went well and I got a call back for a second interview.
The position was in sales to customers of a very large Fortune 500 company. The company provided the leads daily and the sales people were to contact the customers to get them to upgrade to a new package.
I was excited up until the point where I was told to wear flat shoes because I would be doing a lot of walking . That put me in a bit of a funk because I thought the sales were conducted over the telephone. I still decided to give it a try and then we started to talk about income.
The manager told me that the position paid commission only for the time that you worked in sales. Only the managers and other non-sales personnel were paid a salary. When I asked what the average sales person made the figure quoted was significantly less than what I had seen on Salary.com as a reasonable rate for that position. It was also less than what I currently make and given the amount of debt I still have I decided that it just was not worth it.
The commission was a flat rate for every package sold, which sounded to me like you needed to sell a lot of packages daily in order to get any money. The hiring manager told me that there was not a quota to be met daily, but you do get paid based on your performance. Now if I had been in a better financial situation I might have considered taking the position but it is not something that will work for me right now.
I am also not into the sales thing at all so I guess I made the right decision. Would you work for commission only or do you need a regular salary every month?
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How I Pay My Bills
Excellent read! A lot of good lessons to be learned there.
Best Wishes,
D4L
Thanks D4L. I was wondering if people would think that I was being a bit snotty to turn down the job since I have said that I am not happy with my current position.
However I do not think I should jump from the pan into fire..because I would be MISERABLE in sales working on commission.
Heck no, you’re not snotty. Look, there were two problems here: door-to-door sales and commission. If you don’t love it, why would you want to take the job! No use being miserable!
There are many other sales positions that are business to business and pay VERY well. Check on Monster or another site and look for sales of hard goods.
It can be done.
This sounds like a crappy sales position- things that are not tangible like billing plans or the like are hard to sell. Rest assured there are good sales jobs out there.
Sales gives you the potential to make huge money if you are willing to put in the work. You just need to be honest with yourself if you will put in the work or not.
(And, make sure the offer is lucrative- which this one was not.)
I think you made the right choice.
I have made more money than my husband (who has a nice job, too) through my sales career. I’ve been with one company 10 years. Don’t count it out…unless you don’t want unlimited earnings potential in your job.
Good luck!
Not being happy in your present position is not a reason to take a worse job – keep looking and good luck!
Depends on the job availability in your market place. If jobs are plentyful, might as well do what you like to do. It’s good that you’re going the extra mile. Highly commendable.
@ Dollar Frugal:
Thanks for the pep talk!!!!
@ Anon:
I am not knocking sales jobs. I am quite aware that some people can make money in it. In fact if I did not have debt like I do then I might try it out, knowing that I had a cushion for my bills.
At this point, however I prefer knowing that I will get $2 on a regular basis than having the possibility of getting $33 one time and then $0.50 another time.
Slow but steady works for me.
@ Eric:
Thanks dude! I will keep looking.
I came here looking for somethin else but your post caught my eye, I agree with above really.