Sales Jobs Tough, Potentially Rewarding Gigs for New Grads
There are those who are naturally drawn to a career in sales. They have that certain “something” that helps them block out rejection and focus on the positive, to keep plowing ahead, come what may. I’m not certain that such people are “born” to a sales jobs, but there are definitely personality types that are better suited to go into the field. And, truth be told, there are still many others who find the concept of a sales job entirely unpalatable.
There are, however, some sales positions that allow one to be a sort of entrepreneur – you’re affiliated with a company, of course, but you have a great deal of latitude in your day-to-day time management and scheduling and you “sink or swim” based on your own ability and ambition. These positions are often attractive to new college graduates, but they can also be brutal.
Two positions that I have in mind specifically are “Stock Broker” and “Real Estate Agent.” Both can be potentially rewarding, and both have been glamorized at least to some extent in literature, movies and television. The reality is that these are simply sales positions, albeit positions where you may potentially deal with some very high net worth clientele. The position “stock broker” is one that is often misunderstood. The fact that the standard for referring to this position changes every two or three years doesn’t make it easier to keep up either. In the 1980s, “stock broker” was the term du jour, but the latter part of that decade and into the 1990s saw a definitive switch to “account executive” (pretty descriptive, huh?). Still later, “financial advisor” became the accepted term. The reality of being a stock broker is that you buy and sell equities and other investment vehicles for clients. In short, you convince people that you can help them make money through investing and then get paid to execute the transactions that they make. You’re a salesperson, plain and simple.
Perhaps the biggest misunderstanding about the stock broker/account executive/financial advisor is the idea that he or she is an analyst who knows the market intimately and makes suggestions to clients based on that expertise. The reality is that each firm employing brokers will typically have a research department that tells the brokers what to suggest as buys and sells. This isn’t to say that brokers don’t do research themselves, but within their firms they are, unfortunately, the least qualified to do so. Certified Financial Analysts (CFAs) go through a much more rigorous training process and take a much more difficult exam to reach their position. The broker, by contrast, will typically take the Series 7 exam (and potentially several others). These exams aren’t necessarily “easy”, but they pale in comparison to the arduous CFA exams.
Real estate agents, on the other had, have a slightly less glamorous position than brokers, but they do essentially the same thing, with their “expertise” being houses, buildings and land rather than the equities and bond markets. They pass a relatively easy exam (depending on your reading comprehension and test-taking abilities) and affiliate with real estate broker to sell real estate.
Both positions, though, share something in common, which is the need to build a “book” of clients that can both continue to utilize the agent’s or broker’s services AND refer friends and colleagues to their agent or broker. This is, quite naturally, the type of position that works well for the well-connected and “old money.” Take a 4th generation, old-money millionaire and put him in a stock broker’s position and, unless he’s a complete idiot, he’ll be making six figures in a year. The same is true with the real estate agent.
For those non bluebloods, however, things can be a bit tougher, and that’s where a new college graduate has to carefully consider going into these fields. If you’re relentless and a natural salesperson, you’ll likely have no problems adjusting to the “job”, but it will be necessary to work very hard to get new clients and to service them in such a manner that they tend to refer new business. You’ll also have to live on the cheap for a while while you build your “book”, but doing so is not out of the ordinary for young grads anyway. Be aware though, that rather than getting a miserable paycheck for about three grand a month in an “entry level” job, you’ll make NOTHING if you don’t sell anything, no matter how many hours you put in.
For those with gumption and thick skin, the rewards can be great, but for those cerebral types who would rather study the equities markets or the housing market than try to sell, think twice before entering these fields, which are 99% sales and 1% analysis.
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