Chased by Sales Teams!
Hey you! Yes, you! I have a job for you! I saw your resume on Monster, and its just the perfect fit!What do you mean you aren’t looking for a sales job?! I saw your resume, you would be great at sales! Yes, I did notice you don’t have anything on your resume about sales, what’s your point?
This has been my life for the last couple of months. I applied for a lot of positions before starting my own company. I did not apply for any sales positions at all. I have no problem with sales, its just not what I was looking for. I have a Business degree, a Health Information Management technical diploma, and am a Six Sigma Certified Green Belt. The detail that amazed me was that I received 16 hits on my resume from various job sites, across a wide variety of industries who wanted me to sell their various products or services. From car dealerships, to pharmaceutical companies, insurance agencies, and various businesses, including industrial sales, they asked me to actually apply for their jobs because they felt I would be good at selling.
Either they saw a master salesperson in me through my resume, or they are really struggling with finding people to work as sales representatives. Due to the information included in my resume, I suspect the latter, not the former. My last position was as a regional manager for two metropolitan hospital emergency rooms. So why? Why do I keep having them reach out to me? Well Sales jobs are typically hard to fill. Rightly or wrongly, a lot of people don’t want that kind of employment.
Not everyone is gifted with being able to sell things. Me? I am usually actually good at sales. I don’t want to do it as a career, at least not for someone else, but I can do it and very well. I have been told I am very persuasive. I have been feeling a bit hunted though through the process. I had a company call me five times in a matter of forty eight hours! That seems a bit excessive. I hadn’t applied to them, but they saw my resume and just knew I would be a good fit for the job they were trying to fill. When you are looking for a job, its really hard to turn away something that will get you started. More than not wanting to do sales, it literally came down to the dollars.
In almost every instance the sales jobs were commission only jobs. They didn’t want to pay me anything as base pay for my time. My time is valuable, why would I give it away for free? Its one thing to volunteer and intentionally help others. These are professional companies though. In only one instance was base pay included as part of the pay structure. I cannot live on air. At first I simply ignored the tags on my resume for jobs I hadn’t applied to. I began responding though when I kept getting them. I simply thanked them for their interest in my resume, and the qualities they saw in me that caused them to reach out. I let them know that I was seeking other opportunities. This way they know I won’t be applying for their position.
Finally, if I am going to work on commission, I am going to work for myself. I figure if I am not bringing in revenue, and I keep getting contacted by sales agencies, I might as well bring forward my business plan that I was going to start in a couple of years anyway. So, a business plan, incorporation, website, and a month later, here I am, still being chased by sales teams, but this time I am passing on the word that I am not available because I own my own business! If they ever need help, they can give me a call and I will bill them for my hours as a consultant!
