New Career advice?

[MUCHO]

I thought I would throw this out there since there appear to be a number of intelligent people on this forum.

Short version of my question: what type of sales jobs are you aware of that might be worth looking into. Need them to: pay a minimum of 60k a year (could be a combination of salary + comm or just pure commission) I'm not exactly looking for specifics just general ideas of industries that might have a good future. I'm passionate about technology, audio, and home theatre.

Long version:

I am a salesmanager in retail auto sales where I have worked for the last 9.5 years. Before that I was in consumer finacial product sales. (Insurance, mutual funds, etc) So all my experience is in direct to consumer sales.

Without bragging I can say that through much diligence and hard work I have become an very good salesperson. For example for a year straight in my financial products job I came in an hour early every day to watch Top Hopkins videos on sales.

I don't think I'm above average as a manager though. I am not good at holding others accountable and have a difficult time firing people when I realize I have made a bad hire. (Not too good at hiring either!)

I've been considering leaving auto sales for a couple years but until recently my income and obligations were so high it was difficult to figure out what other ocupation I could transition to without going through great financial difficulty.

As perhaps a blessing in disguise my income has dropped by nearly half and there is a very real posibility my job will no longer exist in 30 days or less. The financial difficulties that caused me to fear leaving have come anyways so now I have an opportunity to think about the next 30 years that lie ahead of me for my working career.

Anyone got any ideas?:no clue:

Thanks!

[graphicguy]

I thought I would throw this out there since there appear to be a number of intelligent people on this forum.

Short version of my question: what type of sales jobs are you aware of that might be worth looking into. Need them to: pay a minimum of 60k a year (could be a combination of salary + comm or just pure commission) I'm not exactly looking for specifics just general ideas of industries that might have a good future. I'm passionate about technology, audio, and home theatre.

Long version:

I am a salesmanager in retail auto sales where I have worked for the last 9.5 years. Before that I was in consumer finacial product sales. (Insurance, mutual funds, etc) So all my experience is in direct to consumer sales.

Without bragging I can say that through much diligence and hard work I have become an very good salesperson. For example for a year straight in my financial products job I came in an hour early every day to watch Top Hopkins videos on sales.

I don't think I'm above average as a manager though. I am not good at holding others accountable and have a difficult time firing people when I realize I have made a bad hire. (Not too good at hiring either!)

I've been considering leaving auto sales for a couple years but until recently my income and obligations were so high it was difficult to figure out what other ocupation I could transition to without going through great financial difficulty.

As perhaps a blessing in disguise my income has dropped by nearly half and there is a very real posibility my job will no longer exist in 30 days or less. The financial difficulties that caused me to fear leaving have come anyways so now I have an opportunity to think about the next 30 years that lie ahead of me for my working career.

Anyone got any ideas?:no clue:

Thanks!

Best advice I can give is to apply your sales success to selling yourself to whatever industry peaks your interest. That is, pick an industry you think you'll like. Research the companies that are in that industry. Then hammer away at contacting the correct person who would hire in that company.

Hint......don't get caught up with the HR dept. They will do little more than to put your resume in a stack. Find out who you would report to. Make contact with that person. Just like car sales, you want to close for an appointment with the person who would give the "yey" or "ney" on a hire. Then sell yourself to that person.

The auto industry is in a slump. But, I would think that another dealership might give you a little different perspective. Put out feelers with them.

Financial services companies are really taking a beating, too. I don't know that I'd venture back into those waters right now, either.

Maybe automotive suppliers? Auto sales software companies?

I could be way off base, but if you're a sales manager at a dealership, I would hope you make more than $60K, right? If not, then perhaps go to a dealership that is at least selling something people are buying....Subaru? Porsche? VW?

Just throwing out ideas.

[MUCHO]

Best advice I can give is to apply your sales success to selling yourself to whatever industry peaks your interest. That is, pick an industry you think you'll like. Research the companies that are in that industry. Then hammer away at contacting the correct person who would hire in that company.

Hint......don't get caught up with the HR dept. They will do little more than to put your resume in a stack. Find out who you would report to. Make contact with that person. Just like car sales, you want to close for an appointment with the person who would give the "yey" or "ney" on a hire. Then sell yourself to that person.

The auto industry is in a slump. But, I would think that another dealership might give you a little different perspective. Put out feelers with them.

Financial services companies are really taking a beating, too. I don't know that I'd venture back into those waters right now, either.

Maybe automotive suppliers? Auto sales software companies?

I could be way off base, but if you're a sales manager at a dealership, I would hope you make more than $60K, right? If not, then perhaps go to a dealership that is at least selling something people are buying....Subaru? Porsche? VW?

Just throwing out ideas.

I agree with you that is the only way to get a sales job.

The reason I brought up 60K is because that is what I figure I could make selling cars in this market. Fortunately I do make more than that even if what I make now is a lot less than what I had grown accustomed to.

[craigsub]

If you feel like moving to Pennsylvania ... :woo:

[kingdeezieav123refugee]

I thought I would throw this out there since there appear to be a number of intelligent people on this forum.

Short version of my question: what type of sales jobs are you aware of that might be worth looking into. Need them to: pay a minimum of 60k a year (could be a combination of salary + comm or just pure commission) I'm not exactly looking for specifics just general ideas of industries that might have a good future. I'm passionate about technology, audio, and home theatre.

Long version:

I am a salesmanager in retail auto sales where I have worked for the last 9.5 years. Before that I was in consumer finacial product sales. (Insurance, mutual funds, etc) So all my experience is in direct to consumer sales.

Without bragging I can say that through much diligence and hard work I have become an very good salesperson. For example for a year straight in my financial products job I came in an hour early every day to watch Top Hopkins videos on sales.

I don't think I'm above average as a manager though. I am not good at holding others accountable and have a difficult time firing people when I realize I have made a bad hire. (Not too good at hiring either!)

I've been considering leaving auto sales for a couple years but until recently my income and obligations were so high it was difficult to figure out what other ocupation I could transition to without going through great financial difficulty.

As perhaps a blessing in disguise my income has dropped by nearly half and there is a very real posibility my job will no longer exist in 30 days or less. The financial difficulties that caused me to fear leaving have come anyways so now I have an opportunity to think about the next 30 years that lie ahead of me for my working career.

Anyone got any ideas?:no clue:

Thanks!

If you can handle it, and are interested in a complete professions change, there is always nursing.

I am a nurse. I work in the Operating Room, so all of the bed pan, bathing, diaper changing aspect of it need not apply.

I work on the cardiac team, so while highly specialized, I get to see and do some amazing things.

Its also extremely amazing to help surgeons give people new life. The hospital I work at does Heart Transplants; and the first time I was scrubbed at the field helping, and saw the donor heart start beating again I was in awe.

There is a special sort of professional gratification from knowing you are helping to improve the quality of people's lives.

The money is not bad either

Last year I made over 100,000 grand with call and overtime.

My wife doesn't do overtime or take call, and as a nurse makes 65,000.

The need for nurses is only going to get worse as the baby boomer generation gets older and older.

There is also a lot of opportunities in management and sales as well. After you have some nursing experience, you could go work for manufacturers that make product.

Valves, instruments, implants, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, so much that needs to get sold.

If you already have a BSN in something, getting into nursing, depending on the program might take you only 18-24 months.

[dvenardos]

+1 Health care is going to be huge with all the retiring baby boomers.

[Jason]

Hmm..nice post KD.

Got me to thinking...actually I've been thinking about this a lot recently.

I'm back in school right now. Never finished a degree, but have most of the required stuff out of the way. Currently I'm a mech engineering major. Love math, and physics. But, there are a ton of unemployed ME's around my parts now. I'm sure the economy will be well into recovery by the time I finish in 2 years, but I don't think the field will ever be as stable as health care.

May have to talk to my advisor before I get too far into the engineering path. And it sounds like the money is roughly equivalent.

[dvenardos]

I think it depends on if you are willing to relocate or not. Engineers are in demand but probably not in OK, health care will have demand anywhere.

[Jason]

I think it depends on if you are willing to relocate or not. Engineers are in demand but probably not in OK, health care will have demand anywhere.

That's another aspect. I would really like the ability to choose the area I live in. I definitely have more of an affinity for mathematics, and planned on going into the manufacturing side of aviation with my flying background. But I'm not so far down the engineering road that I'm stuck with it. In fact, it would be very easy for me to change at this point.

[arthurs]

Health Care is worth some serious consideration Jason, travels well, and the need will only be increasing as boomers age. The added bonus, as so poignantly shared by CW, is helping people...hard to put a price tag on that.

[Jason]

Health Care is worth some serious consideration Jason, travels well, and the need will only be increasing as boomers age. The added bonus, as so poignantly shared by CW, is helping people...hard to put a price tag on that.

Yeah, the more I think about it....the more appealing it gets. I remember I had some customers back when I was doing tours in HI. They were nurses that used some service that lined up work for them all over the world. They would live somewhere for a couple of years or so, then when they wanted a change of scenery, they went through some service that lined up work for them wherever they wanted. Sounded kinda cool (once the kiddos are gone) Will definitely be looking into this next semester...starts at the end of next month

[kingdeezieav123refugee]

To be up front, nursing school sucked horribly. You never feel at ease or confident in yourself and your abilities. Someone is always checking over your every move. You get stuck doing all of the grunt work (read cleaning messy diapers and changing linens), and you feel like you could accidentally kill someone at every minute.

It doesn't get much better until you are out in the field for a couple years either.

In the end though, you work hard, but its satisfying.

I made the wonderful mistake of getting married at a young age (23).

If you are young Jason, and are not attached, there is SO many things you can do as a nurse.

I always wanted to do travel nursing. After a couple years of experience is under your belt, you basically sign up with a company that pays you to go to different places in the country that need nurses and work there for different periods of time.

This one girl I used to work with when I was a nurse extern, had done a few three month tours in Hawaii as a nurse. They pay for your board, and give you a ridiculous salary to work in Hawaii.

She said everyday after work she would jog on the beach, and since you only work three days a week, the four she had off were spent drinking by the ocean and learning to surf.

Not a bad gig.

[Jason]

Guess that depends on your definition of young. To myself, I don't consider myself overyly young, I certainly meant to be well established in my career by now.

I'm 33, divorced, and my daughter is 8. So no traveling for a little while.

[Sandbagger]

since your working on a ME, and thinking about medical.....

how about medical engineering field..... its tough to get into with just a ME, but if you go to school for the degree, cant remember what its called.

As a ME, yea aviation and the auto industry is hit hard right now, but aviation will recover( notice how I didnt say auto) The auto industry will never be as large as it was.... but it will recover and be a good place to work once it "right sizes its self"

I have been looking for a job since the end of Jan BSME as a design engineer for Ford for 8yrs and its hard to find anything, there are just so many people looking.

[Jason]

since your working on a ME, and thinking about medical.....

how about medical engineering field..... its tough to get into with just a ME, but if you go to school for the degree, cant remember what its called.

As a ME, yea aviation and the auto industry is hit hard right now, but aviation will recover( notice how I didnt say auto) The auto industry will never be as large as it was.... but it will recover and be a good place to work once it "right sizes its self"

I have been looking for a job since the end of Jan BSME as a design engineer for Ford for 8yrs and its hard to find anything, there are just so many people looking.

While that sounds interesting, what's the demand for something in that? And is it something that employment exists everywhere?