Career Course

Everyone should work in sales at some point in their career — the earlier the better. 

My first post-college job was with a Fortune 500 company.  In terms of workload, we only experienced two conditions:  Busy and busier.  So I never thought about the task of drumming up sales.  Why would I?  Work magically appeared.

Many people, especially those who work for large companies, are not exposed to the difficulties and challenges faced by sales teams.  But we all should be.  Why?

Sales skills are incredibly useful — in every field.

To many people the word “selling” implies manipulating, pressuring, cajoling… all the used car salesman stereotypes.  If you think of selling as explaining the logic and benefits of a decision, then every job requires sales skills:  Convincing coworkers your idea makes sense, showing your boss how a project will pay off, helping employees understand the benefits of a new process, etc. Communication is cr

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The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2011 by High Fliers Research revealed that there were 343,000 graduate job applications in the 2010-11 academic year, up one-third from the previous year.

The news comes as official employment figures from the Office of National Statistics, also out today, showed that Britain’s unemployment rate has fallen marginally from 7.8% to 7.7%, with the number of 16- to 24-year-olds out of work falling by 30,000.

The High Fliers survey of 17,851 students from 30 UK universities revealed that the average starting salary expected by graduates is £22,600 and that investment banking is the most popular career choice for this year’s university-leavers.

Other popular choices for graduates are expected to be careers in the media, teaching and marketing.

Additionally, the survey found that: a further 25% of the “class of 2011″ are planning to remain at university for postgraduate study; 8% expect to take temporary or voluntary work; 13% are preparing to take time off or go travelling; and 14% of finalists have yet to decide what to do next.

Fewer finalists have applied for graduate positions in the police and the armed forces, while the number of graduate job hunters keen to work for the Government or elsewhere in the public sector has dropped by one-fifth, perhaps a reflection of the dramatic cost-cutting measures across the public sector currently being implemented by the coalition.

The survey also found that, after five years in work, graduates expect to be earning an average of £39,900 and one-sixth of this year’s university-leavers believe that their salary will be £100,000 or more by the age of 30.

Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers Research, said the survey “shows that confidence in the graduate job market is finally improving and that more of the UK’s top students are expecting to find work after graduation.

“It’s particularly encouraging to see that a record number of students have made job hunting a key priority during their studies and started researching their career options in the first or second year of their degree, rather than leaving their job search until their final 12 months at university,” he added.

XpertHR FAQs on graduate recruitment include:

Is it permissible for an employer to stipulate in a job advert that candidates must be “recent graduates”?

In light of the age discrimination legislation can employers still use university “milk rounds” to recruit employees?

The CBI claims that fit notes have failed to deliver a reduction in sickness absence, with its publication of new absence figures today.

According to the CBI’s Absence and Workplace Health Survey, conducted in conjunction with Pfizer, the UK economy lost 190 million working days to absence last year, with each employee taking an average of 6.5 days off sick.

This is an increase on 2009′s figures, which showed employee averages of 6.4 sick days, despite the introduction of fit notes in 2010.

The CBI says that the loss of 190 million working days resulted in a cost to employers of £17 billion, including more than £2.7 billion from 30.4 million days of “sickies”. Furt

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The gap between public sector and private sector pay has risen despite the Government’s pay restraints, according to thinktank Policy Exchange.

Analysis from Policy Exchange found that typical public sector workers received 35% more per hour than private sector employees last year.

The thinktank said that the growing pay gap was also apparent when differences in the composition of the workforce were taken into account. When age, experience and qualifications were considered, all of which can impact on pay, public sector workers were found to earn 8.8% more per hour than private sector employees, roughly double the 4.3% difference found two years earlier.

Policy Exchange director Neil O’Brien commented: “Public sector pay has got hugely out of control.

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London commuters will face two separate weeks of disruption in May and June after tube drivers announced planned dates to strike over the sacking of two workers.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union announced that its members who work as London Underground drivers will stage three 24-hour walkouts during the week beginning 16 May and a further three during the week starting 13 June.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

RMT members voted 2-1 in favour of strike action over the sacking of a Northern Line driver, Eamon Lynch, and a Bakerloo Line driver, Arwyn Thomas.

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