An economic scale-down is the worst nightmare for job seekers everywhere. Companies tighten their belts, and attempt to battle the economic standstill by downsizing, halting all inessential projects, and limiting their expansion to a bare minimum. These companies don't look for new employees. Even worse, they are firing the employees they already have.
So, does this mean that you can't find a job in the UK? Actually, it doesn't. Make no mistake, it is more difficult to find those jobs during the recession, and the poor, downtrodden job seeker needs to bust some moves to sparkle in a horde of other job seekers. The market is actually governed by at least one basic, true law: Smart, driven candidates are always needed somewhere. Compensation may not be as high as it was before the recession, but there are well paying jobs out there. In fact, there are many jobs.
No matter how much a company downsizes, how much money they try to save by shutting down R&D, halting expensive Marketing plans, and chucking out PR altogether, there is one department that must soldier on and carry everyone else on their shoulders - the Sales team. One thing that makes it possible for a company to avoid going under during a recession is concentrating their efforts on the sales of the products already in existence. The edge that product oriented companies have is the products already out there in the market, and since the entire Western World, the UK included, is trying to revive the economy by providing consumer incentives, selling these products is beyond important.
This is where great salespeople come in. Whether the sales are done over the phone, personally, or on the corporate level, companies need people with great people skills and that sales sixth sense to close their deals for them. Sales jobs are abundant, and perhaps unlike any other business field, the market for jobs continues to grow, and contains something for everyone - home based, office based, traveling, or tele-sales. The job seeker can be a fresh graduate looking for his first job or a stay at home mum trying to earn a few extra quid each month.
So how does the job hunter sniff out these jobs? There are a few options for those who have a penchant for sales. Searching web portals that list UK jobs, such as ukjobsnet.co.uk or Jobsite UK is always a good idea. The job seeker can search by location or category, and a search can yield hundreds of results. Browsing print ads for jobs in the job seekers local paper is also a must. Some companies haven't quite caught on to the whole Internet thing, and some gems can still be found in newspapers. Working with a recruiting agency as as Top Employers can be extremely productive as far as time and effort go. They often specialize in a particular field, such as Sales and Marketing, or Graduate jobs.
Recruitment agencies that offer UK based Sales Jobs usually have thousands of clients searching for great salespeople to join their team. And if the job seeker is a new graduate, there are graduate level sales jobs out there as well. Being fresh out of University is not necessarily a draw-back in the Sales field. Companies often prefer to train their employees in their own sales methods. Some companies prefer that their sales people have no previous experience in a different method of sales, and would rather hire a new graduate and train him from scratch.
Do not despair; The recession has not caused sales jobs to go extinct like the dinosaurs. With a little effort, it is still possible to find that great sales job anywhere in the UK, even if you're just a graduate. After all, being able to sell during a recession is something that can be honed during this difficult time, and is the mark of a true sales person.