As bad as the economy is today, there are still sales jobs to be had.  Companies know that a good sales team is the backbone of their profits and therefore their own survival, so they see the sales department as being an investment in their financial health.  Very often even when other jobs dry and disappear, sales jobs are typically still available.  So how can you find those elusive jobs and what will give you an advantage over other candidates?

First, when you’re doing a search online, make sure that you actually type in “sales jobs” rather than just “jobs” or “sales.”  This will get you to those job boards that specialize in the field of sales.  Many companies prefer these boards over general boards such as monster.com or hotjobs.com since they often get fewer under-qualified candidates or generic resumes.  You need to set aside some serious time to browse these sites as they may have many different positions posted and there are new sites being posted on the internet every single day.  It’s also a good idea to revisit them every day, but especially during the beginning of the week.  Most who have openings for sales jobs prefer to post ads on Monday or Tuesday and then spend the rest of the week receiving responses and filtering through them.

When searching for sales jobs you also need to be sure that your resume is up to date and has the information that hiring managers are looking for.  When it comes to sales, dollars and cents and numbers of all sorts are imperative.  You don’t want to simply say “sales increased during this time” but you need to state actual sales numbers and profit percentages.  If sales increased by half a million dollars or your profit margin increased by a few percentage points, you need to state this specifically on your resume!  Those hiring for sales jobs aren’t impressed by your promises that you can sell but need to see that ability demonstrated with specifics.  When you add these numbers onto your resume, you can even bold and italicize the font as well to really make them stand out.  You probably can’t count on sales jobs without those numbers popping out at an interviewer.

Remember that you might not be able to find sales jobs in the exact field in which you want to work but often you can work your way up to the best position or make a change once you have some experience.  Don’t turn your nose up at working in a retail store or at a kiosk at the mall.  These can help you brush up on your people skills and can also help you with the business of sales as well.  Not to mention that you’re at least making an income while shopping around for other sales jobs in the meantime!  So check out the opportunities everywhere and see what you might find in areas you might not have expected.