If you’d like to work in sales but prefer not to earn a degree, there are many sales opportunities available for you to pursue. To ensure your resume still impresses hiring managers, research alternatives to a degree, like earning certifications or taking training courses. Your employer may also give you the option to advance your skill set or education level by earning a degree after working for them for an extended period. In this article, we review the alternatives to earning a degree and the best sales jobs to earn without a degree.
Recommended
Alternatives to earning a degree
Many of these sales roles contain responsibilities that are both challenging and rewarding, which can ultimately lead to job satisfaction. If you decide not to obtain your degree, there are other alternative options to pursue to make you more qualified for the role. For instance, you could earn a professional sales certification to learn more about the industry and to increase your sales knowledge and skill set. You could also attend specialized programs and training events to advance your sales abilities and impress hiring managers.
Many consider these roles to be the best sales jobs you can earn without a degree because they allow you to start your career without spending an extended amount of time or money on receiving a college degree. These roles typically offer high salaries and only require you to earn certain certifications or relevant experience instead of a degree. Some employers may hire candidates to work as entry-level employees and pay for them to earn their associate’s or bachelor’s degree while they work to earn additional qualifications and advance in their careers.
Best sales jobs that don’t require a degree
While these roles usually only require a certain certification or experience level, there could be some employers who may still require a degree for any of these positions. This typically depends on the company you apply to and the responsibilities involved in the role. Be sure to carefully read the job description before applying. Many of these roles offer impressive salaries, benefits, and job satisfaction, as they usually guarantee a stable income with enjoyable job responsibilities. Here are the best sales jobs you can pursue that don’t require you to obtain a college degree:
1. Advertising sales agent
National average salary: $43,670 per year
Primary duties: An advertising sales agent works for trade journals, broadcasting networks, magazines, newspapers, or advertising companies to sell advertising space or air time. Other responsibilities include convincing customers to purchase advertising space, identifying clients’ needs, researching what competitors typically charge for advertising services, providing customers with cost estimates for advertisements, and setting up meetings with potential clients to pitch advertising proposals.
2. Store manager
National average salary: $44,188 per year
Primary duties: Store managers, also known as retail managers, oversee the day-to-day operations of a store to ensure it operates smoothly and efficiently. Other responsibilities are hiring and training cashiers and sales teams, managing inventory levels, motivating sales associates to meet sales goals, responding to and resolving customer questions and complaints, ensuring the store stays compliant with safety and health standards, and arranging in-store displays.
3. Sales associate
National average salary: $45,604 per year
Primary duties: A sales associate works for retail companies selling clothing, sporting goods, office supplies, jewelry, or other merchandise items. Their main duties include greeting customers who enter the store, assisting guests with returns, refunds, or complaints, helping customers find the right product for them, operating cash registers, handling cash or credit payment methods, and directing customers to requested merchandise items within the store.
4. Customer service representative
National average salary: $47,625 per year
Primary duties: A customer service representative assists customers with questions, comments, and complaints about products or services. Other main duties include informing customers about the product’s features, responding quickly to answer customer queries, processing applications, requests, and orders, maintaining records of customer interactions and transactions, and selling upgrades to customers’ current product orders.
5. Travel agent
National average salary: $49,608 per year
Primary duties: Travel agents sell transportation services and accommodations to people who are planning domestic or international trips. Key responsibilities include planning guests’ trip itineraries, suggesting travel destinations according to travelers’ needs and preferences, booking hotels, flights, and other accommodations for guests, advising clients on when and where to travel, and resolving any travel complaints, issues or refunds.
6. Insurance agent
National average salary: $57,205 per year
Primary duties: An insurance agent handles the financial portfolios of several clients to ensure they’re investing in the right policy plans for them. Other key duties are creating payment methods and calculating dividends, building collaborative relationships with prospective clients by cold calling, networking and receiving referrals, evaluating clients’ risk profiles and making suggestions, presenting detailed reports on the progress of their proposed initiatives, and tracking insurance claims for clients.
7. Real estate agent
National average salary: $85,588 per year
Primary duties: A real estate agent helps clients buy, sell, and rent properties and homes. Other key responsibilities include generating leads to grow the company’s customer base, educating customers on market conditions, comparing properties to develop competitive market prices, listing real estate properties to include information like property features, square footage, and location, showing properties to potential renters or buyers and presenting purchasing offers to sellers.
8. Leasing agent
National average salary: $98,418 per year
Primary duties: Leasing agents work directly with property owners to lease their properties to potential tenants. Their key responsibilities are marketing the available properties, screening prospective tenants to ensure they’re qualified for the property, examining current properties and notifying maintenance teams of any issues, completing lease applications, working with tenants to address and resolve their complaints, comments or concerns and accepting housing or property fees like rental payments, security deposits, and application fees.
I hope you find this article helpful.
