Hired this week as a "Sales Specialist"

[Gigantopithecus]

Originally posted by: loki8481
yeah.

what possible good could come from knowing the ins and outs of one of the most important parts of the company?

one of my friends from high school is making pretty close to 3 figures in a white collar position at enterprise rent-a-car. he spent his first 2 weeks after getting hired as an accountant washing cars.

Is that like $90 or $95?

 

[Soundmanred]

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus

Originally posted by: loki8481
yeah.

what possible good could come from knowing the ins and outs of one of the most important parts of the company?

one of my friends from high school is making pretty close to 3 figures in a white collar position at enterprise rent-a-car. he spent his first 2 weeks after getting hired as an accountant washing cars.

Is that like $90 or $95?

I think he means he was paid in action figures. Almost three a week. Almost.

 

[poopaskoopa]

5 weeks sounds excessive, but you're going to be a sales guy who has no idea what he's selling. When I did IT work(among other things) for some contract manufacturing firm, I met some sales folks who can tell you how stuff works, how it's made, and based on their knowledge of the process/product they could provide accurate quotes and explain to their customers why their product is superior above others.

Then, we had our own sales guy who I caught with 4 gigs of porn, and he had no idea how long it takes to make the stuff we made, couldn't provide any quotes(that became the engineering manager's job), and couldn't answer any questions while on sales trips or calls(so the engineering manager was forced to sit in on virtually every meeting that required any answers).

Now, I'm not saying that you're on your way of being the latter. In fact, I think they kinda lied to you, and I didn't hear anything about commissions or bonuses, so I wonder if they got you to do some gopher work plus making cold calls or something, but there are benefits in getting to know the products and process, and when you're working for a manufacturer, getting your hands dirty is the best way. You can't gain the full experience by looking over someone's shoulder.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus

Originally posted by: loki8481
yeah.

what possible good could come from knowing the ins and outs of one of the most important parts of the company?

one of my friends from high school is making pretty close to 3 figures in a white collar position at enterprise rent-a-car. he spent his first 2 weeks after getting hired as an accountant washing cars.

Is that like $90 or $95?

I don't know the exact amount

er, I guess that should be 6 figures. lol. I was adding a K at the end.

 

[Firebot]

You blew it. A marketing degree without experience is worth nothing, and this company, especially since it's a Japanese company, would have molded you into a great salesperson. Japanese culture makes it where it's hard to land a job within a company, but they never ever fire someone unless they cannot be worked on. They see a firing as a failure on their own part.

 

[Shortcut]

Originally posted by: Soundmanred

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus

Originally posted by: loki8481
yeah.

what possible good could come from knowing the ins and outs of one of the most important parts of the company?

one of my friends from high school is making pretty close to 3 figures in a white collar position at enterprise rent-a-car. he spent his first 2 weeks after getting hired as an accountant washing cars.

Is that like $90 or $95?

I think he means he was paid in action figures. Almost three a week. Almost.

How generous! They might even send him a limited-edition Destro action figure for his 1-year anniversary present!

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: hungfarover
God you guys couldn't be more soft. If he's going to be selling nuts and bolts, he better have a god damn good understand of wtf they do, and not only that, know the difference between materials, processing, etc etc. He's going to need to know his nuts. And it's not like they put an MBA on the floor for 5 weeks. No offense, but this guy has his 4-year. He needs to pay his dues.

I had a similar experience. My first job after graduating with a Business and Econ double major was manager in an up and coming healthy foods restaurant. Thing was, they not only didn't start me on the floor, they put me as a line cook. Look I'm not saying it was fun, but you need to know the product.

After several months I quit, but it's because I started working in IT. I didn't want to smell like onions anymore. I love technology. I hate onions.

So you worked a crap job for substandard pay while gaining no usable experience for several months... and it was a good thing? Did it build character or something?

 

[Sluggo]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend
The better you know the product, the better salesman you are able to be. I really don't see the problem. You were being paid to learn your product.

Yeah but... nuts and bolts? that doesn't exactly make your head spin

Actually...http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/.../Nuts&Bolts_signed.pdf

 

[DangerAardvark]

Originally posted by: jersiq

Originally posted by: Imdmn04

Originally posted by: jersiq

You contribute no more to that company than anyone else, barring any sort of slacker.

You are telling me a CEO contributes the same as a factory worker? You are telling me a janitor in a hospital contribute the same as doctors?

If you think so, congratulations, you are a communist.

There is a hierarchy of food chain in any company, even if you are comparing two non-managerial positions. It's life, deal with it.

No, I said that a Sales Rep is no more important than a factory worker.
Congrats on the reading comprehension.

No you didn't. How bout some writing comprehension?

 

[fleshconsumed]

Tough call and I'm not surprised this is coming from Japanese company, this is something they would do.

On one hand I fully understand importance of working the floor to understand the business. Working in a factory would give you much better understanding of the company culture, all the different issues that might come up during manufacturing and small details that you will never get from reading blueprints or whatnot. You will also get to know people that will be building what you're selling and as someone else has said they might be more understanding if you make a somewhat unusual request on a customer behalf, and when dealing with customer you will be much more confident about the product and will be able to answer the questions much better than if you simply read the manuals. That's just the difference between theoretical and practical knowledge, and it exists in all professional areas.

That said, the part that made me go hmmm was the fact that OP was offered no benefits whatsoever for 60 full days, that is no insurance (huge red flag), no 401, no sick and no vacation days and if he were to miss two days he was to be immediately fired. That's just unacceptable. If you hire a person you ought to give him benefits on his first day of work. You don't skip on benefits and sick days. What if your employee has a legitimate reason to see a doctor? Another huge red flag is that OP was not told about 5 week training before he accepted the job. That just sets a bad tone when company does not tell you entire truth about your position.

All in all, I feel the company was not truthful with the OP and that they do not trust OP because they do not offer any benefits until two months after. I would probably stick it out until I found another job. $14.75 > $0.00

 

[Fritzo]

That's how they get employees without paying anyone...train new people until they quit BRILLIANT!!!!

 

[Dari]

?????. You should've stuck around longer. In Japan, a company is much more than a source of profits, it's an extension of the social fabric.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
You were offered a job by a Japanese company and it seems you did not do your homework to understand their corporate culture and the Japanese way of doing business. You proved to them quite fast they did not really want you as an employee. I am a college grad x2 and I would have stayed at the job if I had taken the offer they made me, but I have studied Japanese business.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
That said, the part that made me go hmmm was the fact that OP was offered no benefits whatsoever for 60 full days, that is no insurance (huge red flag), no 401, no sick and no vacation days and if he were to miss two days he was to be immediately fired. That's just unacceptable. If you hire a person you ought to give him benefits on his first day of work. You don't skip on benefits and sick days. What if your employee has a legitimate reason to see a doctor? Another huge red flag is that OP was not told about 5 week training before he accepted the job. That just sets a bad tone when company does not tell you entire truth about your position.

MOST of the jobs I've had outside the construction trades had a 30, 60, or even 180 day waiting period for medical benefits, sick leave was accrued but not credited until after 6 months, and vacation may have been accrued but (usually) not credited until after 6 months to a year.

It more or less sounds like the 60 days was a probationary period. Fairly normal in the workplace, where you can be terminated at will for no reason. Many unionized jobs also have probation periods before a new employee is considered "full-time, and the new employee can be terminated without any union repercussion."

 

[RedCOMET]

I find in this kind of situation( sorta sounds like my current job, grunt work before the real "job" happens), one should have asked what will my first x days,weeks/monthes will be with the company. Ask if they have a training program and what is invovled and sometimes why. I'm pretty sure their program for training recruits is good or else they would have a different one.


I will say for my job, i sorta knew what i was getting into when i interviewd ( you can explain it only so much before actually experience to get an idea of whats' going on); it seemed like during hte interviews, they did their best to sell the job, and then "not sell" the job b/c... basically they didn't sugar coat it; i did get 401k,medical 1st day of work, vaction starts after six monthes. enrollement in a stock plan, all sorts of goodies, as soon as I started working. Training progam on the other hand is little lack luster, but that seems b/c field experience + training classes will make you be able to do the job. Of course, other product service groups have a more structured training program, but that's b/c of what they actually provide. do my job well, really requires experience more than anything else, something you won't get in a training class room environment.

Besides, i think the op should have stayed for at least 6 monthes. My job, i sstill got another 5 monthes before i decide what i want to do. After 1 year of work, i'll figure out my options, but not before hand.

Good luck dude.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
That said, the part that made me go hmmm was the fact that OP was offered no benefits whatsoever for 60 full days, that is no insurance (huge red flag), no 401, no sick and no vacation days and if he were to miss two days he was to be immediately fired. That's just unacceptable. If you hire a person you ought to give him benefits on his first day of work. You don't skip on benefits and sick days. What if your employee has a legitimate reason to see a doctor? Another huge red flag is that OP was not told about 5 week training before he accepted the job. That just sets a bad tone when company does not tell you entire truth about your position.

MOST of the jobs I've had outside the construction trades had a 30, 60, or even 180 day waiting period for medical benefits, sick leave was accrued but not credited until after 6 months, and vacation may have been accrued but (usually) not credited until after 6 months to a year.

It more or less sounds like the 60 days was a probationary period. Fairly normal in the workplace, where you can be terminated at will for no reason. Many unionized jobs also have probation periods before a new employee is considered "full-time, and the new employee can be terminated without any union repercussion."

There are different places, good and bad ones. After graduation I got 3 offers, of those 3 only one had 30 day trial period. Two other places had immediate benefits. At my current place I got immediate benefits, health insurance starting 1st of the next month (had to do more with bureaucracy than anything as I was explained), immediate 401 with company match (vested schedule of course) immediate sick days for entire year and vacation as well. The deal of course is if I were to leave before my sick/vacation days were to accrue, that part would be subtracted from my final paycheck. That's fair to both parties IMO.

Going from the words of friends/coworkers even if place they applied to didn't give sick/vacation days immediately due to company policies, managers would usually be more flexible and work something out if the person had a valid reason for PTO.

That's why I said what I said. If a company is not willing to extend common courtesy to the employee and is willing to fire him for two days absence even with a valid reason... well, there are better companies to work at.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: ballmode
This Monday I started my first post job graduating. I finished with a bachelor's degree in marketing as well as management.

I got an offer to work at a Japanese facility that produced, shipped, and sold nuts and bolts for Toyota cars/trucks made in America. My title was given as a Sales specialist where I would learn the company and start selling for them.

First day on the job, read books, look at blueprints of all nuts, and get a tour.

2nd and 3rd days, they tell me to go work on the factory floor as part of my training, they even planned out where on the line I would go from spot to spot for the next 5 weeks.

Back breaking work and the whole time I thought to myself, this is what I went to college for 4 years for? I thought my reason for going to college was that I didn't have to work on a factory floor for the rest of my life! This didn't make sense, especially how I could just observe and ask questions instead of doing the PHYSICAL labor. Lifting 30-40 lbs of nuts on plastic totes oh about 2000-2500 times a day wasn't fun. Whine whine, yeah yeah.


****Cliffs:
Start job as a sales specialist
Second day they have me working factory floor doing demanding physical labor
Third day, repeat of second day and I come to find out I have another 5 weeks left of doing this before I start actual sales training.
Tell employer my complaints, lets me go because I was not willing to do the training for sales.



I find all of this crazy, because they never told me this was going to be my training in the interview. I started asking around other employees in the office how it was when they first started and NONE of them ever had to go on the factory line. I don't know how the Japanese people "train" their employees, but after this experience I'm through with this. I guess this is good experience for me. Who knows....



BTW: Pay was ONLY 14.75 an hour, good money for factory work, but for sales ehhh

perhaps
sometimes its good for an employee to experience floor level work before they raise you to management. now you will never find out, and they know all they need to know about you now.

 

[jandrews]

from what I see you were fired not quit?

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: randay
should have stayed until you lined up another job. sure you were making 14.75/hr, but how much are you making now?

Thats my opinion. And 14.75/hr for loading boxes isn't that bad while you're doing a job hunt.

 

[MaxDepth]

For you to sell the bolts, you must first know the bolts, young grasshopper.

 

[sdifox]

You signed up to a company without knowing its culture first? The reason you are on the line is because when you go out to sell the nuts and bolts, people will be asking about manufacturing. At which point you can tell them what you learnt while on the line and the customer will respect a person who has gotten their hand dirty, albeit only a little. Then they know they are not dealing with some stupid recent grad know nothing.

BTW, you just pissed away a good opportunity.

edited to add the bolded be.

 

[iamwiz82]

It's the auto industry. You MUST know the product you are selling backwards and front. Anything less could be a safety hazard.

 

[BurnItDwn]

They probably make people work the line to weed out the jerks with the "holier than thou" attitudes.
You know, the type of people who feel that they are better than everybody else... The morons who say "I'm too good for this crap" ....

They don't want those people, as they are generally worthless.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: Jhill

Originally posted by: jpeyton
How was the pay?

For $200k/year, I'll sell dildos to nuns.

I'd do that for free.

You're the reason I can never make it as a salesman.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: NL5
Sounds like a good way to weed out people that don't want to work.........As well as familiarize the sales reps with exactly what they are selling. The bigger question is why would you take a job for $14.75 am hour if you have a degree?

degree doesn't automatically = $100k a year job...