Car Sales or Journalism...

Agreed. I have not heard many flattering things about car salesmen, and yes, there is an extremely high turnover. I've known people who were completely miserable with their job; yes, even more miserable than low-end reporters at a flailing daily.

 

I've always loved cars, and as a kid would beg my dad to take me to car dealerships. I would learn anything and everything about cars, and would be telling salespeople about the cars they were selling.
But I never wanted to pursue that for a career, just didn't really appeal to me. Also, I would have a hard time selling something I didn't think was worth buying. Sure selling Corvettes would be great, but I think some other Chevys are junk. Yet I would have to tell people the Trailblazer is great.
If I had to sell cars today, I probably would sell Mazdas. I think they make great products. I nearly got a Protege about 10 years ago, and they seem to have a solid product line. But the new 'smile' front end on the current 3 looks plain goofy.

 

Thanks for the constructive feedback guys, I really appreciate it. I've decided to avoid the car sales path for now. Good news perhaps though, I may have a play on a mid-20k/yr GA assignment job. =D

 

You're better off in the lumberyard for the rest of your life. Mizzou nailed it, but I daresay assistant crack whore is probably the better option right now.

 

You want a career? Try Lowes.
A guy about my age went to work with Lowe's out high school. He got stock options... Today he's a store manager with more than million bucks in the bank and he could retire any day ... He's 40.

 

Car sales or journalism? There must be a third way. Anyone who figures out what it is wins the prize.

 

Crack whores have better hours, better job security and better pay.

 

Avoid vehicle sales at all costs. My stepfather did this for more than a year, and detested just about all of it. First off, he wasn't a salesman sort by a long shot.

The day he walked, he felt back toward my mother and probably me to an extent. But the owner of the dealership shouted that people need to be doing more for sales. He quickly figured that he was doing everything he knew, and didn't want to work for this man anymore. Good for him.

Back on topic: Stay out of the dealership vega-matic.

 

I've talked to countless car salesman over the past couple of years, because I thought of doing it when I was in a tight spot in the journalism biz a little more than a year ago. They all said the same thing: don't do it.

If you don't sell 10 cars a month -- which is the requirement at most dealerships -- your paycheck will be less than what $10/hour gets you. And I can assure you that 95% of salesmen right now aren't selling 10 cars a month.

 

Hell, even Walmart if you're willing to stick with it long enough. My sister is going on her 20th year there. She's bought some stock here and there and became fully vested. If she ever leaves, she'll get some pretty good cash. If she retires from there, it'll be even better cash. But you have to be at Walmart for a long time or move up really fast in order to get those perks. They reward the long-timers. If you don't make it to at least seven years, you get diddly squat unless you bought some stock.

My aunt also bought into some stock here and there. Made enough on the dividends that she paid offer her house in 12 years instead of 25 (a modest house, but nontheless). The main problem with Walmart is that its health insurance is horrible. It's even been said that's on purpose to make employees take the spouse's insurance over theirs so that Walmart can keep its costs down (nothing I can prove, though, because my sister claims its not that bad but I've heard others say it's ass).

 

Worse, apeman, there are Wal-Mart employees who are just under the full-time eligibility hours requirements who are encouraged by the company to apply for either Medicaid and/or state assistance programs where applicable. Despicable ...

But back on topic: "Don't do it" is the prevailing theme.

 

The only way car sales might be worth it is to put your dues in now, figuring that you'll have some sort of seniority if/when the economy recovers.