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Posts Tagged ‘jobs’

Today’s economic recession calls to mind the situation in the 1980s, a time of the same elevated levels of unemployment as today. Thirty years ago there was a sharp downturn in our industrial base, so that a lot of engineering and related jobs went abroad or became very scarce. I find it interesting to notice the points of similarity between that earlier recession, and now, looking at the varieties of dodgy positions that were on offer, and are resurfacing once more today, a high proportion of them being sales positions, that nobody would be interested in, if jobs were not subject to such intense competition.

Despite this, there are contrasts between the two downturns, as a result of the emergence of Internet business and an increasing number of genuine online jobs obtainable today, which had no parallel a quarter of a century ago. While the the suggestion that people can work from home has not only just emerged, the Web has greatly widened the possibilities for setting up your own home office.

I do not deny that it’s possible to find legitimate positions working in a commission-based sales capacity, however it is vital to sort out the wheat from the chaff, and avoid jobs selling a fairly dubious product. Once in the eighties I was invited for interview with an employer trying to establish a new commercial directory. My job would be to go to companies asking them to buy an entry in this. I suspected that this supposed directory had a fairly shadowy existence, and did not pursue the position. The directory never appeared, so anyone who bought an entry in it would have wasted their money.

In another example I enquired about a position marketing financial investments, and was asked to turn up at a hotel for an interview. It is quite usual for companies to rent hotel space in order to hold interviews. But when I got there, I found this outfit actually had their office in a hotel room. As a precondition of being accepted for the job, I would have to sell 5 of their plans, to my friends and family. So therefore, they were not interested in me, but in my contacts. It goes without saying that I decided not to take that up.

In addition there were the commission-only door-to-door sales roles I put my hand to. Most people find doorstep canvassers irritating, and I found it a deeply demoralising episode. Residents may think of various unpleasant ways to inform you they don’t want to buy your product. So then I tried out phone selling, which had the benefit that I was able to work from home, yet that was possibly even worse. It’s a lot easier to put the phone down on somebody than to slam the front door when they’re standing on the doorstep.

Perhaps such jobs are less common these days because many neighbourhoods have been declared ‘no cold calling’ districts, and most of the telesales jobs have gone to India. Even so, recently I applied for a job in market research, which I predicted would be preferable because it did not involve sales. Regrettably, I discovered that virtually nobody was willing to spare time for a few questions, and some simply hung up on me immediately. I left the job after 24 hours.

So, with employment opportunities in critically short supply, are there any worthwhile alternatives? After trying out various dud jobs I eventually took a look at Internet business opportunities. You will find some promoted on the online jobs sites, but you can also find websites dedicated to the field of Internet business itself. Such positions enable people to work from home, so you will not need to move house. Some positions might require a certain amount of investment, but I can speak from my own experience that online jobs are infinitely preferable to selling something door-to-door or by phone. Since I started in this field myself, I haven’t personally regretted it.