Job Consultants Vs Other Sales Professions

Posted on 27/09/2013

If you’re looking for a career in sales, being a Job Consultant is a far better choice than working as a property agent, car salesman or financial planner, says Joshua Yim, CEO of Achieve Group.

There are many sales jobs out there for those who are ‘hungry’, desiring to earn massive amounts of money in commission. For example, many people carve a decent living from choosing to be a property agent, car salesman, and financial planner or insurance agent. However, are these really the best options if you want a career in sales?

Many people may not be aware that they can have a career as a Recruitment or Job Consultant in Singapore. Here, we assess the dynamics of being a Job Consultant against these three other sales positions commonly chosen by the public.

Job Consultant vs Property Agent
Top-earning property agents who are hard-working and committed do make a lot of money. Yet, it can be a very cut-throat business rife with competition and even plagued by dubious practices behind the scenes. It is also a physically demanding job: real estate agents will need to brave the rain, the sun and any weather in between to take house hunters on viewings. Occasionally, agents’ time will be wasted when they get ‘stood up’ by clients. And even though the commissions can be huge, it is an irregular, unstable stream of income that fluctuates from month to month.

The key difference between property agents and job consultants is that the former mainly serves the consumer market while the latter serves the corporate market, as businesses hire job consultants to help them find the right talent to join their companies. Consumers can be fickle in their decisions to buy and sell homes at times, which could be to the detriment of the agent as it impacts his or her rice bowl. But the purchasing decisions of corporate customers, on the other hand, are driven by business needs. Such needs are based on rational planning and the requirements of a business strategy and are not emotionally-driven, which can be the case with homeowners and home-seekers.

Additionally, job consultants tend to get repeat business from these corporations whereas property agents usually have to wait several years before their clients buy or sell another property – unless the client is a big tycoon with a large property investment portfolio.

With real estate, the barrier to entry can be low, which may result in possible compromises in professionalism and standards.

Finally, the housing market is driven by government policy and with all the recent regulatory changes such as the additional stamp duties on the purchase of second homes and loan curbs, the market is susceptible to sudden changes that may drastically affect an agent’s income.

Job Consultant vs Car Salesman
How many cars can an individual consumer buy? Most people only buy one car for the family, unless the person is very rich or even better, a wealthy car collector. However, when a company is going through an expansion phase, it may hire a whole team of workers within a short timespan.

Again, it is the same story of a Corporate vs Consumer purchase, and another long wait to get repeat business from a car buyer.

How successful the salesperson is in moving the cars also depends on the brand – is it a brand that Singaporeans favour and so the brand sells itself? Unless a car salesperson represents a fairly well-positioned brand, selling them and earning his or her commission may be a challenge.

Finally, look at how the whole motor industry has taken a big hit lately due to the change in financing regulations for car loans. By contrast, while the recruitment industry may be facing a clampdown in the hiring of foreign workers, this is actually to our advantage. Because when the business community experiences a shortage of Singaporean and PR workers, the demand for our recruitment services goes up as they need even more help in finding locals to fill positions.

Job Consultant vs Financial Planner
It is true that independent financial planners and life insurance agents may also have the capacity to earn quite high incomes.

Yet, it is also a well-known fact that the nature of the job often causes them to be shunned by the public and even their relatives and friends they care about. Although it is indeed a noble profession as financial planning and insurance is crucial during tragedies like death, the reputation that such agents have garnered is not very positive and there is an obvious stigma.

Job consultants, however, are far from shunned. In fact, people would love to talk to job consultants to find out if their current employer is compensating them fairly based on prevailing market rates, or if job opportunities are available for them.

Additionally, it is rare for clients to stand us up as we are dealing with corporate customers who have a sense of professional etiquette. In fact, our clients would not want to offend us, as they may become a candidate themselves seeking a new job opportunity through us one day!

As a job consultant, you literally play cupid in the commercial world by matching candidates with their dream jobs while helping companies find the right talents to help them grow their business. The benefits of being a job consultant in Singapore are indeed plenty: you work with a more stable base of customers whom you enjoy repeat business from, and you gain more friends as people love talking to you, which contributes to a fulfilling and noble vocation. And with fantastic remuneration to boot.