You lost your sales job during recession, what now?

First things first, let's dive into some facts. What does it look like globale concerning the GDP growth? The following table from the IMF sheds some light into the dark:

But, as always, things do not look as bright as presented by certain organizations. How the current economical situation will develop in the next two to three years will depend on a few factors:

• The climate change policy of the western hemisphere
• War in the Ukraine
• Western sanctions and trade war between US and China

I do not want to dive into any of this in detail, but please keep an eye on each of these factors to get a better outlook on further economical development.

The following chart from McKinsey shows the impact of Covid-19 in the post-COVID B2B sales implementation:

Interesting finding here is how the B2B sales model has shifted away from direct field sales to online and web support.

And last but not least, statista provides an interesting graphic on the global unemployment, across all industries and professions:

And yes, unemployment is on the raise. After the huge bump due to Covid, the curve goes down, but does not indicate full recovery after Covid and continues to grow in a more steady manner.

What are your next steps?

The first thing you should do is to update your CV. After doing that, check linkedin for jobs in your region and connect directly with the recruiters, which are mostly stated in the vacancy descriptions. Check the jobs first where the application process is fast, the "easy to apply" jobs. There it's enough to just uppload your CV.

Another good platform I was using in the past is stepstone. Several countries have their own websites(stepstone.de, stepstone.nl etc.). You can register, upload your CV etc., it provides really interesting functions. 

Coming back to linkedin: Please, also try to research companies of your interest directly and look specifically for HR employees working there (HR Manager, Human Ressources, Recruitment etc.). After finding such a contact in the list, send a connection invitation and wait until it's accepted. Then send a message, offering your expertise as a new employee. Do not write too much text, most important is what you did recently, years of experience, your biggest success in the previous job and what kind of job you are looking for, what would you like to do. 5-10 sentences, not more. AND: Make sure to attach your updated CV directly to the message.

There are more platforms which you might consider, like Monster, ZipRecruiter or SalesHeads but these are mostly limited to one particular region, like the US or UK.

What is the projection?

It really depends on many factors. Let me list them right here:

1. Your location

2. Your experience

3. Your expectations

4. Your flexibility

1. Location

Companies are in saving mode world-wide. They are laying off sales people, sourcing out sales to distribution companies and keeping key account management only. And that is a global phenomenon currently. Nevertheless, the situation differs depending on the country and industry we are looking at. For instance: All energy intensive industries are currently struggeling in the western hemisphere, especially in Germany, where energy policy is dictated by a green party, which leads to sky rocketing energy prices. Energy remains the key factor in the next five years, deciding about economical growth. Which industry are you focused on? Is it energy intensive? How is the energy situation in your country?

2. Experience

How much experience on the job do you have? If you have at least five or more years of B2B sales experience it should be easier to find a job than having only one to four years under your belt. Five is a magical number if it comes to experience. 

3. Your expecations

What are your expectations towards salary, location, working hours, holidays, remote working etc.

4. Your flexibility

How flexible are you concerning your expectations? Would you be willing to relocate to another region, country, maybe even continent? What kind of languages do you speak? Ever considered to apply abroad? How flexible are you concerning your salary? Would you be willing to trade salary against learning, meaning, a job where you earn less but have a steep learning curve?

In general the current market situation is not easy. But as long as companies will need to make profits, sales will remain to be an essential part of each business, with good sales people offering high quality services to their customers. Concerning the AI replacing sales, I'm sure that b2b will only profit from AI, it will have no negative effects on technical sales emplyment what so ever. You will find another article on this topic here as well.

If you need any help with finding a job in B2B sales, even if it's not directly related to leadership position, please feel free to sign up for the newsletter in this blog. I will share your profile then with all associated recruiters and try to help you out.

All the best for your job search!

What is the current situation globally?

Top 5 Websites with great statistical information

In order to know what is going on in your country or what might happen within the next two to three years you should know the stats. The following websites provide the best information you can fetch from the net.

1.Eurostatistics

Beside stats for unemployment rates you will find other economical stats, like economic sentiment, employment expectation rise etc., some stats are also using the US as the benchmark, but not every category.

2.Economic databases

Also here, mostly Europe-centered data with high variaty of different topics. From my point of view the "Price and Cost Competitiveness" is an interesting statistic, it compares the competitiveness of countries with the year 2015 ( =100), this one includes the US as well.

3.The World Bank

The World Bank database provides data about a wide economical landscape. Use the search function or click on the database to get instant access. You will be able to apply the filters of the statistics by countries, years, industries etc.

4.IMF

If you just want to read the whole finished report on the global economical development, here is a good example. It seems to provide an accurate view on the situation. How do I know that? Well, it seems to mirror what I see is going on, without being too pessimistic or optimistic. It states the situation.

5.Worldeconomics

Great website, providing a huge variaty of economical indicators for basically all countries.

Feel free to send me an email or a tweet if you have further suggestions. That is just a collection with easy to use and easy accessable websites, which provide a sufficient amount of data.