• Occupation Overview
• Future Growth Opportunities
• Job Description

II. Job Requirements/Prerequisites:

• Skill Requirements
• Experience Prerequisites
• Education/Training Required

• Bay Area Education/Training Resources

IV. Getting A Job:

• Employers Who Are/Will Be Hiring
• Recommended Job Search Strategy

V. Back To Career Guide Home Page

Skill Requirements

Intellectual - basic

• Ability to sell.
  
• Able to work under pressure.
  
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
  

Intellectual - specialized

• Able to learn and communicate about technical products.
  
• Able to learn and use sophisticated automated support systems, such as "help desk" software and "sales contact managers."
  Social
  
• Excellent oral communication skills, including a pleasant speaking voice, ability to be tactful, polite and patient.
  
• Able to establish rapport with people quickly and easily.
  
• Desire and ability to work with people of all temperaments.
  

Physical

• Some companies, such as AT&T, allow experienced sales people to work from their homes.

Skill Maintenance requirement
High. The pace of technological change is fast and necessitates continuous learning. Remaining current is often accomplished by reading industry publications, attending conferences, and taking short courses.

Experience Prerequisites

Some sales experience is necessary. This can be as basic as retail sales, where one learns to work effectively with customers, or as complex as the sale of a technical product, where one also learns to master product features.

Computer literacy and knowledge of telecommunication products is also required.

Education/Training Required

A high school diploma or GED is required, along with further education in the telecommunications area. Typically a Certificate, AS Degree or BS Degree is required.

At the time of publication, no formal telecom sales or customer service training programs were identified. It is training in the technical aspects of telecommunications that one will find most useful in getting a job.

The next section in this career guide ("Bay Area Education/Training Resources") provides detailed information on some of the training programs available for telecommunications.