Where are all the construction sales people?

During the recession businesses were cutting costs by making people redundant whilst also freezing recruitment activities. This led to a situation where there were more people on the market looking for work but very few jobs for them to fill. This has far from reversed but over the last few months we’ve found it difficult to find certain types of people – namely those with a solid track record of selling in the construction industry.

Now there’s no doubt that the market remains unsettled which is leading many people to keep their heads below the parapet but, as we’ve written previously, there are 2 sides to this story.  The housing market continues to slow and public sector cuts are now in full swing but there’s also been significant funding for new projects, framework agreements are being put in place and statistics for construction outputs are up. Things are not quite as doom and gloom as many perceive.

A concept that many politicians and economists have been banding around recently is the idea that it’s the fear of a double dip recession that could actually end up causing it. This can certainly be applied to sales recruitment. A good yardstick on the market is recruitment activity and throughout the year we’ve seen a steady rise in the number of technical sales jobs. So if businesses are actively recruiting they must have some confidence in the market and where it’s headed. So why are sales people lacking this confidence?

There is no doubt that this perception is reinforced by the media. There are, it would appear, only two kinds of news worth writing. Either things are a huge success, or they’re dire. Given the lack of any massive successes in the construction industry and the apprehension we’re all feeling, it is relatively easy to understand the lack of appropriately sunny industry stories.

However, if you cast your eyes over some of the recent trade press, you might be forgiven for thinking the end construction itself was insight. It was particularly disappointing to read an editor of an industry magazine’s doom-laden predictions about the industry and criticism of lack of support from outside of it, without any recognition of the irony that it is just this kind of comment that could well make things worse.

There’s obviously no value in artificially talking up a difficult market, but neither is incessant negativity going to do anything more useful than sell newspapers. Indeed, the fact that businesses are recruiting suggests a certain confidence in the market.

Yes, times are still uncertain but there remain a lot of opportunities for businesses and they will need strong sales people. So if you’ve thought about getting a job but been unsure, now could be a very good time to start looking whilst the market is not that competitive.