“A Good (job) option includes blue-collar technical training,” said Jodi Chavez, senior vice president for Ajilon Professional Staffing, a recruiting firm in Melville, New York. “Skilled workers will find employment more quickly in 2012 along with unskilled jobs.”
Because of the overall increase in jobs, the job competition will also increase in this area. Sales and marketing are important for businesses. In media and most organizations, sales work is a good way to enter a company. Chavez points out that the healthcare field and manufacturing industry are viable job sources as well. Financial services are closely associated with the job sector.

Student Job Outlook
According the Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI) at Michigan State University, advertising, marketing, public relations, and sales, all have good job outlooks and share skill sets. In many companies, these jobs may require working in collaborative teams.
The government Occupational Outlook makes a distinction between sales, marketing, and advertising but has accompanying links to these different categories.

Skill Sets
The following are most associated with sales managers but have comparable skill sets with the other occupations described above.

Analytical skills.
Communication and Persuasion skills.
Client People/Customer-service skills.
Managerial skills.
When considering engineering and manufacturing work situations, it is important to note that the sales and marketing personnel in these companies must have a strong familiarity with the specifics of the company. A similar requirement is important in media marketing and sales. In media related work, the distinctive needs required in advertising also come into play. The following are definitions which may help to guide one’s thinking when considering career paths.
Laura Lake Vice President of Interactive and Client Services for Entrepreneur Advertising Group a Kansas City Advertising agency describes them as follows:
Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.

Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products. Occupational Outlook addresses the following when describing sales opportunities.

Sales manager: Directly supervise and coordinate activities of marketing, sales, and related workers. May perform management functions, such as budgeting, accounting, marketing, and personnel work, in addition to their supervisory duties.

As the above definitions indicate, the duties associated with the three major categories are very interrelated.
The bottom line is that sales, marketing and advertising can be a specific career choice or a secondary or supportive career choice. It may be the way the way to get your foot in the door or it may be the way to save or secure a company’s existence.