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Sales

Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel

Typically requires High school diploma or equivalent

What is this page & how do I use it?

This is a research report for one career — the kind an analyst would write for a stock. The rating at the top is the neutral baseline (same for everyone); below it come the cases for and against, how the last official forecast for this career actually aged, and what the education path costs and pays.

How to use it: read the bulls-vs-bears case, then hit Score this career to weigh it against your other options with your own interests factored in.

CareerStar rating
RiskyMedium uncertainty

Analyst take: Decent prospects — +3.1% projected growth, moderate AI exposure (63/100).

42
/ 100
low riskhigh
top row = high reward

Data note: O*NET 29.0 doesn’t cover this SOC code yet, so its skill profile (used for fit, moat, and related careers) is estimated from sibling occupations in the same SOC group — see methodology.

Moat (borrowed from investing — the water that defends a castle): how shielded this career is from AI. None = broadly exposed — many of its tasks are automatable and its skills are widely shared. (Exposure ≠ job loss; see the bears below.)

The small grid is a style box (borrowed from Morningstar’s fund reports): the blue square places this career on reward (top row = high) versus risk (left column = low), against all 730 careers. Medium uncertainty means the score leans partly on forward-looking bets like AI exposure, so treat the exact number loosely.

🐂 Bulls say
  • +High pay — above 63% of careers ($66,260).
  • +Strong projected growth — outpaces 56% of careers (+3.1%).
🐻 Bears say
  • High AI exposure — 63% of tasks are model-touchable (exposure ≠ job loss).
Was this rating fair?
Projected growth
+3.1%
Median pay
$66,260
AI exposure
63/100
share of tasks exposed to AI — not job loss

Education & ROI — how to get here

Real outcomes for the college majors that feed this occupation, across 93 bachelor’s programs.

Median earnings
$48,013
1 year after graduating
Typical debt
$24,649
median federal debt
Pay-to-debt
1.9×
first-year pay ÷ debt
Feeder majors
Selling Skills and Sales Operations
Selective schools offering these majors
University of Pennsylvania
PA · 5% admit rate
$89,028/yr
$111,371 grad pay
Bentley University
MA · 45% admit rate
$79,548/yr
$120,959 grad pay
University of Wisconsin-Madison
WI · 45% admit rate
$28,679/yr
$73,792 grad pay
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
NY · 48% admit rate
$14,170/yr
$75,971 grad pay
Tuskegee University
AL · 49% admit rate
$43,454/yr
$49,641 grad pay
Belhaven University
MS · 50% admit rate
$39,793/yr
$46,440 grad pay

Earnings & debt from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard; majors mapped to this occupation via the NCES CIP→SOC crosswalk. A grounded ROI snapshot, not a guarantee — pay varies widely by school and specialty.

What this work involves

communicationpeople