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FAQ's for Career Seekers

Your Questions, Answered.

Explore answers to common questions about our sales recruiting services, processes, and more. Discover how we can help you find top talent or land your dream job. Get clarity on everything from application procedures to interview tips.

Getting Started

No, we do not charge any fees to represent you and help you secure a sales career with one of our clients.  However, if you choose to use any of our resume services, there are costs involved.  We do not “push” our resume services on anyone and most candidates can tweak their own resumes without spending a dime. It is likely that if you are invited in for a live interview, we will offer a few suggestions to spice up the resume. You can make these changes at home easily and then send us your revised version.
You will need to provide your recruiter with your basic contact information including name address, phone numbers, past compensation structures as well as quotas, achievements and performance history. We will also need to know your entire work history including your current employer.  WE DO NOT, AND WILL NOT EVER CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER.  The nature of our business is based on discretion and confidentiality. The information you provide to us is essential in our ability to conduct an effective search and any missing information will only hinder the process. Without this information, we cannot represent you effectively to our clients and will require it before moving forward. Please note that we keep all information confidential and none of your information will be publicized in any fashion.
No! You can reach out to us with the resume you have and we are happy to offer a few suggestions to get it in shape. It actually helps the process if we can recommend some verbiage to better market you to our clients.  There are also resume tips and samples on the resources page.
NOTHING! Once you have sent us your resume and/or application, we receive a notification letting us know. This indicates you have started a new job search and we will either contact you (should we have an immediate match) or keep our eyes out for any potential opportunities that match your skill set.
We receive literally hundreds of applicant submissions every week. During peak times of the year (May/June, September, and January) these numbers can almost double!!! It is impossible for us to respond to everyone.  We will not reach out if we feel we have no potential opportunity. We truly wish we could place everyone, but unfortunately, it simply isn’t possible.  Once your information has been submitted, you will receive an email confirming that we have received it and has been entered into our database. You do not need to follow up with us in order to verify we have your resume. If we feel we have something that matches your background or might coming open soon, we will contact you immediately!

Working With Your Recruiter

Please understand that our clients request all of their openings be kept confidential. We are not trying to be evasive when questioned about an opportunity you may have seen posted online, and we are contractually bound to not divulge certain information. Additionally, it doesn’t make much sense for us to tell you all about this (or any) particular opening this early in the process. Even if we shared every detail about the open position, it would not be relevant, as you have not even been through our initial screening process or been approved to meet with the client. It’s simply not an effective use of time for either party and is in many ways “putting the cart before the horse”. You may be thinking “Well how do I know if I am even interested in that job”? You won’t know that just yet but will soon enough. We have over 100 openings at any given time and even if you do not fit for the position you applied for, there are likely others that match your skill set perfectly!
First, consider why you want to get into government sales. Do you believe that it is easier than the private sector? Are you looking for Federal sales or more State and Local sales? These are important considerations and demand information before making a qualified decision. It can challenging to break into any kind of government sales.  Typically, the easiest way to get into government sales is to stay within your industry (where you already know the product or service) and join an organization that has both a commercial AND government sales division. Your industry knowledge makes you appealing to a potential employer, and you then have the opportunity to move within the company into the government sales sector. This ensures your learning curve will be much shorter since you will already know not only the product/service but also the inner workings of the company.
Circumstances dictate most things in the job market from day to day. It could be that when your friend got into medical/pharmaceutical/software (insert hot industry here), they were lucky enough to interview during a “pilot program” or some other kind of oddity that allowed them to break into the field. It could have been a manager with a vacant territory who had been interviewing for months who was willing to compromise on experience to get the position filled as quickly as possible. You never know!!!! Comparing yourself to a friend who landed what you believe to be your “dream job” will endlessly frustrate you. Instead, spend your time focusing on what is available for YOU in TODAY’S market and adjust your expectations. This will ensure you have the best chance of landing a great opportunity that will offer longevity and growth.
Timing is everything! We hear this all too often and wish we could offer a better explanation than the fact that things are always changing. We can never predict what sales openings will be available when you begin your job search. It is likely that your friend was in his/her search at a time when the market was more fruitful or had something else in his/her background that our clients found appealing. Sometimes it can be due to where you reside (in relation to the territory), earnings history, and most likely market conditions at that time.
While it may appear that “entry level” is defined as ‘virtually no experience’ it goes beyond that. One of the main reasons our clients who are searching for entry level candidates will not consider you is two words: Flight Risk. They fear an applicant who accepts a position at a much lower level will continue to search for something better, at a more relevant pay grade. They often ask us: “Why would someone who has earned over $90K want to take this job for a base of $50K and a first year earnings of $60K????”  The employer views this person as needing a stop-over position and will not stay for the long haul. This is not always the case, and we do our best to open up our clients to various potential backgrounds.
It’s not always possible every piece of hiring criteria into a small job posting. We make every effort to include the basic requirements our client has given us, but keep in mind, there may be many other qualifications not listed. Additionally, our role is to determine cultural fits and personality matches to ensure long term employee/employer relationships. Our success is based on truly knowing who will fit well where.
Your recruiter is not avoiding you and is actually on a call or with a client.  The nature of our job is to be on call or in interviews. If we are doing anything else, we aren’t doing our job!!!! We understand it can be frustrating and for this we apologize, but please know that our being busy means talking to clients and securing interviews for you! If you are actively interviewing with one of our clients, you will be speaking with your recruiter almost daily if not multiple times per day.  If you need to reach your recruiter, leave them a detailed message regarding what you need to speak with them about. That way they can contact you with the answer ASAP.
This is probably the most common concern we hear from career seekers. During the initial interview with your recruiter, they should have explained the process moving forward and exactly what to expect in terms of follow up. As a practice, we do not “touch base” with our active candidates with updates on the search process. We focus our time on securing interviews, following up with our clients and negotiating offers on behalf of our candidates. Reaching out to just “touch base” without any new information to share, only slows down the process. We understand there is an emotional component to sales job searching…please remember that we are working hard on your behalf, even if you haven’t heard from us. It is imperative that we keep the momentum going and focus our efforts.  However, If anything in your search criteria changes or you have a question for your recruiter, be sure to leave them a detailed voice mail, text or email. They should get back to you within a reasonable amount of time.  No recruiter on our team will stop representing you without your knowledge. We ask that if you secure a position on your own, you let us know immediately. Remember if you don’t hear from us, we are still working diligently on getting you a new job.

Areas Covered/Relocation

The “RIGHT job” is a very subjective description, and it’s difficult to determine what that will be for every person. More importantly, it goes without saying that most sales professionals would relocate for a huge pay raise and their dream job. Putting aside your “ideal/dream job” are you really ready to pick up and move tomorrow? Would you be willing to finance the cost of relocation yourself? Have you considered selling your home in this market? Breaking a lease? Your spouse’s job (if applicable)? Changing schools for your children? The cost of living difference in this area? Most times our clients have a substantial pool of candidates locally that do not require the additional cost and complication of moving someone to there area. While some people are genuinely ready to pack up and be there tomorrow, most are not.  If you are seriously considering moving to an area and have already addressed the above mentioned hurdles, we can certainly begin a search for you. We only ask that you take these factors into consideration before beginning a search. This ensures we are not wasting our client’s time and there will be no potential issues regarding your geography should we get to the final stages in the interview process.
The number one reason people make a job change is because they have too long of a commute. Our clients have been burned by this time and time again and simply cannot risk hiring anyone who resides too far from the office or territory. While many say they are comfortable with lots of windshield time, we know that only leads to a frustrated employee who eventually will leave for something closer to home. Again, please understand the restrictions on where someone must reside come from the clients and not The Porter Group. We must respect their wishes and stay within the specifications they give to us.