Attitude Change by Students in Professional Sales Courses: Implications for Recruiters and Potential Employers

Food, agribusiness, and natural resource firms are faced with the challenge of hiring for nearly 58,000 jobs annually that require a related bachelor’s degree when only 35,400 students graduate with related degrees. Of those jobs created, nearly half will be in management and business, with a majority of those focused on sales or service. When sales representative is one of the hardest jobs to fill, the talent acquisition challenge is sizeable. One issue leading to this compounded challenge is the fact that college students have long had poor perceptions and attitudes toward sales as part of a career path. This study looks at the impact professional sales courses have on student perceptions and attitudes toward sales jobs and the sales profession. The positive results offer some implications for firms in this talent acquisition challenge.