Job Responsibilities
My main duties are to drive revenue growth in a specific
territory. Specifically I am to increase the number of
accounts, the number of products I sell to current accounts, and
ensure that margins are kept. I also lead a sales team in a
five state territory and report to a manager in Peoria, IL. I
communicate with factories in London, Indiana, and Georgia.
Usually I get up around 4am and am on the phone with my
counterparts across the pond. There is plenty of phone and
email communication. Travel can be as much as 100% of the time
if you choose as it is better to see the customer face to face
especially when handling a multi brand territory like mine.
However I end my day around 3pm and then catch up on email again
before going to bed.
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Job Requirements
For Caterpillar, it is best you graduate from one of the 15
schools they hire from which are mostly located in the Midwest.
They also hire a significant amount of engineering degrees for
their sales force as well as the usual business degrees. There
is nothing academically rigorous about this program. The
culture is we will train you and promote from within and
everything you need will be provided to you.
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Uppers
The people is the best thing about this job. The field force locations are also
great which is away from Peoria, IL.
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Downers
The product line is a bit difficult to be passionate about if
you're not from an agrarian background. It's also hard to
swallow that if you want career advancement then you better like
Peoria. The culture also is exceedingly conservative and you
follow a perscriptive path up the ladder. The job can get
monotonous after a year.
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Lifestyle
Work hours are around 50-60hrs per week including travel and social events.
Dress code is business casual. Tradeshows are fun at first however being on site
8 hours a day and sometimes three days straight can be a burden even to the most
comfortable of shoes. However they're one of the few times you get to see in
person your counterparts. Sales is a lifestyle that is great because you get to
be away from the office and do what it takes to get it done. If you have a
can-do personality, this might be the place to do it. Highly creative types
however will feel stifled in the job.
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Compensation
Low $50s as an offering. 1-3% annual increase. 5% promotion.
Caterpillar pays below market average which makes it up on
benefits. If you are young, single, and are relatively disease
free then you'll find that you are paying a lot to work for this
company. Typically most people who resign and quit find a
$25,000-$40,000 jump in salary when moving laterally to a
similar position.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Caterpillar is a great first job. Do it for a couple of years
and join their Marketing Training Program. Once you stick out
your years and get to the field, use that field experience to
either get a better job or on your way to an MBA. It takes a
certain personality to stick it out at Caterpillar. The culture
is quite conservative and you will have to like Peoria, IL. If
you like stability, the world will always need earth movers.
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