Sales Mentorship Program
If you're a target-driven and self-motivated student looking to explore a career in sales and business development, you should seriously consider joining the Sauder Sales Mentorship Program.
Led in collaboration with the Business Career Centre (BCC), UBC Sauder faculty, and industry partners/employers, the Sales Mentorship Program (SMP) is a recruitment-focused partnership with sales and business development professionals designed to inspire students to explore careers in this industry.
Program details
Under the direction of experienced sales professionals from top Canadian organizations, you'll participate in a mentorship program that will help you learn about the strategic, challenging, and lucrative career opportunities in sales and business development.
Why do we run this program?
The SMP is one of the newer mentorship opportunities that has evolved due to the local demand of sales professionals. 98% of BC Businesses are considered small with less than 50 employees so they rely on Business Development Professionals to keep them competitive in the market, and most head offices in the Country are in Western Canada so the majority of Sales and Marketing roles in BC are heavily biased on sales. Many Sauder students do not consider this path, often due to the stereotypes associated with sales, and the lack of knowledge of the local market.
The SMP is designed to help students shift the perception of a sales career, provide insight to the various career opportunities in sales, and to help them be better prepared for recruitment and interviews. If accepted, students will be matched with an industry professional that will act as a mentor to support their personal and professional development for a career in sales.
When to apply: TBD
What We’re Looking for:
o Good communication skills
o Coachable, willing to learn and ask questions to get the most out of this experience
o Able to successfully manage a relationship with a business professional
o An interest/openness to a career in sales
Program Outline:
o SMP Student Orientation
o 5 mentorship hours
o 2 short discussion posts on Canvas
o SMP Evaluation
Benefits
The benefits of the SMP to students include:
- 80% of students want to stay in BC, and sales is an in-demand profession in BC due to the shape of the landscape (few head offices, and comprising of 98% SME’s)
- Over 400 related jobs posted on COOL a year
- Can lead to a well-paid career (no cap on earnings is some industries)
- Covers many areas of work and industries
- Development of new transferable skills
- An additional perspective from mentors who have lots of industry experiences
- Students get to grow their networks
- Greater access to Career Centre Managers on many aspects of the job search and application process, and industry support for a 360 perspective
- Hands on experience to put theory into practice
Eligibility
This program is open to Co-op, BCom Year 2-4, MM, MBA FT - 1st year
How to apply
Students can apply for the Sales Mentorship Program on COOL.
Why join SMP?
"The Sales Mentorship Program expanded and opened my perspective into the world of sales, a field that was particularly unknown and new to me before the program. I had the opportunity to be selected to learn different sales strategies in business development. I also learned about sales pitches through attending several SMP workshops throughout the year. This program has taught me the foundations of sales and I highly recommend the program to anyone who is interested to learn more about sales!" - Annie L., Marketing & OBHR Student