OK

As I see it, not knowing anything about you other than you have decent taste in moosic:

Pros:
- experience of "the other side of the coin": a different view of the business and the drivers in it
- excellent CV fodder to have a few years in sales to bolt on to a solid ops background
- will turn you into a more rounded proposition for the top roles later on
- the *opportunity* to earn a lot
- time in a sales environment can add a more positive, can-do approach as you are constantly surrounded by people motivating you to achieve just-that-bit-more (but see comment on arseholes under "cons")
- hitting targets can lead to excellent freebies (holidays, safaris etc) depending on the company

Cons:
- constant, high pressure
- many sales people are arseholes - that's OK, but don't turn into one yourself
- you will work a lot of hours
- a lot of the work can be tedious: getting leads together by cold-calling is soul-destroying (so I've been told). If you'll always be dealing with warm leads, as may be the case, ignore this comment.
- your level of income isn't guaranteed
- you will have a highly tactical view of the business - even in ops, which is nominally all tactical, you can't really survive without some kind of a strategic overview. Sales people rarely "get" strategy or the need for it. Combat this by making sure you keep up to date with what your company has planned for the future and *why*.

All of this is necessarily generic. As I say, I don't really know much about what kind of business you work in.

I had some good advice once: if the job you've just been offered scares you and you're not sure you can do it, you should definitely take it, because it will stretch and develop you (and you will find out that actually you can do it).

Posted By: Mrs Slowcum, Jan 25, 09:59:28