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Are you looking for more advanced Texas sales jobs? There are a number of educational programs that can prepare you for a great sales career. Check out http://dignity.texasjobs.com to see some current job openings.

Although a lot of sales jobs are entry-level, earning a certificate or degree can help you get a more advanced position and earn a higher salary. According to an article by Education-Portal.com, there are a number of sales-related programs you can take, both online and in-person.

The most basic is the marketing and sales certificate program, which requires anywhere from 14 to 21 credit hours. The next level would be the Associate of Science in Marketing and Sales Technology, which takes about two years to complete.

Students looking for a more advanced degree can earn a Bachelor of Business Administration or Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, which usually takes four years to complete. The highest-level program is the Master of Business Administration, which takes an additional two years to earn.

Each of these degree programs differ, not only in the amount of time they take to complete, but in their subject matter and difficulty as well. The type of degree you pursue should correlate with the career path you want to follow when you graduate.

Students earning a certificate can expect to take the following classes:

• Integrated marketing communications - Focuses on how you can use a combination of promotions, personal sales techniques, image management, customer service, and electronic media in order to achieve your profit goals.
• Marketing planning and strategy - Teaches you how to use competitor analysis, pricing, advertising, circulation, and brand building to make a detailed marketing plan.
• Principles of selling - Learn how to use different selling techniques to negotiate and communicate with potential clients.
• Strategic sales effectiveness - Focuses on why it's important for a company's sales team and other departments to communicate.

Those pursuing an associate's degree will most likely take:

• Sales team management - Learn how to recruit, hire, train, and compensate sales employees.
• Personal selling - Focuses on the similarities between sales and marketing.
• Services marketing - Teaches you how operations management, human resources administration, and services management have an impact on sales.

A bachelor's degree program will include the following courses:

• Marketing administration - Teaches you how certain marketing principles, such as product development, pricing, promotion, and distribution, can help retain clients.
• Sales and sales management - Learn what it takes to close a sale.
• Marketing promotions - Focuses on direct marketing, sales promotions, advertising, publicity, and personal selling techniques.

At the master's degree level, you can expect to take classes in:

• Marketing for business to business - Learn why marketing strategies are important to businesses, governments, healthcare institutions, and educational institutions.
• Marketing management - Focuses on the issues that marketing managers will face.
• Managing customer relationships - Teaches you how to look at customers as a measurable financial asset.

Labels: Texas sales jobs

A local company with a strong national presence is looking to create hundreds of San Antonio jobs (Click here).

Mercury Retail Services recently announced that it plans to hire about 500 people this year. The majority of the available jobs are for labor-intensive positions such as route drivers, but there are some openings for management, administrative, and clerical jobs.

About 200 of the new positions will be in San Antonio, where the company is headquartered, while the majority of the remaining job openings will be in other offices throughout Texas. A small number of the positions will be at Mercury offices in other parts of the country.

"We are a growing company," Trey Holder, president and CEO of Mercury Retail Services, told the San Antonio Express-News. "But when you look at how (the job surge) is impacting San Antonio directly, it's that we're a company that is moving out nationally."

Mercury provides merchandising, stocking, sign placement, and inventory services for print publications. The company's clients include such notable names as Walmart, H-E-B, Target, and Walgreens. Mercury currently employs about 1,600 people.

The additional jobs are good news for the San Antonio area's local economy, which has grown compared to last year, but continues to lose jobs on a monthly basis. During November, the area had an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent.

The San Antonio-New Braunfels area employed 838,800 workers during December, which is down from 840,400 workers during November, but a .8 percent increase from the previous year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Labels: San Antonio jobs

Houston healthcare jobs and education jobs experienced the second-largest yearly increase in employment at the end of last year, falling second only to the mining and logging industry.

Texas's unemployment rate increased during December, but only slightly, from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent. Even so, that rate is still lower than the national average of 9.4 percent. The Houston area had an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent during November.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area employed a total of 2,542,600 workers during December, which is up from 2,534,500 workers during November and a .5 percent increase from the previous year.

The majority of industries added workers at the end of 2010. The trade, transportation, and utilities industry by far created the most jobs, adding 6,900 employees during December.

Six other industries saw a monthly increase in employment, including: leisure and hospitality by 900 jobs; mining and logging by 800 jobs; education and health services by 600 jobs; construction by 500 jobs; manufacturing by 400 jobs; and information by 100 jobs.

Employment in the financial activities industry remained even over the month with 136,700 jobs. The professional and business services, other services, and government industries all lost workers during December.

On a yearly basis, the mining and logging industry experienced the biggest employment growth, increasing by 5.1 percent to 92,200 workers. That was followed by the education and health services industry, which grew by 2.8 percent to 311,600 jobs.

The leisure and hospitality industry increased by 2 percent to 234,500 workers, while the manufacturing industry grew by 1.6 percent to 221,500 jobs, and the other services industry increased by 1 percent to 91,500 workers.

Industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment during December include:

• Information by 4.4 percent
• Construction by 1 percent
• Financial activities by .7 percent
• Professional and business services by .5 percent
• Trade, transportation, and utilities by .4 percent
• Government by .3 percent

Labels: Houston healthcare jobs

Do you want to work in a fast-growing store that offers plenty of career potential? If so, you're in luck, because there are plenty of City Furniture jobs (Click here) available.

City Furniture is the fastest-growing furniture store in Southeast and Southwest Florida. The company operates 16 City Furniture stores, eight Ashley HomeStores, and a distribution center.

Although you may think the only job available at a furniture store is one in sales, City Furniture actually has a variety of career paths to choose from, including everything from sales associates to management positions.

If you are interested in sales, you can start out as a sales associate and work your way up to a certified sales professional and then go on to be on the sales leadership council. For those interested in sales and management positions, you can become a sales manager in training and eventually work your way up to becoming a district vice president of sales.

There are a number of operations jobs available, where you can work your way up from a distribution center associate to a vice president of operations. In customer service, you can go from a representative to a director. There also are a number of jobs available at the City Furniture corporate office.

Currently, City Furniture has jobs available in the following departments:

• Administrative/clerical
• Advertising/marketing/PR
• Art/creative/design
• Call center/telemarketing
• Customer service
• Retail
• Sales

Labels: City Furniture jobs

A new alliance meant to strengthen the local aerospace and defense industry could help to create many new jobs in Chandler (Click here).

Several cities in the East Valley have teamed up to create the East Valley Aviation and Aerospace Alliance, an effort among businesses and local governments aimed at promoting the East Valley as a top location for aerospace and related defense industries.

Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Chandler, and Scottsdale are all part of the new nonprofit alliance. The effort is expected to retain and expand the current $3.5 billion annual economic impact that aerospace businesses have on the local economy.

"We have a long-standing relationship with the defense industry that goes back to World War II," Roc Arnett, who helped form the East Valley Aviation and Aerospace Alliance, told The Arizona Republic. "These competing states recognize that, and they are coming after us."

The alliance will solely focus on businesses and governments in the Easy Valley. Those involved are currently forming a board to oversee the alliance, and the membership fees paid by the directors appointed to that board will finance the alliance's operations.

"I think we finally have the attention of state and regional leaders that this is a sector that could be lost if we're not paying attention," Steven Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, said. "My view is that there is a heightened awareness more than there has ever been, and I think people get it."

Labels: Jobs in Chandler

A new report has some good news for those seeking Dallas jobs part time, or work in many other parts of the country, this year.

CareerBliss recently released its report of the Top Hiring Cities and Jobs for 2011. The report, which is based on the number of job openings each city had during 2010, ranked Dallas as the ninth-best city for hiring with 293,691 open jobs last year.

"When looking for a new career opportunity in 2011, it is vital to keep in mind not only the job and industry type, but location," Heidi Golledge, co-founder and CEO of CareerBliss, said. "Hiring is up across the board and 2011 is expected to be a banner year for not only particular cities, but job seekers and companies alike."

The top 20 cities that are hiring include:

1. New York, N.Y.
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Chicago, Ill.
4. Los Angeles, Calif.
5. Philadelphia, Pa.
6. Boston, Mass.
7. Atlanta, Ga.
8. Charlotte, N.C.
9. Dallas, Texas
10. San Francisco, Calif.
11. Seattle, Wash.
12. Pittsburgh, Pa.
13. Baltimore, Md.
14. Denver, Colo.
15. San Jose, Calif.
16. Phoenix, Ariz.
17. Hartford, Conn.
18. Miami, Fla.
19. Houston, Texas
20. San Diego, Calif.

The top industries that are hiring workers include: information technology, sales, engineering, marketing, healthcare, accounting, management, manufacturing, quality control, and nursing.

Labels: Dallas jobs part time