SHARPEN YOUR SELLING SKILLS FOR DOWNTIMES

Aruna Vishwanatha, New Delhi
Mint

Is there such a thing as a recession-proof skill?

With campus visits pushed back, bonuses slashed, and giants such as Infosys Technologies Ltd cutting hiring plans by more than 20 percent, even the most talented of workers have reason to worry during an economic downturn.

But aside from keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for the best, is there anything else that employees can do to make sure they avoid the pink slip?

That magic potion might be “something that doesn’t exist”, says Raj Bowen, managing director of human resources (HR) consulting firm Personnel Decisions International India.

And his colleagues in the industry tend to agree: “Maybe 99 percent of jobs are prone to recession,” says E. Balaji, who heads Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd.

But there is one thing HR executives mention that can probably keep you employed even in those difficult times if you do it well: selling.

“In any company, you have to sell a service or a product,” Balaji says. “These skills are valuable irrespective of the sector you operate in,” he adds, “and any industry will need that kind of capability.” And if you can sell at the vice-president, board or C-suite level, you are probably in safe hands, he says.

Even though selling at the executive level might take 10-12 years’ experience, developing selling skills early on can come in handy.

For example, in downtimes, technology companies might depute engineers to the sales team to make client calls, says data storage company NetApp Inc.’s director of HR in India, S.R. Manjunath. “I think there would be a lot more of leveraging existing resources instead of getting new resources,” he says, adding, “People could be asked to multi-task.”

NetApp hasn’t seen any downturn in its business, according to Manjunath, but the company does use technical staff in sales meetings to better explain its products to potential customers.