what is a commercial employee?

As a sales support employee or commercial employee in inside sales, you inspire with service, products, and services. You communicate with existing and potential customers through various channels. This involves both personal and electronic contact. You either sell directly or support the field sales team. A key part of your role is maintaining customer relationships. Existing customers need to be kept satisfied. Building and strengthening relationships with potential customers requires care and tact. You work with a wide range of personalities, so your job as an inside sales team member is never boring. Your profession is highly varied. Winning customers through service and convincing them of a product is really rewarding. The great thing is, you see your successes: through increased sales figures, gaining new customers, and positive feedback from clients. Learn more about the role of a commercial employee in inside sales and discover the best job opportunities.

commercial employee jobs
1

working as a commercial employee.

Would you like to work as a commercial employee but want to learn more about your tasks? Then keep reading to find out what awaits you.

2

types of commercial employees.

There are various job titles for sales support staff in administrative sales roles. These include:

  • commercial employee in inside sales

  • employees in internal sales

  • sales staff in internal sales

  • sales support employee

  • customer advisors in inside sales

Commercial employee are not only found in internal sales but also in external sales. They maintain direct contact with customers and are therefore the company's representatives. Employees in internal sales typically support the external sales team and mainly contact customers by phone.

Female with blue headphones around her neck looking at a screen
Female with blue headphones around her neck looking at a screen
3

salary as a commercial employee.

As a commercial employee, you start with an average gross income of nearly CHF 53,000 per year. That amounts to a monthly salary of around CHF 4,400 gross. As a part-time worker with a weekly working time of 19 hours, your average earnings are approximately CHF 12,000. Of course, your salary depends on your education, experience, and additional benefits. Some companies supplement your pay with a company car, fringe benefits, and bonuses.

4

vocational training and further education as a commercial employee.

As a commercial employee, you need to have a basic education as a merchant or business administrator. The generalist training lasts three years and concludes with the federal diploma of competence EFZ. You can choose either the basic training (B-profile) or the extended basic training (E-profile). If you opt for the E-profile with additional vocational baccalaureate, you pave the way for a university of applied sciences degree. After successfully completing your apprenticeship as a merchant or business administrator, many doors will open for you. For example, you can start directly at a company. Depending on the industry and company you select, you will take on various tasks. In smaller companies, you handle all administrative duties. You might be a salesperson, buyer, and logistics coordinator all in one. In larger companies, you specialise after gaining some years of work experience. You focus on specific areas such as banking, marketing, human resources, tourism, or sales.

If you’re aiming for something higher, you’ll choose further education. Vocational schools, industry associations, and training centres offer a variety of courses for professional development. In large corporations, you can also pursue internal training programmes. If you want to specialise, you can take a professional examination (PE) and become, for example, a marketing specialist. A higher professional examination (HPE) leads to a diploma as an international trade manager. With a vocational baccalaureate, you can even attend a higher technical college or university of applied sciences. After earning a bachelor’s or master’s degree, there’s nothing stopping you from pursuing a management career.

5

positions as commercial employee.

As a commercial employee, you typically work in an office setting. From there, you contact your clients either by phone or email. The tasks can easily be done part-time or from home. Every trading company, manufacturing firm, and service provider needs commercial staff. As a result, the job market is quite extensive. Whether it's a global corporation or a smaller business, you can find top employers across all industries with Randstad. Are you looking for a varied position in an international company? You’ll find such and other job opportunities right here.

Mann und Frau unterhalten sich
Mann und Frau unterhalten sich
6

positions for career changers as commercial employees.

A commercial basic education is the prerequisite for your work as a commercial employee. However, many companies are open to career changers with comparable qualifications. If your training is not directly equivalent, you can often compensate for the missing qualification through work experience. For example, as an EBA office assistant, you can attend further training courses in sales. If you are a retail specialist EFZ or retail specialist EFZ, you already have sales experience. Any gaps in IT skills can be filled through courses.

7

career opportunities and development potential as a commercial employee.

With your generalist education, you can grow into many different roles as a commercial employee. Advancing into management positions is possible through courses and hard work. For specialist responsibilities and leadership roles, you’ll need targeted further training. Expertise and strong leadership skills will enable you to climb from the entry-level management tier to top management. Work experience and solid networks support your career progression. Are you looking for employers that match your profile and offer you career opportunities? Find open positions through Randstad.

8

competencies as a commercial employee.

In your role as a commercial employee in inside sales, you primarily need to have a strong customer focus. Other important skills include:

  • People skills: You enjoy working with people passionately. Your daily routine involves customer interactions. To spot and seize sales opportunities, you need to accurately assess different personalities.
  • Language skills: If you work locally in Switzerland within a specific region, proficiency in the local language is sufficient. However, due to the country's diverse linguistic regions, knowledge of not only German but also French, Italian, and even Romansh can be very advantageous.
  • Communication skills: In inside sales, you communicate with customers and colleagues. To ensure all processes run smoothly, you convince internally and motivate colleagues to contribute. If something goes wrong, you help ease the situation with the customer over the phone.
  • Stress resistance: Sometimes the phone doesn't stop ringing all day. Customers want to place orders, get price information, or make complaints. You need to stay calm and always keep an overview. Boredom definitely doesn't set in in this profession.
  • Prioritising: Customers, colleagues, and managers are all coming at you from every direction. A customer hasn't received their order. The purchasing department forgot to place the order. Logistics picked the wrong items. The executive board is requesting a report. You need to act thoughtfully and know what takes precedence.
  • Carefulness: In inside sales, it’s all about working accurately. You need to process and pass on orders correctly. Delivery dates must be met. For you, this is no problem, since you work precisely and carefully.
  • Self-employment: As a commercial employee, you always demonstrate initiative. You work very independently and efficiently.
male wearing a tie working on his computer.
male wearing a tie working on his computer.
9

advantages of working as a commercial employee at randstad.

There are many good reasons to work at Randstad as a commercial employee:

✓ exciting jobs with well-known companies
✓ a reliable contact person whenever you need one, personal advice really matters
✓ attractive employment conditions and good social benefits
✓ continuing education courses and personal development opportunities
✓ clear information in the myRandstad app
✓ do you have a fixed-term contract? Often, there’s a chance to secure a permanent position afterwards. Many popular companies also recruit their staff directly through Randstad

your professional development budget as a commercial employee at randstad.

If you work as an commercial employee for Randstad, you have access to further training courses. As part of the TempTraining program from swissstaffing, you can attend training sessions. You will receive the course fees back later, provided you pass the course exam. Your Randstad advisor is there to support you if you have any questions. This way, you can acquire additional language skills or job-specific knowledge, all during your working hours as an administrative employee.

10

application tips for commercial employees at randstad.

Have you found your dream job as a commercial employee? Not only qualifications and certificates determine the success of your applications. Careful, error-free, and personalized documents will definitely help you in your job search. Here are a few useful tips to improve your chances:

11

frequently asked questions.

Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about the job as a commercial employee.

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