What would be more beneficial, a sales and marketing internship at Oyo Rooms, or a market research internship at IIM Ahmedabad?

Both are very different career paths, it mainly depends on you and what your goal is. Both these choices will lead to different paths. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of two different streams – sales and marketing, keeping the institutes aside.

When asked to choose between the two, what will you as a student choose – sales or marketing. Let us take a look at both these streams, briefly –

Sales –

• Sales, as a profession, is a constituent of direct marketing. It expects the volunteers to interact with people, play the communicative abilities to their strength and convince the customer to become a potential customer at first, later into a loyal customer.
• Sales is a game of numbers, plus it is a traveling job.
• Career opportunity- You can become a sales head, a marketing head in the near future. Thus, getting appointed at two diverse, yet related levels of hierarchy. If you are keen on sticking around, then you can aim for higher posts in the upper level of management. It provides a fast-growing career with incentive-based income.
• Sale is a job of monotony, where the only change available is the products and the projects. Although, a successful salesperson can choose to be a consultant, motivational speaker, professor, spear-header of communication development programs, etc.
• Being a salesperson can be your ace card if you want to be an entrepreneur in the future.

Market Research-

• It is the most fundamental stream. In the pyramid of career options, market research is at the start/base. From here the ways to varied career paths opens up after a while.
• The procedure of market research involves a few steps which are – being abreast with the altering trends; forecasting; use of multiple sources to prepare a lengthy report; etc.
• Market research is strictly restricted to the desk, very often it involves traveling as a part of the job.
• Scope- A person with achieved excellence in this field of work can turn to management, get associated with a management group where his/her forecasting skills will be of great use. However, if presented with the right opportunity it can be a tasking job. There is unprecedented growth in this industry due to the small hierarchy, there are but a few steps between level one and upper level of management. The salary provided is mediocre at the end of the day.
• Career options- You can either be a portfolio manager, consultant, media planner, or marketing manager.

Now, let us take a look at the differences between the two professions through a differential table:

Apart from these, a hard-working person who is equally smart, skilled, and passionate will get his due no matter what profession he/she chooses. The ultimate decision has to be made by you keeping their strengths and weaknesses in mind. Otherwise, you will be left with regrets and wasted efforts.