For most international students, unless you plan to pursue an academic career, more than 70% of potential career paths will be closely related to sales.

Over 70 percent of business activities in this world revolve around selling. When you attend job interviews, you are essentially treating yourself as a product to sell to employers. Moreover, you need to make the company want to “repurchase” your services. Top-tier international students can even make the company want to replicate their value while marketing themselves, recommending them to affiliated companies where they can better leverage their strengths. These are true masters.

Therefore, the saying “The end of studying abroad is sales” holds true. Even finance roles with annual salaries exceeding one million RMB are essentially intermediary work. Professionals sell projects, integrate resources from all parties, and package them for sale. You have to learn how to sell — sell yourself, sell products, sell projects, sell value, and even sell empty promises. Of course, the last one may turn you into a self-proclaimed success guru, who might end up in trouble with the law.

I. So the question arises: how should international students engage in sales or market themselves?

Get out there and take part-time jobs. There are plenty of department stores; pick one and start selling.

Part-time work is great for personal development. First, seek out internship opportunities open to international students in the market. Field promotion roles are particularly worthwhile. If you spot a recruitment poster in a store, print out your resume and walk straight in to ask if they are hiring. This is the fastest way to land an internship.

During your internship, you are indirectly marketing yourself. You demonstrate your capabilities, the value you can bring to the store, and how much effort you are willing to invest. Every underlying message you convey should be: I am here to learn, I am hardworking, I am willing to take on tough tasks, and I can deliver results.

As you intern, you will accumulate hands-on sales experience. You can sell all kinds of products: clothing, wine, cars, second-hand properties, bitter coffee and more. The more you sell, the more you realise that your personal preferences do not matter — what consumers want is what truly counts. This customer-centric mindset is highly sought after in the internet industry, and interactive industries are also evolving in this direction. If you build this mindset early, you will gain a head start over others.

II. What Can International Students Gain from a Sales Career?

When you sell products, you get the most direct insight into where money flows. Only by understanding the ultimate destination of capital can you identify promising industries.

Many students choose careers based on supposed industry prospects, yet they cannot even tell whether an industry is losing money or profitable. It is frontline sales staff who can truly perceive whether an industry generates huge profits, whether opportunities exist, or whether the sector is on the decline.

If sales stagnate, it signals a downturn in the industry. Working at the sales frontline allows you to accurately track capital flows. Take overseas education as an example: sales consultants form the core role in this industry and witness nearly every link of the industrial chain. If you master relevant skills and delve into this field early, you will quickly identify all the critical pain points of the industry.

Once you have identified all the critical pain points, you can assess whether the career holds promise, whether it is worth in-depth development, and whether you can replicate this set of business strategies to start your own venture after several years of practice. This gives you great flexibility for career advancement or a safe exit.

This logic applies not only to the overseas education sector. Take live-streaming e-commerce, a booming segment of the internet industry, for instance. It is essentially selling goods: integrating suppliers upstream, engaging followers downstream, while learning to manage traffic. You need to master marketing tactics and script design, then achieve explosive sales. Are there many industries more lucrative than this? Knowledge-based paid services follow exactly the same logic and playbook.

Through selling, you will develop a sharp eye for money and gain a clearer picture of whether an industry is highly profitable. Choosing an industry or a track is essentially about continuously adjusting your direction. People’s careers are never static; they shift in response to industry trends. If you refuse to adapt, you will most likely stay stuck in a permanent state of low income.

III. What Practical Skills Can International Students Hone through Sales Work?

Sales is an excellent training ground. Top sales professionals gradually learn to understand human nature and become masters of people. Most successes are achieved by going with the flow. This ability to grasp human nature brings you closer to the fundamental truths of how the world works.

Beyond reading human nature, you will build strong adaptability. When the economy is thriving, everyone gets by well. But amid downturns, adaptability quickly separates winners from losers. In every era, some people rise to meet challenges and outperform others, and adaptability is the key. Take the sluggish real estate sector for example: does it mean there is no future for property sales? Skilled salespeople can still earn millions, even tens of millions of yuan a year. Such adaptability means you have the capability to create differentiation amid fierce competition, and even build dominance within a niche market. This capability is your core asset.

Besides these skills, sales experience also helps you stand out faster in interpersonal interactions. Seasoned sales professionals know how to handle social occasions, how to give gifts appropriately, and master the etiquette of receiving and seeing off guests. Such interpersonal skills make others feel comfortable in your presence.

Yet many international students cannot overcome this mindset barrier. They regard sales as a low-end job with low entry barriers, something anyone can do. Paradoxically, it is precisely this kind of work accessible to everyone that lets you demonstrate your strengths.

To sum up: The saying that “the end of studying abroad is sales” rings true. Everyone, regardless of background, should try working in sales. This experience will bring all-round upgrades to your mindset and capabilities.

You will gain a deeper understanding of human psychology and human nature, and develop product thinking ahead of others, instead of indulging in your own subjective assumptions. Approaching matters with product thinking enables you to solve problems. After all, you can only deliver greater value by catering to what others actually need. You can then attract traffic through multiple channels such as self-media and paid media to amplify your value. With this, your life will be set on a promising track.

Take a close look around you. How many successful people who achieve tangible results have no knowledge of marketing or sales? Hardly any. Many just operate under a different job title and outward facade; the core principles remain identical.