Sales Engineers

Sell business goods or services, the selling of which requires a technical background equivalent to a baccalaureate degree in engineering.

tasks jobzones knowledge skills abilities work_activities work_context interests work_styles work_values

Tasks

• Report to supervisors about prospective firms' credit ratings.

• Attend trade shows and seminars to promote products or to learn about industry developments.

• Maintain sales forecasting reports.

• Train team members in the customer applications of technologies.

• Document account activities, generate reports, and keep records of business transactions with customers and suppliers.

• Identify resale opportunities, and support them to achieve sales plans.

• Write technical documentation for products.

• Develop sales plans to introduce products in new markets.

• Provide information needed for the development of custom-made machinery.

• Attend company training seminars to become familiar with product lines.

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Job Zone

• Name: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

• Experience: A minimum of two to four years of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

• Education: Most of these occupations require a four - year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

• Job training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

• Examples: Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include accountants, human resource managers, computer programmers, teachers, chemists, and police detectives.

• Svp range: (7.0 to < 8.0)

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Knowledge

Browse Knowledge

• Customer and Personal Service
  Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Sales and Marketing
  Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

• Computers and Electronics
  Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Engineering and Technology
  Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

• English Language
  Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

• Design
  Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

• Mathematics
  Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

• Education and Training
  Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

• Physics
  Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.

• Administration and Management
  Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

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Skills

Browse Skills

• Mathematics
  Using mathematics to solve problems.

• Reading Comprehension
  Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Operations Analysis
  Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.

• Equipment Selection
  Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.

• Persuasion
  Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

• Active Listening
  Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Judgment and Decision Making
  Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Coordination
  Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

• Complex Problem Solving
  Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

• Social Perceptiveness
  Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

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Abilities

Browse Abilities

• Oral Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• Oral Comprehension
  The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

• Written Comprehension
  The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

• Deductive Reasoning
  The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• Written Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

• Speech Recognition
  The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

• Fluency of Ideas
  The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

• Speech Clarity
  The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

• Problem Sensitivity
  The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

• Inductive Reasoning
  The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

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Work Activities

Browse Work Activities

• Selling or Influencing Others
  Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.

• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
  Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

• Communicating with Persons Outside Organization
  Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.

• Thinking Creatively
  Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
  Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
  Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
  Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

• Provide Consultation and Advice to Others
  Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.

• Processing Information
  Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.

• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
  Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

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Work Context

• Telephone
  How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?

• Electronic Mail
  How often do you use electronic mail in this job?

• Face-to-Face Discussions
  How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?

• Letters and Memos
  How often does the job require written letters and memos?

• Work With Work Group or Team
  How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job?

• Contact With Others
  How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?

• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
  How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?

• Structured versus Unstructured Work
  To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals?

• Coordinate or Lead Others
  How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job?

• Deal With External Customers
  How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?

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Interests

Browse Interests

• Enterprising
  Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

• Realistic
  Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

• Investigative
  Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

• Social
  Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

• Conventional
  Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

• Artistic
  Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

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Work Styles

• Cooperation
  Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

• Initiative
  Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

• Independence
  Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

• Persistence
  Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.

• Achievement/Effort
  Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

• Dependability
  Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

• Attention to Detail
  Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

• Integrity
  Job requires being honest and ethical.

• Stress Tolerance
  Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

• Self Control
  Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

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Work Values

Browse Work Values

• Ability Utilization
  Workers on this job make use of their individual abilities.

• Achievement-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

• Achievement
  Workers on this job get a feeling of accomplishment.

• Activity
  Workers on this job are busy all the time.

• Working Conditions
  Workers on this job have good working conditions.

• Moral Values
  Workers on this job are never pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

• Responsibility
  Workers on this job make decisions on their own.

• Independence-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employs to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

• Creativity
  Workers on this job try out their own ideas.

• Autonomy
  Workers on this job plan their work with little supervision.

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