Thursday’s Headlines: B-Schools Highlight Surge in Sales Jobs

Salesmen get a bad rap—at worst, the stereotype is dishonest and pushy. At best, they’re corny. But that seems to be changing, as the demand for sales professionals is on the rise, and business schools are stepping up to meet the need.

Businessweek writes that a new wave of college business students are looking at the sales profession—once relegated to the dusty image of the traveling salesman—as a dynamic and lucrative field to get into in what remains a sluggish job market for recent graduates. Opportunities today for graduates in the sales industry abound, with many recruiters in the past decade stepping up to help sponsor sales programs and competitions at schools and aggressively courting students with majors or concentrations in the subject.

Between 2007 and 2011, the number of colleges and universities in the United States offering sales courses jumped from 44 to 101. Today 32 undergrad programs offer a major, minor or concentration in sales, up from nine programs four years ago, while 15 MBA programs offer sales courses and six offer a degree with a sales concentration.

The high demand for sales professionals makes these degrees a good ROI. One study found that 90 percent of sales graduates secure a job by graduation.

Other News:

Bridgewater will spend $750 million on its new Stanford offices. [DealBook]

Today’s electronic trading challenges are akin to those faced by traders in the 19th century. [NY Times]

NY State attorney general has sent subpoenas over the Libor scandal to Deutsche, Citi, J.P. Morgan, RBS, Barclays, HSBC and UBS. [Financial Times]

Advisors who increased their fee-based assets by more than 25 percent over the past three years saw revenue jump by 47 percent. [Investment News]

Standard Chartered sued over ties to Lebanon bombing. [Reuters]

Janus’ fixed-income funds attracted the Japanese life insurer that saved the firm. [Investment News]

Top toughest companies for job interviews include McKinsey, BCC, Bain and Susquehanna International. [Fortune]