Whats a better career: Sales or being an elementary teacher?

This question is hard to answer because in the end... it's completely up to you. In fact, I was in a similar situation when I graduated from college two years ago. 1. Do I use my marketing/international business degree to become a marketing analyst at a local company? 2. Do I take online courses to become a certified teacher and go back to teach at my alma mater? Well... I chose teaching. This is my second year of teaching high school students and I LOVE it. Yes, your day never ends because of the endless amount of papers you have to grade & the lesson planning that you have to do... plus, if you decide to do extra-curricular activities with your students (like club advisoring, etc.), you day REALLY never ends. But the benefits of teaching (besides the retirement & vacations) are that you get to touch young peoples' lives. You can make a difference in how they grow up... If they are going through a tough time with their parents, you can then become their support system and cheer them on. Well, I guess my opinion has become pretty obvious... but I don't want to steer you away from the sales job if you don't want it. But the way that you wrote out your question, it seems that you don't want it anyway??? I always say... deep down instead in that little corner of your heart, you know the answer yourself. (haha I now sound like a hippy?)

Choose what you really want to do, what really interests you, or what you imagine doing for the next 20 years. In teaching, you could make a difference to these "bratty kids"--with your help as a teacher they wouldn't be bratty for that long. Teaching children is also like a fountain of youth: you never get old especially when you're surrounded with energy and vitality. BUT if you don't love to teach and you have little patience for "bratty kids", then go for Sales. Teaching is rewarding, but it also eats a lot of your time (esp elementary) so one has to really love doing it... Or maybe I'm just very idealistic, being an educator myself. Anyway, the final decision is still yours. Good luck. Enjoy whatever job you might choose!

In your question, you didn't once say that you'd enjoy working with kids. Not a good sign. You listed all the bad things about being a salesman, but didn't acknowledge that sometimes teaching is a grind, some days are not fun, there are still quotas and deadlines, teach, teach, teach, and meeting with parents. Your expectations seem unrealistic. How much time have you spent in a classroom as a teacher? I am curious .... do you have a teaching certificate? Where did the sales offer come from -- out of the blue? Don't be a teacher if you can't absolutely love doing it -- helping your students and dealing with all kinds of parents.

i think the teaching position. sales jobs are fun and everything but if you have a bad week...well you can't have a bad week. i work in sales and i enjoy it but the stability of a teaching job in unmatched. plus it's a rewarding career.

Take the teaching job. Yeah, you might make more money in sales but you've already described it as stuff you hate to do. Life is short, money isn't enough reason to spend the majority of your time doing something. Besides, if you spend your summers wisely writing, you'll be supplementing your income and if you manage to write a best seller you'll have made even more money.

Both of my parents are teachers and I am in sales, so I know the best (and worst)of both worlds. I agree that sales is a high pressure situation. It can be a stressful job, for sure. But you can make some serious cheese. Teaching is more gratifying on a "look how I contributed to society" level. And also, you do get the summers off. If you are strapped for cash, you can always get a summer job. Somedays, I definitely wish I were a teacher, but I'm sure there are some days my parents wish they were in sales. Moral of the story, the grass is always greener on the other side. Just pick one and make the most of it. You will be happy either way. Both have their pros and cons. Just decide what's more important, money or happiness. For some, money is happiness. Good luck.

You should do what is your passion in life. You can take a job that would pay better but you will hate it if you don't like it. I am going to school to be a teacher and I had one person tell me that I should not become a teacher because of the pay. Teaching is all I have ever wanted to do. I can't imagine myself as anything else. Do what your heart tells you to do. If I had to choose, I would be the teacher in a second. I would not even have to think about it.

I do both and have done both for 7 years. I teach full time. It is my career. My passion. My calling. My life. I work retail part time. It is my job. My "adult interaction job". Gives me a social life with a paycheck. I enjoy my job, but my career is what makes me who I am. When people ask me what I do. I proudly say I'm a teacher. And then sometimes I add in sales. I also use the sales job to my benefit with the kids. When I teach math, I can give them real life examples from working with adults in public that can't do the second grade math I'm asking them to do. It gives them a goal to be smarter than my customers. And as far as the bratty kid comment, you're not going into teaching for the right reasons. They are not brats. If you call them brats now, that is all you will ever see them as. And the pay comment... it is not low. It is priceless.