Career Explorer Sales
Changing shape
Door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors, and related workers
Sell goods or services door-to-door or on the street.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 6% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by -10.4% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on emotional intelligence.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $41,380
- Job growth to 2035
- -10.4%
- Openings a year
- 4,800
- People doing it (2025)
- 50,900
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Promote products, services, or programs
- Explain technical details of products or services
- Execute financial transactions
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures
- Sell products or services
- Stock supplies or products
What the work looks like
- Explain products or services and prices and demonstrate use of products.
- Develop prospect lists.
- Deliver merchandise and collect payment.
- Write and record orders for merchandise or enter orders into computers.
- Arrange buying parties and solicit sponsorship of such parties to sell merchandise.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Demonstrators and product promotersChanging shape, Index 19, +0.2%
- Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistantsChanging shape, Index 10, 0.0%
- Retail salespersonsChanging shape, Index 15, -0.3%
- Tour and travel guidesGrows with AI, Index 42, +6.3%
Also known as: Direct Sales Coach, Door-to-Door Sales Trainer, Independent Sales Associate, Independent Sales Representative, Independent Beauty Consultant, Independent Distributor, Sales Representative (Sales Rep), Street Vendor.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.