Godsent Imion is a Field Sales Manager in Nestle Nigeria who recently won the award of Best Field Sales Manager in Nigeria. Assist to Hire interviewed him and he shares his recipe for success and career plans.

Please tell us about yourself and where you come from.

My name is Godsent Imion, I am from Edo state. I joined Nestle in 2007. I have spent 10 years in Nestle. Within Nestle, I have worked in various fields before sales. I started in Supply Chain, I was in Supply Chain for a few years before moving to sales.

Are you married?

Yes, I am married with four children

What is your Educational Background?

I am a graduate of Economics from Lagos State University. I also have an MBA in marketing specialisation from the University of Lagos.

How were you able to climb the career ladder?

Flexibility and being open to change. Being ready to make changes and the best career decisions for your future. My advice is when you are in a situation where you need to make career changes, be ready to go for it. I started working as a production planner in the factory, where we planned the production of unfinished goods and purchasing of raw materials.

At some point in my career, I needed to do something different and then took up an interest in sales and made that change. You have to be focused and keep giving your best.

What award did you win?

I won an award for best Field Sales Manager for 2016 out of 100 field sales managers in the territory. I won the Lagos branch and also the overall prize, Pan-Nigeria.

What are your future career plans?

Growing my career within sales. To be a regional sales manager and progress to Head of Sales one day.

What advice do you have for Nigerian youths looking to start a career in sales?

Nothing comes easy. It is about starting somewhere first. If you are rigid on where you want to work, and what you want to do, you might not get it. Sales is interesting, it is challenging. Sales is about driving targets and it comes with a lot of pressure. It’s not something you just wake up one morning and decide to become a sales person. Interest and determination are essential to becoming a sales person.

Geographical mobility is also important. The willingness to work outside of your comfort zone. There are a lot of young people who say they don’t want a job in the north. If you have that kind of mindset then a sale job is not for you. You need to ask yourself these questions, am I flexible enough? Am I willing to adapt to changes? Am I geographically mobile? Am I ready to relocate and move around the country?

What career advice do you have for Nigerian youths looking to become managers in an organisation?

Be ready to learn, be open to ideas, and work hard. Patience is important to grow in an organisation. A lot of young people are not patience enough to spend time in one organisation. They want to go job-hopping. Job-hopping works for some but not for everybody. At the end of the day, you’ve worked in five different places in ten years and there’s really no progression.

It also depends on the person in terms of what your career aspirations are? If you are looking at a managerial position in a company, it depends if the company is a right fit for your career growth as well as and how much you are ready to put into the organisation by adding value. That will figure how quickly you will move on in your career.

Thank you for interviewing with Assist to Hire and we wish you the best of luck in your future career endeavours.

To view God-Sent Imion’s profile click here: www.linkedin.com

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Good one.. working hard to attain greatness too..

Awesome! I hope 2 be a manager with Nestlé someday!