Career
Parts salespersons
Help customers find the right parts.
$38,630
Median pay
+3.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
30,000
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Receive payment or obtain credit authorization.
- Assist customers, such as responding to customer complaints and updating them about back-ordered parts.
- Fill customer orders from stock, and place orders when requested items are out of stock.
- Receive and fill telephone orders for parts.
- Locate and label parts, and maintain inventory of stock.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Receive payment or obtain credit authorization.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Speaking, Persuasion, Service Orientation.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $38,630 a year and 30,000 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Selling Skills and Sales OperationsCIP 52.1804
- Vehicle and Vehicle Parts and Accessories Marketing OperationsCIP 52.1907
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Counter and Rental Clerks$41,300 · +3.0%
- Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks$45,260 · -7.6%
- Retail Salespersons$35,410 · -0.3%
- Engine and Other Machine Assemblers$53,710 · -17.0%
- Stockers and Order Fillers$37,330 · +8.9%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.