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The differences between sales agents and underwriters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an underwriter has an average salary of $61,751, which is higher than the $45,217 average annual salary of a sales agent.
The top three skills for a sales agent include customer service, customer satisfaction and life insurance. The most important skills for an underwriter are customer service, investor guidelines, and mortgage loans.
| Sales Agent | Underwriter | |
| Yearly salary | $45,217 | $61,751 |
| Hourly rate | $21.74 | $29.69 |
| Growth rate | 10% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 391,987 | 8,510 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 43 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
A sales representative is responsible for offering goods and services to potential and existing clients. Sales representatives must display a strong knowledge of the company's products to assist customers with their inquiries and concerns. A sales representative should have exceptional communication skills and extensive knowledge of the sales industry to deliver sales pitches and negotiate pricing offers with the clients. Sales representatives must also keep themselves updated with the current market trends to provide service recommendations, improving their sales to increase revenues.
An underwriter's duties depend on the line of work or industry involved, such as mortgage companies, insurance, or lending firms. However, an Underwriter's responsibility will mainly revolve around using their extensive expertise on how a company will achieve financial gains, and assessing the possible financial risks of a client by reviewing various aspects to determine their capacity to uphold monetary obligations. Most of the time, the Underwriter's tasks will also involve evaluating a client's credit history, health, assets, overall financial history.
Sales agents and underwriters have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Agent | Underwriter | |
| Average salary | $45,217 | $61,751 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $95,000 | Between $39,000 And $96,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Goldman Sachs | |
| Best paying industry | - | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a sales agent and an underwriter in terms of educational background:
| Sales Agent | Underwriter | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between sales agents' and underwriters' demographics:
| Sales Agent | Underwriter | |
| Average age | 43 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 52.7% Female, 47.3% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 9.3% White, 68.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 2.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 5.6% White, 72.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 9% |