Khaivien’s Story—Car Salesmen

Khaivien Thach

Leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on his desk, Alex Helm says that he’s made $200 that day at his part-time job. So far this week, he’s close to $1,500.

“I’m definitely in it for the money,” said Helm.

Most Utah State University students work typical part-time jobs for a student, such as working in a retail store, serving food in a restaurant, or taking care of elderly people in a nursing home. Helm and co-worker, Jordan Peterson, work as used car salesmen at Murdock Hyundai in North Logan.

“It’s not normally what a college kid would do for work,” said Peterson. “But normally a college kid wouldn’t be making this much either.”

The average age of salesman at Murdock is around 30-years old, said general manager, Cort Murdock. Most of the salesman on the lot are married, have a few kids, and work full-time to support their families, he said. Peterson, 21, and Helm, 22, are both single and work part-time while going to school full-time at USU.

“You go to any other lot in Cache Valley and most aren’t willing to hire part-time salesman,” said Murdock. Part-time salesman typically can’t put in enough hours to make profitable sales, so most managers don’t waste the time to hire them, he said.

“But these two are different,” said Murdock.

When Peterson first started looking for a job, most of the lot managers he met didn’t want to hire him. After serving a two-year LDS mission in Brazil, Peterson knew he wanted to sell cars when he got home, he said. Peterson’s father, Michael Peterson, owns All-Finance Auto in Salt Lake City and Jordan got experience selling cars on Michael’s lot before he went on his mission. But even with experience, most of the managers in Cache Valley wouldn’t offer him a job because he was a full-time student, he said.

“Murdock was the last dealership I interviewed at,” said Peterson. “When I met with Cort, I went big. I made him a promise that even though I would work less hours, I would make just as many sales as the full-time guys.”

That was nine months ago and he has kept his word, said Murdock.

“He’s one of our best,” he said. “One month he was even first in sales. I’m glad I took a chance on these kids, they work hard, put a lot of time into this job, and make a lot of sales.”

Having a full-time school schedule can be time-consuming for any student and Helm says that working a demanding job has affected his schoolwork. He has put aside writing papers and studying for tests when a sale has kept him at work past 8 p.m., when Murdock normally closes.

“Some days I didn’t get home until after 10, then I would be too exhausted to even think about homework,” he said. “I missed a geography quiz yesterday because I had an appointment with a guy.”

“Don’t even ask about our social life,” said Peterson. “It’s non-existent.”

For a normal college guy, a job as a car salesman doesn’t sound like much fun, Helm said, but it will be worth it to him in the end in the long run. He will be able to pay for all of his school, not worry about student loans, and even have some extra, he said.

“The guy working at Iggy’s might get a 4.0 when he graduates,” said Helm. “But I’ll be the one that can afford a cruise in the Bahamas when I do.”

What do you think?