Are you comfortable being paid on a 100% commission basis?
The interviewer would like to know if you are happy with being paid solely on your performance. The majority of roles that will pay 100% commission are retail and sales based positions. Whether the job pays 100% commission or not, may not be the point of this question. Assure the interviewer that you are confident in your ability to be a top performer, regardless of commissions or a comfy base salary. Are you able to work hard and be paid based on your performance alone?
"I can assure you that my performance is always top notch and I am comfortable being paid based on my performance. I have earned solely on commission for many years."
"As a sales professional, I am motivated to drive my performance independently. Working in a 100% commission sales environment allows me to determine my compensation and manage my business and income accordingly."
"Although I have never worked in a 100% commission environment, I do know that I would perform well, and hit my sales targets, even in the absence of a base salary. I am confident in my ability to be a high performer, either way."
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Anonymous Answer
As someone who has never been in a position whose pay is based on a commission, I would say that I am now not in a place to take the risk with my current family situation.
Kevin's Feedback
And that is totally okay! You are likely past the point in your career where 100% commission is tempting. Your honesty will be imperative as the hiring company works on putting an offer together for you. However, you never want to close the door on any opportunity in an interview to be providing such definitives. Best to allow the entire interview to play out as well as possible while exhibiting flexibility and asking questions.
To be honest, I’ve never worked in an environment where pay was entirely reliant on commission. I have every confidence in my ability to excel in such a situation, but providing for unexpected externalities or variables such as marketing trends, competitors, and other components I might not be fully aware of, it sounds like such a pay structure has the potential of being unstable or unpredictable, despite how one may excel at their job. I’d definitely be open to learning more about how such a pay structure works in practice. I took my time researching the position and the company, and I didn’t see anywhere online that this was the expectation of the role. How does this come into play with the requirements for this position, and what does that look like?
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