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STIRLING-RAWDON · TN FIELD GUIDE

Does a sales component disqualify a Stirling-Rawdon crop advisor from TN classification?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

Not automatically, but it determines what the position really is. The classification requires professional work within a listed profession, so if the role is substantially a commissioned sales territory with agronomic advice attached, it is not the profession claimed. A genuinely advisory position that also involves recommending products can usually be described accurately.

Ask the employer to allocate the week

The practical exercise is to ask how a typical week divides. Days spent scouting fields, pulling samples, interpreting results and writing recommendations belong to the profession. Days spent calling accounts, meeting quota and negotiating pricing belong to a sales role. Ask for that allocation in writing, from the hiring manager rather than a recruiter, and ask what the compensation structure is, since a package that is mostly commission on volume tells its own story about what the company expects. If the answer shows a predominantly commercial role, the honest options are to renegotiate the position, to look for a different opening within the same company, or to reconsider the move. Presenting a sales job as an agronomy job produces an inconsistency that surfaces at the first extension, when the actual duties are described.

Hypothetical example: a greenhouse nutrient modeller is offered a role that combines crop diagnostics with a quarterly bonus. A first review obtains the manager’s weekly-task estimate, the commission formula, and two examples of reports the modeller will deliver. Those records decide whether professional agronomy is the job’s centre of gravity. If the bonus instead rewards sales volume and the reports merely support pitches, revising the title will not cure the mismatch. The applicant should resolve the actual allocation before selecting TN, which is limited to Canadian or Mexican citizens and cannot be used to operate the applicant’s own U.S. business.