ExtremeVibeChecker44

Inside Sales

Valued Contributor

AE Laid Off 2x in a Row - How would You Spin?

Hey gang,

The job market's got me on the ropes right now. I'm searching for a remote AE job (I live in Las Vegas because of a family situation).

In my second-to-last role, I was at a large publicly traded cybersecurity company and laid off (along with a big chunk of the sales team). The layoffs actually went viral for how the company handled them...Won't say more than that but you might've seen the video lol. I was there 11 months and had solid (80%+ ) quota attainment most of my tenure.

After that, I took a role at a small company selling Google Ads / SEO packages. I was the first AE and generated about $60K MRR for the company. That lasted about 6 months before the company laid off the sales team (me and two oversees lead gen employees).

My resume is getting rejected immediately from the vast majority of AE jobs. Is it because those last two lines are pretty weak? Or because I'm applying for remote gigs? I feel like getting cut twice in a row gives me a bit of a stigma.

I'm even willing to consider AM / CSE roles.

Thanks for any and all advice - I've gotten a ton of value out of this forum.

🚀 Career Goals

✌️ Growing Pains

8

23 comments

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Justatitle

Big Shot

14

Account Executive

If you are open to it, my company is currently hiring and I believe they are willing to accept Remote employees, feel free to DM me

oldcloser

Arsonist

8

💀

This is why I War Room

detectivegibbles

Politicker

1

Sales Director

Best sales community there is. I have numerous DM convos with members about jobs, life, spouses, etc.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

0

Inside Sales

Would you have a DM convo about a life with a work spouse

detectivegibbles

Politicker

1

Sales Director

My DMs are always open

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

1

Inside Sales

Thanks! DMing you now.

SalesBeast

Politicker

7

Sales Leader

Hard to spin that one. Maybe when applying reach out to hiring managers and the people that you would report into. Also get an internal referral and have someone on the team put in a good word. But up an employee and ask for a referral- they typically get paid a few grand on those from the company.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

Agree with this. Need to try and change strategy to bypass the first layer

jefe

Arsonist

2

🍁

That's really just the key. It's not uncommon, unfortunately, but can make it hard to break in.

Also try talking to any external recruiters you've worked with. They can help bypass.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

1

Inside Sales

I wonder if my resume is getting automatically rejected by the system or something?

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

Quite possible, unfortunately

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

0

Inside Sales

I wonder what the system sees to auto-reject it? Obviously can't change some things but might be worth playing around with the formatting or something to try and sneak through.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

0

Inside Sales

Do you think it's the relatively short tenure of my last two roles that's hurting me?
I've been shooting a lot of emails + linkedin messages to folks asking for referrals. Will keep doing that for sure.

Diablo

Politicker

0

Sr. AE

Ask for a coffee chat instead of asking for referrals directly.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

0

Inside Sales

Yeah, I've been messaging some reps asking to have quick virtual coffee chats

Natsochist

Good Citizen

5

Director of Product Sales

Third-party recruiters could be a great resource for you here. Are there any you’ve worked for in the past? If so, reach out. Their job is to make you look good to the hiring manager / hiring team.

Your spin already isn’t bad. 80%+ quota attainment in first year at a large cyber company, caught in a RIF before you could build momentum over a full year. Hated the experience so decided to try a small company for a change of pace. Generated $720k ACV in six months as the first AE, but the company decided to axe the entire sales team.

Two layoffs, but you have demonstrable performance of some sort at each. Were any of the deals new logos? If so, call that out. Any sort of hunter sales role manager will love new logo acquisition. You got this.

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

2

Inside Sales

Will hit up some third-party guys for sure.
Great pitch here. Yeah, almost all new business. Will position myself more as a hunter.
You think it's worth mentioning these things in a resume / cover letter?

Natsochist

Good Citizen

0

Director of Product Sales

100%. Your resume should have a ton of hard metrics to show what you did with what was in your control.

RIFs and strategic changes? Way above your pay grade. Calls, sales, new logos? All you. Call ‘em out!

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

0

Inside Sales

Great stuff. Metrics I'm thinking....quota attainment, obviously, but what else? Pipeline? Daily calls/emails sent maybe? Would a manager care about "40 dials a day?"
I wonder if it's worth touching on the RIFs in a cover letter?

Natsochist

Good Citizen

0

Director of Product Sales

Depends on the role, honestly. Here’s a sample of a few I’ve used on my own past resumes:

For a role where I was hired right before a RIF:
- Built >$800k in new pipeline in five months, 80%+ net new business

Self explanatory. Wasn’t there long enough to have anything close worth a damn, but I built a lot of solid, qualified pipe. Shows I wasn’t sitting on my ass. Be ready to discuss one or two of these.

For a role where a startup thought they wanted to move into Fed, then fired the PubSec sales team <6 months later:
- Active cycles with DOE Labs, Army, USAF, Navy, STRATCOM, FSI community, and government agencies in Australia and South America

Shows I was building my territory, plus covering other things way outside my lane wherever needed - I’m a team player and my experience translates outside my traditional lane.

From a long-term, stable role where I kicked ass:
- Sold >$x in new software, training, support, and invoiced consulting, including (something I did first)
- Brought on ## net-new clients across government and FSI, including: (names go here).

Either or both of these can help you display sales chops, command over a territory, comfort with large dollar figures or high deal volumes, etc. Use what makes you look best for the role you apply to - don’t be afraid to have a couple versions.

Overall lesson? Use whatever specifics you can that call out something you did well. Focus on the positives, and don’t be afraid to address the negatives when they come up - it’s always a better story to talk about what you learned and what you could do better than to just dump all the blame on others.

Filth

Politicker

4

Live Filthy or Die Clean

Great comments and possible ops already here - I would also start reaching out to any of the high-ups you've worked with in your successful sales up to this point. I've been offered jobs by people I've sold to and generally many higher ups feel that if they liked how you operated a sale they agreed to, they'd like to have you on their team.
More work and more of a long shot but it could be fast when you talk to the right person.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

3

Sales Director

Vibes - like sales, it's a numbers game. Keep applying. It may take 1, 10, 100, or 1000. But with every no, you're one no closer to the yes.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

Absolutely this. ❤❤❤

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