pipelinedream

Outside Sales RepBusiness Development Manager

Personal Narrative

Applying for tech sales jobs in 2024

Well it happened. My fully remote SaaS sales job that I'd had for 8 months with 0 quota requirements and a 12-18 month sales cycle was terminated. If I'm being honest with myself, I know I could have put in more effort to build the pipe. On the other hand, I'm still surprised they didn't want to give me a full year to see where my open deals could go, especially after getting my hopes up literally the day before being terminated about all the trade shows we were planning to attend in 2024. Plus, they had me selling a Chilean software in the US that wasn't fully translated to English, assigned me to a manager who could barely speak English, and were regularly canceling my weekly 1-on-1 and team meetings.

Ok enough venting. Point is, I've only been unemployed 10 days and am already feeling overwhelmed at how different the job market is now than it was just a couple years ago when I was last actively applying. Feels like getting my resume and cover letter through for a 1st-round interview is way harder now all of a sudden.

How do you guys beat the system? I know there's a lot of talk about aligning your resume and cover letter to match the keywords in the job description, but after doing that a few times, it feels like I'm just copying and pasting for the hell of it. Does it actually work? I also know there are AI tools out there that can help with that, but what is the point of the busy work?? Been hearing that even internal referrals aren't as valuable as they used to be.

🎈 Mentorship

🎯 Career Development

15

19 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

22

💀

Work your network. Get a referral. Rinse. Repeat. Also, check the search bar.

☝️The above answer is standard for anyone looking for work. To follow is custom for you. Your 3 quotes below tell me all I need to know about what kind of employee you are.

“could have worked harder”
“beat the system”
“see where my deals go”

That last one disqualifies you as a salesperson entirely. Deals don’t go anywhere by themselves. You can’t beat any system. You should have worked harder. There are no shortcuts.

Your attitude sucks and demeans my profession.

jefe

Arsonist

7

🍁

Cold, hard truth.

But truth nonetheless.

hustlemonkey

Personal Narrative

1

Account Executive

Sometimes you fall. Get back up again. Recognize your fault. Evaluate where you could have done better. Next time, do better.

bonez

Politicker

8

Account Executive

It’s harder out there right now for sure. I had to massively leverage my network and industry to get something moving. A couple years ago I would apply to 10 jobs and get 7 interviews.

You gotta really use and abuse your network right now. Make sure you call in any favor and connection. Also make sure you cold email, inmail, or call hiring managers. It’s a lot tougher in tech sales right now but you’ll find something my dude.

hustlemonkey

Personal Narrative

4

Account Executive

A few tips:
Recruiters
- reach out to recruiters (start with any that have reached out to you on LI in the last two years)

Proactive Outreach
- find job posts
- align resume & cover letter (don’t submit it yet)
- using phone, email, LI: reach out to the hiring manager/hr person direct & ask for time (works surprisingly well)

For the Interview/Convo
- use discover questions to learn more about the challenges they face
- have a point of view for the company/role
- be ready to tell the story of your resume
- be ready to speak on what excites you about the company
- be ready to ask for next steps
- (don’t talk about comps initially)

After Interview/Convo
- always send a thank you note
- have an MVP you can send over to address a challenge in a way that adds value

SalesBaddie

Good Citizen

0

Sales Development Representative

This is such tea & there were no upvotes omg

wwwb2b

Personal Narrative

0

AI Advisor

well said

Justatitle

Big Shot

3

Account Executive

Call the managers who are hiring of companies you want to go to and show you know how to do the job they need you to do

waterjugsales

Politicker

3

Account Executive @ Funemployed

Yeah this is kind of insulting. Meanwhile in my last role I had an entire segment of our org resegmented where I lost all of my pipe, had to rebuild, got put on a PIP despite hitting nearly all of the metrics, fought til the end and got canned.

Meanwhile you are sitting here saying you could’ve done more.

Fuck you.

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

☝️

SteveD

Member

1

Sales Director

I was suprised to do deal reviews with leadership and they having many AE's with no pipeline. Im asking them how do you allow this and they all came back with few years ago they were fielding loads of inbounds but not anymore. Good leaders see this and can those reps that cant or wont build pipe.

way3sexy

Good Citizen

3

AE

Cold hard truth: You are putting minimal effort and expecting maximum results. You are looking for shortcuts instead of actually doing the work.. If you think sending your resume in is enough you are a long way from getting a new job.

Suggestion: Treat the job search like a full time sales job. Prospect hiring managers at companies, talk to other AE’s and try and secure a referral, create a 30-60-90 day plan to show managers.

If you haven’t thought of this, you are not built for sales my guy.

BossMan

Fire Starter

3

Director of Sales

Getting laid off sucks, but it happens. Recognize how you feel, what you could have done better, and grow from it.

Now here's what I would suggest:
Like @oldcloser said, leverage your network.
If you don't have a network, do this:
Find 3 -5 companies that you want to work for. Be intentional about it. Review the industry, the product, glassdoor, etc. If you feel compelled by them, then. you know you probably have some passion working there.
Then research 3-5 people who work for the company, reachout to them to learn more about the role/company. Use your sales ability here...be curious, open, and follow-up with them. If you aren't ready to reach out to the potential hiring manager, reachout to those 1 or 2 steps beneath them.
Ask questions and be friendly with those that connect with you. Once finished, ask if they would be willing to refer you as an applicant (your chances dramatically increase on this)
Then apply and prep for the interview. Feel free to reach out to the new network/referral and ask if they have any pointers on the interview process.
Make sure you THANK them and offer any services in return. No one likes a taker.
Rinse repeat till you get a job.
Good luck

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This is where you really need your put in the work. And networking is still the best way to get in somewhere, but like everything else, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. Work hard to get in.

DalJigsaw

Contributor

1

Business Development and Account Manager

If you need structure check out this book called, “Never Search Alone” https://www.phyl.org/ It’s been great foundation. A lot of reflecting and figuring out what’s next.

wwwb2b

Personal Narrative

0

AI Advisor

+1 for this community!

allbayallday

Opinionated

0

ADR

You could check out the book, The 2 Hour Job Search. It's really helped me in the past!

0

Sales Developent Representative

Use LinkedIn to find managers of the role you want as well as HR hiring for the role. Reach out to both with a brief message. Chances are they will ask for your resume and at least give you a chance to talk to the recruiter

GoBlue

Old School Bravo

0

National Account manager

Alot of money dried up. and the most HR suffer from paralysis by analysis.

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