So I've been on the job hunt for about a month now. I'm currently a media consultant (AE) for a large media company - where in short I sell radio and digital advertising to businesses. I've been at this company for almost 5 years now, and although it's definitely been challenging (started off building a book of business from 0, then basically felt like I had to start all over after the pandemic hit) I've really grown as a sales professional and on pace to have my best year ever. I'm on a really good roll right now, and have some really nice things in my pipeline. And although it's definitely hard walking away from something I've put my blood, sweat and tears into for years that's starting to really pay off - there are a lot of things with the company that have happened that've rubbed me the wrong way and there's a lot of difficulties with campaigns post-sale that just makes my day-to-day incredibly frustrating.
With that, I've already been interviewing with some different companies - but the ones that I'm furthest down the interviewing process with and seem the most promising are all pretty different.
One is with a SaaS company that my buddy works at, and he loves his job there. From who I've interviewed with it seems like a cool culture and the company has been growing pretty strong. I originally did a whole interview loop for a mid-market AE role, but since I don't have prior SaaS experience they gave it to someone who did - but they really liked me so now I'm interviewing for an Emerging-market AE role. It's an "expansion" AE role so i really wouldn't be calling on new clients, but rather have a client list of businesses already using their software to some degree and then trying to upsell them. To start it's $60k base / $120k OTE, uncapped commissions, and you get a pretty good equity package (i believe around $35-45k in stock) and stock buying options which i find really cool. 100% remote. Good product-market fit. Majority of reps are hitting their quotas.
Another opportunity is with a sports media company that makes custom content that gets pushed on a bunch of different channels/shows/etc. that they have. Essentially what you sell is custom videos/content with well-known athletes and celebrities for big brands that then get pushed out all over the internet on different social media platforms/channels/etc. to help with their marketing/advertising. Since I come from a media/advertising background I feel like I wouldn't be completely starting over with something brand new, and being able to do things with big athletes and brands is exciting. Definitely a bigger sell where the minimum deal is around $250k-$500k+. Was told it'd be at least $100k base / $200k OTE (uncapped commission) to start. Predominantly remote.
The third job is with a huge international insurance company, where the main thing i'd be selling is trade credit insurance to businesses (it's risk mitigation; basically if you're a business that has this you're insured to have your invoices paid even if a customer doesn't pay it because of bankruptcy, insolvency, etc.). My territory would be the NY tri-state area. The manager i've been interviewing with was straight up and said that this would be the hardest sale of my life, and it's definitely a grind for the first few years building your book of business from 0. However, people can make a lot of money here. The top rep in the territory made over $1M, and by year 3 if I'm good i was told i'd be making $250k+. Starts off with a $100-120k base + commission on new business (not renewals); and then when you build your book of business up enough you get put onto the "senior" comp, plan which is 100% commission (but higher commission rate, get paid on renewals, much more lucrative). I've met with the regional VP of the NE (who'd be my manager) and a couple existing agents there who all seem pretty cool, and the money seems great (really the main reason why i barked up this tree in the first place); but I feel like insurance sales might be a bit mundane and idk if I want to go and grind my face off again. This would be an in-office/hybrid role (office is in Manhattan).
Obviously - these roles are all very different. I'd love to get anyone's advice who've been in similar situations; as well as input from anyone who's working in any of these industries. Yes I want to make BANK - but i don't want to go somewhere that i'll regret 6 months down the line and be miserable.
Any and all advice/feedback is appreciated! And anyone that's been in any of these industries for a while and could shed some light on the money, personal development, longevity, etc. would be awesome. Thank you fellow savages.
13 comments