BitcoinAddict

AE

Valued Contributor

How do you get into a brand name SaaS company as an AE?

I am talking about the Salesforce, Adobes, and the large enterprise SaaS companies with massive sales teams. I know, everyone is gonna drink the startup Kool-Aid and say "but you an be anything you want at a startup and cut your teeth bro!", but I am largely done with startup life.

For years, I was an SDR and back in Jan I got moved to an AE. My company is still growing but for some reason, as an AE I have to handle not just Net New Logo accounts but also Renewals, Upselling/cross-selling into active customers, and support/putting out fires. We really have no enablement at all but most of all, the pay and benefits here suck.

I make way below market rate as an AE and my health insurance is awful.

If anyone knows how to get into the ServiceNOWs, Salesforce, Adobes, and large tech giants, I am all ears. I am perfectly content with being a cog in the wheel, someone else can get drunk off of the startup Kool-Aid.

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braintank

Politicker

5

Enterprise Account Executive

Get a referral or reach out to hiring manager

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

Apply.

In my area alone there are like 20 SFDC jobs posted.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Why do you want to work at one of the giants? If it's because the comp at your current company sucks, there are other non-tech giants that have excellent comp.

The way I got into the tech giant for which I used to work, was to work for a smaller company that was acquired. We had to undergo background checks, but that was the biggest hurdle we had. Now, that's really not the strategy I had in mind when I joined that smaller company, but it did work out, and for many years, I was very happy.

Why did I leave? These companies are so big that they don't care if a division (or more) is underperforming due to bad go-to-market plans, because they will make it up on all the other 98 divisions, so if a team of ICs is suffering one or more years, they can shrug it off. It's great for shareholders, not so great if you're one of the ICs or team managers. Unfortunately, there was a culture shift in sales that led to what had once been unthinkable lack of concern for ICs that led to a "take it or leave it" mentality in the field org, and it's a dark place for most these days. That said, once you have worked for one of those companies for a few years, you get recruited actively (even when not looking) by other companies, big and small, so there's definitely upside if you can afford to play the long game.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Networking has always been the best way for me to land my next gig. Do you know anyone at one of those companies? Anyone you met at conference? Can you tap into an alumni network or some other special interest?

Blindly applying unfortunately sends your resume into a black hole for the most part.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

2

AE

Is reaching out to recruiters there ever a good idea? When I have interviewed with SFDC in the past, I never get past the recruiter screen for some reason and don't know of many people that do.

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I have reached out directly to recruiters for some large companies via LI (Microsoft, others). Its never gone anywhere for me. I have had more success reaching out to someone in my alumni network if I don't have a direct connection to the company.
If you see a job and want to pursue it and have no immediate connections to the company - I would try to find the hiring manager (or even better - who that person reports to) and call them. Never hurts and it could raise your profile enough to get you past the HR profilers.

bendandsnack

Politicker

2

Account Exec

I work at a Professional Services partner for a company that rhymes with schmoogle & it’s been a great networking opportunity with the reps there. We trade engineers/salespeople all the time.<br><br>Perhaps start with an MSP or services partner for your dream company, then network your way in.

I actually applied with them bc I was pissed, landed an interview, then got promoted into a role that offered more $ than the same role there at my current company. I think my experience with their product/business helped

butwhy

Politicker

1

Solutions Engineer

Work at one of the ones you listed - they reached out to me via LinkedIn. I would make sure you're doing some SEO on your own profile using one of their job descriptions, use all their phrases and they'll find you eventually.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

0

Officer of ♥️

Ditto

JMSwiggidy

Politicker

0

Enterprise Account Executive

I’m at one of the companies you mentioned, over half of our hires (I think 60-70%?) are internal referrals. <br><br>I tried for a year to get in, couldn’t for one reason or another. My buddy I play soccer with referred me, got an offer 6 weeks later. <br><br>Anyone I’ve ever referred got at least a recruiter screen and a follow up either way, so I’d recommend trying to find someone at the org and look for a referral in.

Hoopnip

Politicker

0

Commercial AE

Reach out to the recruiters yourself instead of vice versa. All of these companies are hiring like crazy because of attrition. Lots of $$$ being thrown around there and lack of good talent is a thing …

ClutchDeluxe

Valued Contributor

0

asking people for money

I'd talk to loads of recruiters and say that you want a stable brand - everyone is always hiring for the right people in my experience

Diablo

Politicker

-1

Sr. AE

Is money the goal? Not sure if you can grow in big org but I would always try to reach out to hiring manager or someone posting the job, get on a coffee chat and asking them for next steps rather than applying and relying on the AI to pick your resume based on the keywords

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