How much do tech recruiters shun mortgage people? Am I a leper?

Asking for honest opinion, let it rip. This has length but it's the only way I can give an adequate picture....so if you read this entirely, it's appreciated.

I am finding it near impossible to get recruiters to look further than their own hands, I have been unable to get to interview stage with tech orgs on 95 applications and 700+ hours spent applying, researching, learning, writing resumes (using AI and pro resume writers, and crafting individually for each role, matching keywords with Jobalytics), info interviews, networking, reaching out to hiring managers, in house referrals, etc.

Given, I am applying with excellent companies amongst a vast number of applicants...and I understand the tech layoff picture of 23', the economy, hiring cycles and time of year. I know there are a lot of great people out there that I am competing against, I recognize it is an uphill battle.

I am working to enter tech sales as an AE, from the mortgage business. I know there is a stigma on mortgage people, I feel it. I also know that there is a sea of mortgage reps that don't have a clue what they are doing...I imagine this makes it hard for recruiters to not stereotype? If someone has an opinion, please share, good / bad / otherwise.

I haven't worked at a broker house, it's more complex (few really understand) - we fund direct, package and sell to investors, so the compliance is much higher and we have 50+ investors (all with different systems) that we work with. It's actually very difficult, and we are small and unknown so we have had to scrap for every inch, from acquiring clients, working the full cycle, providing excellent service and constantly re-selling (In the beginning, I had to process my own loans and became a pre underwriter, underwriting is governed by thousands of pages of rules and compliance). Then we fund, package, sell the loans - which provides advantages over broker shops...it's hard. This is significantly more complex vs a loan officer at a bank who just has the initial convo and passes the client down the line to a redundant, bottlenecked system.

So I was sales manager and then directed Sales Ops at a funding company over the last 3 years, 2 years prior to that I was a top producer at the company.

• Helped build it from the ground up from zero infrastructure, the two owners consider me the 3rd pillar of the org (no equity for me) - I've tackled a wide net of responsibilities stemming from growth pains. Also support admin on the full tech stack, Salesforce / Slack / Dialpad / Phoneburner / Egnyte / LendingPad / etc

• Led teams of new hires of up to 18 (too many) while executing on a pipe of up to 125 deals. Almost new hires have been brand new to the business, each person needs up to 100 hours of individual, on the job training, to get sharp enough to stand on their own two feet within the environment. 12 hour days for multiple years running. 100% commission for everyone, no benefits. Every time I turn around there is a mission critical issue I need to take care of for someone. It's like a baby deer wading into the amazon, all the pirahnas are coming, all day every day (Org growth plan was not planned well). Through all of this, I have gained tremendous experience.

• All consultants, including Sr, come to me to figure out the most difficult business tax returns and find the right solutions with various investors, with optimized pricing structures. I have been mentor to the processing teams on how to strategically work with underwriters to get the highest and best outcome. There's hundreds of loan types and many channels...

• I've also been the axis point, the stakeholder that all AE's try to get to, in order to work with us, or us with them - so I have built and maintained those relationships, and enabled our sales team.

• The role has supercharged my sales and deal structure strategy, deep-dive reviewing 20+ potential deals, with legs, per day that the new reps bring in, defining presentation strategy, and often doing all presentations for these reps on their first 5-10 deals. But also, when things start to go sideways for anyone in the building, I step in to take over and finish out the sales cycle so everyone can get paid, including myself.

• I've worked myself into oblivion, now taking sabbatical to think / recharge - I am just done with commodities and I have the ability and desire to do so much more. This work has dulled my spirit, but I am great at it and I've earned solid money over the years...I just want to be a part of something exciting, so I am burning runway to make a change.

I was recognized in 2021 as top 1% client partner nationwide by UWM, the top lender in the US....working from a small startup/growth stage lender. Dedication and perseverance off the charts.

Prior to that I was a minor league hockey agent, placing players around the world for a startup hockey agency out of British Columbia - the amount of courage this role developed...I'll forever be thankful, and this opp was filled with amazing and unique experiences. I brokered relationships with equipment manufacturers, trainers, nutrition specialists, ocular training specialists, and we provided player analytics...all in addition to placement. This role is the epitome of relationship building over time..."quote to cash" as long as 7 years for top prospects.

Finished at the top of my grad school program, albeit sport management but it's quite similar to MBA, just focused on the cyclical nature of professional sport leagues - plenty of transferable and valuable attributes.

All the sweat, effort and accomplishments over time and recruiters just dismiss my applications that I spend hours refining, some quick - some after a month or two. The best is yet to come...

Am I crazy? I don't have a SaaS background but somebody with a shred of vision has got to see something in all of that, right?

Just trying to get into a good ecosystem to prove my value on the sales end, where I can focus on being great at selling and a great teammate, rather than being the "Ray Donovan" for everyone (which has shortened my lifespan).

I'm not targeting solutions that are more technical than I can understand...there is cross over.

*I do have a few apps in process that may be leading to next steps with the help of a referral network...remains to be seen.

Is it because I come from mortgage?

Do I need to lie? I've done enough I should not have to, and don't want to

Lower my standards?

Any constructive criticism or feedback is appreciated!

I am going to keep pushing, no other way...it will happen. Thanks for letting me vent ~