Interviewing and trying to explain 1 bad year aka COVID

Pretty self explanatory. I was promoted to a specialized role right as the pandemic exploded (around July 2020) and only did so-so quota wise. Our fiscal calendar does not follow the usual Jan-Dec. Would have made quota if it wasn't for negative audits I received because of clients I sold to either closing down during the pandemic or laying off people (I work small and mid-market).

Start of this new fiscal I'm still not at plan, but have plenty of time to make it up. However I realized there is more money to be made elsewhere and started interviewing.

Hiring manager wants me to explain my performance in the last year or so since it's obvious I made P-club every year before that. How do I answer his question without blaming it all on Covid?

☁️ Software Tech
🤝 Interviewing/Offer
🗣 Interviewing
14
paddy
WR Officer
14
Director of Business Development
Just say you had a bad year and you'll bounce back. If they can't overlook that then don't work for a moron like that. Don't go into some long winded explanation about why. Nobody expects perfection, unless it's from me because I've never made a mistake in my life  
funcoupons
WR Officer
7
👑
Exactly this. I can’t personally identify with making mistakes due to the fact that I’m perfect but since I’m a genius I can mentally picture it. Follow this advice. 
Sunbunny31
Politicker
4
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
But it is all Covid.  You worked in a sector that was heavily impacted.   You made Plat club every other year; no reason that wouldn't happen again, which is the message you should be sending.   

It's understandable that you don't want to come across as making excuses, but the bottom line is that your market was impacted by the pandemic, which limited your ability to operate in your usual outstanding fashion.   

Looking at your post, it looks like you may have made quota by the sales themselves, but had some kind of clawback due to companies shutting down or having layoffs.  Maybe that's a message too - you sold to quota, but the pandemic caused post-sales adjustments that affected your overall record.

Finally, it may just be that they're curious - what caused a dip in revenue from you, when you had been an outstanding performer to that point?   A simple:  "my target companies were heavily impacted by Covid and that affected my ability to close as much business as I have in normal years" might be sufficient.
1nbatopshotfan
Politicker
4
Sales
It’s easy to put this on Covid. Lay out how Covid specifically affected your market. Outline clients that went under and how that affected your attainment and pipeline. 

If you were a travel agent for a cruise company last year and missed quota, I think hiring managers would understand. 
funcoupons
WR Officer
8
👑
Frankly if I was in the travel industry and an interviewer asked why I missed quota last year, it would be a very easy way for me to find out how they get to work in the morning: the short bus. 
1nbatopshotfan
Politicker
2
Sales
Hahahahah
ChunkyButters
Tycoon
1
AE
I thought that is how all recruiters got to work?
MCP
Valued Contributor
1
Sales Director
Talk about the off year (everyone has them) what you learned & plan to do differently. Then ask what his best does so u can tell a story about how you’ve done that too.
SmashAndGrab
Fire Starter
1
AE
I had this in 2020, 70% quota, heavily affected retail/ media patch- just about to start a new better gig.
As others have said, it’s fine to talk about covid, just talk in specifics about market conditions that affected your product specifically.
I also found that talking about what you learnt/ what you would do differently really helped in interviewing successfully- transitioning to remote pitches, creative contracting, pivot in target accounts or personas. Shows you learnt a lot in the process
SaaSyBee
Politicker
1
Founder
You can spin it as a year of learning how to adapt despite the most challenging circumstances ever. 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
🦊
It's Covid. Unless they've been living under a freaking rock they have heard about it, and already know what it's doing to people, jobs, etc.
Justatitle
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
In cases like these it’s best to be brutally honest and blunt. You have pres club consistently already and you did everything in your power to try to stay there. There was a pandemic and companies you sold to closed down or barely survived and you probably watched pipeline disappear in a flash. It sucked, that’s also why you’re looking because of the ongoing health crisis… 
EQSales
Opinionated
0
VP of Sales
focus on what you learned and how you performed with things in your control.  folks are relatively understanding of covid challenges.  if they are not, might not be a leader you want to work for.  but if you just make excuses and don't show learning/growth despite the challenges, good leaders will pick up on that

Sinatetra
Opinionated
0
AE (Account Executive)
Just lie and say you had a great year.
OldSchoolEightiesStyle
Good Citizen
0
Global Vice President
Its a dumb question for the hiring manager to ask.  If you were still working and not furloughed or let go in 2020 it says a lot about you.  2020 was planned off of 2019, and as far as I know, there weren't many companies that lowered their sales plans because of the pandemic.  We were all suppose to be happy we had jobs. Then planning 2021, no one expected Covid to still be around the entire year, companies took a guess off of 2020 hoping sales would get back to 2019 at some time. Compare your sales to how your company did or industry?  Or the importance of your role to the company getting back on track?  Covid is not an excuse. 
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