maromillion

Mid-Market AE

Politicker

Valued Contributor

Opinionated

Leave 3 month stints on Resume/Linkedin or take off?

Prepping my resume & LinkedIn so I can start my job search in 2023.

Job history looks like:

SDR for 3 months -> Associate AE for 3 months -> SMB AE 1.5 years to present

Bachelors in Business: Aug 2019-Oct 2022

Do I keep the 3 month stints on my resume? Not sure if recruiters & hiring managers are going to believe I became AE while I was in college.....I'm about to be promoted to Mid-Market so that will make it even more unbelievable....

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Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

Question (which might be asked in your interview as well): How did you manage to become an AE while in college?

maromillion

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

Great question. (Let me know if too long please)

Ultimately, it was a mix of choosing the paths that others left untouched and learning to grow from my failures.

I grew up in the city of (Redacted). Like many others in my city, my family had a low socioeconomic status. And I knew if I wanted to change my intergenerational poverty, I couldn't let statistics define my future.

I had to challenge the status quo - instead of enrolling in a regular high school, I enrolled in an early college program where I was able to earn an Associate's Degree along with my H.S Diploma.

While my peers were natural learners, I quickly learned this wasn't the case for me.

On the brink of failing out of this program, I stumbled upon a mantra that has helped me overcome the myriad of obstacles that have blocked my path - "when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll become successful."

I learned that if I truly want to accomplish something, I have to give as many hours as it takes. Free time, weekends, etc mean nothing in the face of my goals.

This mindset led to me entering college as a sophomore (graduating in 3 years instead of 4).

As I researched career paths (accounting, finance, consulting), I learned that most careers made a specific amount each year. Whether you work 40 hours a week or 60 hours a week, you generally get paid the exact same.

I personally was willing to put 60-80 hours a week into my career in order to overcome my intergenerational poverty; yet I couldn't find a career that fit my mindset.

As I entered my junior year, I somehow stumbled upon corporate sales - a career where the amount of effort I put in, directly correlates to the amount I am paid.

This led me to become an SDR... I ran my job search like an SDR (100 prospective companies, cold-called the hiring managers, etc).

After obtaining my SDR role, I quickly succeeded and planned to become a SAAS AE.

Around 3 months in, I smashed quota and received a message from a recruiter about an Associate AE role at a big adtech company.

Due to my immaturity at the time, I didn't realize how important the SDR role was in laying the foundation as an AE.

I simply wished to become an "AE" as soon as possible, and neglected the grind as an SDR.

After being an Associate AE for 3 months, I was reached out to on LinkedIn by the CEO of a Pre-Series A startup. He thought I would be a great fit for their founding AE role.

Seeing it as moving up in my career, I took the interview. Although I didn't have the experience, I had the tenacity that they were looking for; and was willing to give up my free time, weekends, etc in order to succeed. Ultimately, the founders and CRO didn't care that I was still in college and took a chance on me.

Through failing multiple times, I eventually was able to create a repeatable process for closing SMB deals in 2022. This led to my promotion to Mid-Market AE a few months after I graduated college.

(Would go into revenue generated, numbers, etc but already long lol)

(This is also where I would transition into why I'm leaving, etc)

maromillion

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

I guess if I explain how I became an AE in college, then it makes sense to include my 3-month stints as SDR and Associate AE?

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

Bingo, chief !!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Yup!

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

If you think people won’t believe then they won’t :)

If I were you I would definitely put it because I have a great story to display my potential to my future employer.

maromillion

Politicker

Mid-Market AE

Thanks, will do!!

Also have another question. So the startup I'm at shifted upstream from SMB to Mid-Market and Enterprise a few months ago. Does this mean on my resume I should put a promotion to Mid-Market AE? Or should I put the date when I closed my first Mid-Market deal/got a base salary increase?

Not sure what to do since I'm at a startup and I'm a mix of AE, AM, and Channel AE.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Absolutely you can spin that as a promotion. Talk about how the company shifted towards MM and brought you with that shift bc of past success. Also, most know that startup AEs end up doing lots more than their AE job description so use that to your advantage how you can manage time, take on new responsibilities and get to work within other departments.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

💯 ^^

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Absolutely, I would do it.

If I am being promoted in way lesser time than others, I have something special, I have built the trust, I have Veen delivering what I was trusted for and people wanted to know more about that :)

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I believe it really depends on the story.

If its, I got put on a PIP and got let go without every setting a meeting, probably shouldn't put it in there. UNLESS that's the only sales experience you have.

If you have a couple years of experience, tried a start up out and got laid off, or even its was just bad fit I would include it.

Including it, allows them to know what types of settings you would succeed in. If they are completely different, it shouldn't change the chance of hiring. If they are the same sales settings, you probably shouldn't take it anyway since you would probably won't be there for awhile.

In your case, I would 100% put them in the resume since the story makes sense with including them

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Leave it. It's a progression, and you have a great explanation as to why.

I hope you come back with updates during this process.

punishedlad

Tycoon

🧙‍♂️

I'd definitely keep it. It works as a good segue to be able to tell the story you outlined below for @Gastywhen they ask about it.

It should help ease your own worries about people believing that you became an AE in college as well.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Leave it on there.
it helps tells a story.
Normally hiring managers or HR folks will want to talk about your full work history and if there is a gap, they will ask about it.

better to have a 3 month stint where you did somehting productive, than a 3 month gap where it looks like you were unemployed.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I'd leave it so you can have the opportunity to explain it.

VFG

Good Citizen

SDR

Leave them on there. It’s far enough back that employers won’t care. 1.5 years is a solid stint in tech.

You may consider removing the dates from your college degree though. It’s none of their business(as long as you graduated), and in my experience, many hiring managers cannot compute the fact that holding a real job while in school is possible. Just let them know you graduated. That’s good enough.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Just let them know all your career path as long as you're not lying about it, if they would believe it fine,if not seek somewhere else,your CV should make you proud and make them lucky to have you if they put you on a real interview I'm certain you'll be hired Asap!
Best of Luck!

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

In this scenario, keep it in.

CallMeMaybe

Opinionated

Director of Sales

Leave it on there

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

Remove.

Lambda

Tycoon

Sales Consultant

put it on there, you have a story to explain the quick change
if you didnt have the story then i would leave off

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maromillion

Leave 3 month stints on Resume/Linkedin or take off?

21 comment

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