When it started:
My journey into the SaaS sales world started in December last year when it was apparent to me that I have to make a career change because of some factors I cannot really disclose in this post. But however, I have made steady progress in terms of widening my knowledge and learning all I can in preparation for an opportunity.
Cruising at a 5000km altitude and crashing back down:
In this journey, I have signed up in various boot camps some paid for and some free; I bought relevant courses with my hard-earned money from my current job (yes that's how hungry I am to get a break into the space). I even made friends with two people on LinkedIn who ultimately became my mentors, one of which I still have 3 more sessions to do with her before I am done. For me, it has been an exciting journey because you never really know what to expect, but it has also been a journey full of anxiety LOL ๐. I have experienced the highs and lows and I like the highs and not the lows because it is like cruising and soaring very high at 5000km altitude and loving every bit of it, only to come back crashing on the concrete floor, promising yourself that you will never be that high again - but the next day you repeat because that's all you have to do they say.
Take for instance, early this month of March on LinkedIn an HR manager from a reputable company based somewhere in the EMEA viewed my profile and came to message me about an opportunity asking me to apply for it, I still remember it was a Sunday evening. And I did apply immediately the following day Monday morning with my new shiny and revamped CV and cover letter. I immediately got a reply from someone else another HR manager asking for more details like: Are you willing to work as an independent contractor? What's your expected salary stuff like that etc? All of these I thoughtfully answered with the help of one of my coaches of course, expecting an invite for an interview or something which never came - it has been 27 days now nothing. Then the same week on a Thursday, another Senior level manager from a company based in the US checked my LinkedIn profile, posted a job relating to sales engineering, and encouraged me to apply for it. He even said I should include his name for reference when applying and I did just that, only to receive a rejection letter 18 days later. And the first company that had contacted me? Nothing from them. I reached out both on LinkedIn and by email, but still nada! ๐ฅ You would ask what's the feedback from the second company from the US ? When I reached out to the manager on LinkedIn he denied having the power to decide anything but I am skeptical about that answer because I know in one of the job posts someone said "I am hiring" and then proceed to encourage me to apply and added psst...use my name and tell them I asked you to apply ๐๐๐๐. But what can I do?
Do you know the hardest thing about this job-hunting stuff?
1) Not hearing back 2) Hearing back with a noreply.wtf.com ๐คฃ๐ so you can not request honest feedback. Now can you see the crash I was talking about? I'm talking about 83 applications and counting. The two best shots I had on LinkedIn I don't have a clue how I blew it. So if you can help answer it I would appreciate it. I still have a lot to share from my 3 months of cringe๐ cringe๐ cringe๐ experience...so more on my crazy journey later.
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