POOLSCLOSED profile picture
POOLSCLOSED profile picture

POOLSCLOSED

BDR

Opinionated
Good Citizen
Old School Bravo

Seeking Career Guidance (BDR for 4+ Years)

Writing this as I feel lost in my current sales career. As title mentions I've been a BDR for 4 Years, recently laid off, and struggling to find the next step in my career.


For context, started my career out of college in IT and did that for two years as a consistent top performer. Decided I want to get paid for my performance and gave a chance at an SDR role internally, never looked back since.


Ever since, my job history has been (all in SaaS):

  1. Inbound SDR (1 Yr)- Programming software solution. Did this for 1 year but ultimately left due to no promotion in sight and to take a Cold Outbound BDR role for better pay at a start up.
  2. Outbound BDR (1 Yr) - eCommerce tech start up. Also did this for a year, survived 3 rounds of layoffs here, office was dead w/ no promotion in sight so decided to look for greener pastures
  3. Sr. BDR (6 Mo) - Cold Call Coaching software. Found another similar role basically doing the same thing. Got disheartened when I saw that some of the BDRs have been there for 2 years without being promoted. Decided to look elsewhere.
  4. Business Development Manager (1 Yr 3 Mo) - Pre Seed UX Research start up. Took on this role as I saw it as an opportunity to challenge myself to build a team, develop companies outbound playbook, while also getting a title bump.
  5. Strategic BDR (1 Yr 1 Mo) - Cybersecurity. Decided I wanted to get out from start ups as I was getting burned out and looking for a company that was a little more established. Hired to go after their top 20 accounts and promised promotions after 2 quarters of quota attainment. Hit quota but no promotions. Still, intended to stay here for the long term but unfortunately got hit during their 3rd round of layoffs.

Feeling a little lost at this point in my career as I'm back on the job market. Looking back, wish I would have stuck it out longer at my previous companies instead of being greedy and going for pay raises/title bumps when given the opportunity.


I've been applying for Growth/SMB AE roles but not having much luck getting interviews. Had 3, but they all wanted someone with closing experience. Started applying for BDR roles again but feel like my resume looks sketchy since I've never really stayed at company for that long. I still want to stay in sales as I quite enjoy it but not sure what to do from here.


Would really appreciate some guidance on what my next steps should be from here!

🧠 Advice
🎯 Career Development
7

11 comments

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CPTAmerica
Opinionated
5
President/CRO
I'll be honest, if I saw that breakdown on a resume I would have serious questions. The assumption would be you don't really know what you want to do or that you've had a problem performing as an SDR.

That does NOT mean I wouldn't bring you in for an interview but I would be listening for the story behind your moves the last 4 years. I'd want to hear that you made some mistakes along the way, what they were and how you've learned from them. If it was always the companies fault I'd have serious doubts.
POOLSCLOSED
Opinionated
1
BDR
Yeah that's been a common question haha "I see you've stayed at each company for a year now, what's to stop you from doing the same here?"
DataCorrupter
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Agreed with this.

I mean this in a non-critical way, but your resume does look streaky. You've not really been anywhere beyond 2 years, which seems... not great.

Give you credit for looking for the promotion, but sometimes stability and getting 2-4 years at one place on your resume will do you good. Maybe it's time to try an more established org where the promotion path is set in stone? (In that series D/E range, pre-IPO, or recently IPO company).

I think if you keep at the current pace though, 1 year here and there, you're gonna cement yourself as a job hopper in most everyone's eyes though.
Pachacuti
Politicker
5
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
I hate it when people think SDR/BDRs don’t have closing experience. They close on the meeting. That’s probably harder, imo, than closing the opportunity. But that’s just me.
POOLSCLOSED
Opinionated
1
BDR
Might actually be a good response to the closing experience question...
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Definitely try it!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
Never know til ya try 🤷‍♀️
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
4
Account Executive
Just to put things in perspective, I read somewhere that the average tenure for a sales role is 11 months so this may not be as much of a hindrance as you think.

As many have pointed out, even having a great resume and qualifications can be insufficient right now and the extra credibility provided by a referral and working your professional network can be a real difference maker.

I hope you have better luck going forward.
POOLSCLOSED
Opinionated
0
BDR
You're spot on in leveraging your network. The spray and pray tactic used to work in the past years but recently the only interviews I've gotten were primarily due to referrals. Thank you for your input!
Maximas
Tycoon
1
Senior Sales Executive
Yor current experience gets you a top notch well paid SDR&BDR role to you which I recommend currently based on your career.
Then go for the most common path to be an AE or AM or whichever you see right at that point!
Armageddon
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
You need to sell your ability to prospect and close meetings during the interview. Think of "you dont have enough closing experience" as an objection and combat it. If they dont bring it up in the interview ask them if they have any reservations at the end and see if they bring it up. If not you can bring it up and then show your ability to close to closing them! Good luck out there

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