PerceptionEspresso

SDR

Personal Narrative

What would you say to someone who's been (somewhat) unemployed for 2 years?

I lost my first sales job in layoffs in late 2021. I was an SDR with an enterprise DaaS/SaaS company with about a year of experience at the end.

I've been somewhat unsuccessfully attempting to break back in. For a while, I tried to get into sales ops as a sales ops analyst - but there just weren't many positions and tons of other applicants. By the time I started to interview it was few and far between. Early this year, I got burned out, and had to recover my mental health with actual medication and therapy. For the past 1.5-2 months, I've been working a warehouse job and applying for sales positions (there's certainly no shortage of them, unlike sales ops) and I've been in talks and interviews with at least 25 companies. So far I've only landed one door-to-door position. I feel my sales skills have deteriorated and at this point I think I might just need either motivation or an easy win... or a break, or maybe some social support, and that's why I'm here I guess. (This is my first post on here)

What would you advise someone like me to get into that's in sales yet somewhat accessible? Any opportunities?

I would honestly do D2D except it's been consistently over 100 degrees F outside every day since May, and I already need to stay extra hydrated because of my medication - I don't need another health crisis. I'd like to try a closing role but they'd have to train me on it. Willing to learn but yeah having a supportive team and consistent training is essential.

Interested in what you all have personal experience in, not so much in hearsay.

Thanks

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

8

Sales Rep

First and foremost take care of your mentals. Thats got to be your number one thing.
Highly recommend posting your resume getting rid of your name and company you worked at. People here can give you some great advice.
Have you been looking for other SDR roles, what has been your feedback in interviews
Have you looked towards your old co-workers to get you referred

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

Always take care of your mentals ❤🦊

PerceptionEspresso

Contributor

1

SDR

Great reminder.

PerceptionEspresso

Contributor

1

SDR

Thank you for the reminder. Posting my resume on here sounds like a solid idea. I have a decent resume, just lack of recent experience seems to be an issue with SDR roles specifically. Might be worth it to re-work it.

I have gotten mostly local sales interviews, like Inside sales rep or sales specialist. It's been a bit harder to get SDR interviews with my resume, or with my income goals I guess. They don't pay SDRs much around here. I've consistently been offered a lower base salary than my previous role (around $43k base, my last was $50k base and that was over 2 years ago) and it's just put me off a lot of SDR roles - in interviews I guess they pick up on that.

My feedback in SDR interviews - very few times I get feedback, though I've reached out afterwards to ask on jobs I got to the final rounds for. Sometimes I feel like I'm interviewing for companies that have high turnover, or low base salary like I said, so I've lost a few roles I suspect, by not giving them a 10 out of 10 rating in terms of my interest in the role. I just wonder if I'm leaving $$ on the table. But maybe that's exactly what I'm doing by not settling ig?

I have a few coworkers I asked for referrals last year. I never heard back from hiring managers. A lot of things just stalled out but I wasn't really applying myself back then because I didn't think it'd be hard to get in. Something to look back into perhaps but I'm also admittedly embarrassed to still be looking for an entry level job this late in the game. Might have to face that. But I also might have to pick some connections who are more helpful in that regard.

oldcloser

Arsonist

5

💀

Welcome to the WR. I don’t believe that you think B2C Door to door is a sane way to make a living. But if you have the stomach for that bullshit, working for Xerox or any like office equipment company would be a walk in the park. They hire without experience. They train. Seems you’d be a solid candidate.

HVACexpert

Politicker

1

sales engineer

The hustle in those jobs is real, and you would certainly learn a lot about sales.

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

A friend of mine did this. Sounded horrible but the pay was … oh no the pay also sucked

PerceptionEspresso

Contributor

1

SDR

I hadn't considered them, but sounds promising. Thanks for the lead.

SaaSguy

Tycoon

5

Account Executive

Let me offer what might be some contrarian advice for the WR.
If you have just 1 year of experience as an SDR and already have needed to medicate to deal with stress of getting a new job, sales might not be for you - and thats totally okay.
There are plenty of fulfilling, and well paying careers that dont take such a toll on mental health. At this point in my career, I earn too much in sales and have been in it too long to startover but i still have stressful days/weeks/quarters where I fantasize about being a bartender or working at a brewery again like when i was younger. Something where you clock in and clock out and forget about work when you're not there.

HVACexpert

Politicker

2

sales engineer

Peace of mind goes a long way in any career regardless of what it is

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

I agree with this take.
Always take care of yourself first. Sales isn't for everyone.

PerceptionEspresso

Contributor

0

SDR

Thanks for the response. The stress mostly comes from lack of a support system, lack of mentorship, being isolated in my field/career and other personal factors like just my personality of trying to help everyone else first (not setting boundaries, I'm working on it). Oh yeah, and being unemployed/underemployed during a recession or w/e this current economic state is, with expenses everywhere. Plus, people get sick, it just happens, and the longer you go without a win, you can easily get burned out. Especially trying to do for other people who are not as considerate.
Personally I believe sales is one of those things that's easy to learn and hard to master, and it's a team sport, at least at first. You need strong connections and people to show you how. I don't believe in the "maybe this isn't for you" thing, because trust me, I've thought that before and just quit on myself... until I saw someone just like me getting into it and having success with the right tools, mindset, and supportive colleagues who have been in sales before (like myself - for instance I helped this person land her current role by doing mock calls with her before her interview). So I picked it up again. If you took that mindset and applied it to anything you'd give up.
I can do the job, and with a high performing team and process, good product, and support, it's not that hard, or at least one can deal with the ups and downs. It's about getting my foot in the door, but I've been on the journey alone. But I agree with those who've said that mental health is priority. So doing something else until I've built a solid support system might be the way to go.

Pachacuti

Politicker

4

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I applaud you for your grit and determination in staying in the game. So many would have hung it up by now. What you need is a break, someone to give you a shot again.

Have you posted your resume here yet? Your resume may be one thing keeping you from moving forward. And your resume can say whatever you want it to say, within reason.

PerceptionEspresso

Contributor

0

SDR

Thanks. I honestly owe it to people in my life and network who have helped mentor me to an extent, and leaned on me for SDR/SaaS knowledge. Plus, the ones who showed me kindness and have given me a shot, like you said.

I had given up on sales genuinely, a few times. Got a job at a warehouse and was just considering what's next. I saw someone close to me get another SDR role this year (she had even called me to help her do some mock calls, we prepped for her interview and she got the role with her top company) and that inspired me to try again. The fact that I could coach her a little bit, gave me confidence that I actually know something. She helped me get started applying but had to pull back to focus on her new job, so I'm sort of without support again. But I will be posting my resume on here, and questions for future interviews, I think it could help me out.

3

Account Executive

Why not just try to be an SDR again? Those require almost no experience

PerceptionEspresso

Contributor

1

SDR

How would you approach that considering the gap?
Also considering that where I live, most SDR roles are hybrid or in office, offering like $43k-$49k base. It's lower than even my last role ($50k base) and that was over 2 years ago. Should I just take what I can get? Most SDR roles I've come across have been filtered out of my application process (or interview process) just by being too low in compensation.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

$49k base is not that far off $50k base, and the last two years have seen a salary adjustment downwards as employers get the upper hand a bit. So I wouldn’t count those positions out unless they really don’t enable you to make enough to live on. Also, with just one year of experience, it’s not really moving backwards to go for another SDR position. Find a company that offers solid training and support, and you should be able to get your feet under you.
As for explaining the gap: they don’t need to know details of why you left. “Not a fit at the time” can be enough. Or if you had to move, that can also be an explanation. As for why there’s a gap in the kind of work: this has been a challenging time for many to find a new role. Companies understand that. You can express you wanted a better fit this time around - and that’s why you’re excited for the opportunity at the company you’re applying to.
Best of luck. Good for you for taking care of yourself.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

2

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

Hi, welcome to the War room. :)
Appreciate the sheer hustle you have in you. Mental health is a priority at any given point in time, so no regrets on that. D2D is not a very good way in this generation considering everything is quite digital these days and nobody (at least not me) likes sales folks coming through to my door too.
That said - keep appearing for interviews in relevant job opportunities that you might find on LinkedIn / Bravado jobs and various other portals. You'll have to have a strong narrative to justify the break / gap though.

Beans

Big Shot

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Take the shit gigs until you can upskill and upgrade. As long as you're still in industry those gaps seem less and less glaring.

pirate

Big Shot

0

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I had a two year break from sales after my first job in a call center. I was tired and dealing with a lot of stuff... And now I forget about it. For me it helped to change locations don't know if that's an option for you. I also just kept wanting it and kept doing every job well and eventually I guess I lucked out. There's open job posts here from time to time and a very supportive community

0

Retired Sales Professional

I know I'm late to the party but quality of life is first and in the fore front in my book. Reading your story I'm glad that you recognized you need to take care of yourself first. I left a good paying position in my career because I decided that quality of life was more important to me. But I continue to learn and sharpen the saw. So that if the day cames that I needed to go back to work I had the skill sets in place to compete with all who applying for the position.

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