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Old 03-27-2014, 01:29 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
48 posts, read 91,979 times
Reputation: 31

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I've been out of college for 6 years now, I graduated in 2008, and right out of the gate the first professional job I fell into was an Inside Sales position at Thomson Reuters (6-month Contract). I know that I was only given a chance because it was a temp job, I was fresh out of college, and I've had prior experience during summer breaks doing commission only sales in one of those boiler rooms settings. But after the gig ended, I was left high and dry fending for myself hunting for the next opportunity. Like a true salesman I used my lead generation skills to hone in an opportunity that only last 3 months and back on the streets I was again. It wasn't until after 10 months of job hunting and a stop-gap job working retail that I found a great job Software Sales job that lasted 2 1/2 years. This job made me love B2B sales and hate B2B sales.

Prior to that gig, I wasn't aware of the B2B sales world, the big money, high earning potential and the upside of being a liberal arts college graduate without real marketable skills or specialization-- which is, the B2B sales field has an initial low barrier to entry. It was a very attractive field to me 4 years ago, but now these same benefits seem to be heavily outweighed by it's downside; which is the tendency for this department (sales) in large-to-midsize organizations to recruit exclusively recently graduated, the young, and inexperienced.


Now, I'm not going to suggest that experienced people face the same problems inexperienced job searchers do--like having zero experience and seeing hundreds of job postings that require experience when you have none; nobody is going to hire you because you don't have experience, right? How else are you going to get experience unless someone hires you? I've been in this situation before, and the solution to this is Catch-22 is to work with headhunters/recruiters/temp agencies for 6 months to a year until you finally land a full-time gig with a company in need of your skill-set. However, I'm facing a different problem entirely now--I've been fired 3 times in sales positions for not making quota, and I've had 2 long stretches of unemployment each lasting 10 months at most, and it's starting to get difficult to explain to employers 1) my employment gap, 2) what I did during the gap, and 3) that I'm a good fit for the job when their primary metric for selecting a candidate its measured by quota attainment. I already have 3 strikes against me and now that I'm 'experienced' it seems as if I'm perceived as a risk. There are more and more entry-level white collar positions popping up in big cities now that the economy is picking up (at least here in New York City) and tons of senior experienced positions for those with 7 to 10 years in the fields but few and far between middle of the rung positions and some many of us are competing for less of these slots, unless it's management (which I have zero experience in or the skill-set to work with).

At this point in my life now, I don't even like sales, I could type forever listing the cons of being in sales (there are a lot of pros though), however It's the only job I've done, have experience in, and nab interviews for, but I'm beginning to feel as if don't have much to show for it. Once I have to explain why I was fired it's a moot point--they don't call back. Life is a hustle, I get it, and everyone has to sell something,whether it's selling an idea or selling yourself, but the sales profession itself is a whole different ball game.


I'm 30 years old now, and i'm becoming impatient, I really need to find a new career but I'm in a new Catch-22 now, once again I need to find a job without experience, but this time I need to be able to hold onto a job while I look into a new field. This job hoping and missing quota stuff looks bad to prospective employers (in sales), I know this, but I'm going to keep trying anyway, because the path of least resistance is like grabbing to lowest hanging fruit, it's practical. But like the saying goes, trying the same things again and expecting different results---in other words I'm going INSANE!!! But i need to be realistic here, I can do sales in certain environments, but in the long run, I know I'm not cut out for it! I've been unemployed for 2 months now and in the meantime I've been sending out resumes to prospective companies for Inside Sales, Account Executive, and Account Manager positions. Initially I wasn't getting any bites when my resume showed I was my last position lasted for 7 months, however my ex-coworker suggested I lie keep 'present' on there, and this seem to work. I hate doing this but I realize when they look at my resume and see the gaps and the 7 months from the last job they assume I'm dead weight and run away.

As I search for other B2B Sales roles, I'm looking into other Stop-Gap type roles, but am coming up short. The best 'transitional' role I could think of would be a Customer Service or Client Service role to assume until I find someone I'd really like to do--- But even this is going to take a lot of convincing to the employer.

Ultimately I'd like to get into IT because the demand is there for these people, but I won't be Pollyanna-ish by thinking it's an easy job to land at 30 years old, plus, it's going to take me at least 1 year to get up to snuff on the skill-set, experience required, and certifications needed to just get my foot in the door into a lower level position---not to mention all the networking I've yet to do because I don't have the skills yet to offer anything to anybody. This is what I want to do, but once again being realistic, it's going to take years.

Sorry for the long post but I just really need to vent and share this with somebody, anybody! Has anybody else been in a similar situation or have any suggestions I should consider as a next mover Retail is out of the question, they NEVER contact me.... I've considered Bar-backing into Bartering but have no clue how to get into this....the best I've come up with is working the Insurance Industry being a Claims Adjuster. Otherwise I'm out of ideas 2 months into this ordeal....any under-the-radar careers? anybody could think of would be greatly appreciated!

Our primary industries out here in the NYC area; Government, Health-Care, Finance, Hospitality, and Media.

Thank You.
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Old 03-27-2014, 08:04 PM
 
13,395 posts, read 13,398,918 times
Reputation: 35709
You need a long term career plan. What do you want to do?
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Old 03-27-2014, 08:27 PM
 
17,877 posts, read 15,719,596 times
Reputation: 11649
You either must have some STEM skills, medicine, construction trade, mechanic, some kind of technical skills, accountant, actuary, professional assassin. Or you will have to do sales, or retail. Actually are a girl or guy. Have you thought about military?

Are you willing to go back to school? You said you want to do IT. Get a retail job, and go back to school for IT.
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Old 03-27-2014, 09:26 PM
 
48 posts, read 77,099 times
Reputation: 22
Sounds like we are in a pretty similar situation. I haven't been fired for missing quotas but myself have had to leave before it reached that point for financial reasons on my end. I have been bouncing around sales jobs and part-time work as a retail merchandiser during the graveyard shift to pay the bills secretly. Those jobs are easy to get, can pay minimal bills and keep you afloat, and you never need to mention them or even interview. They basically call you up ask if you have a license and car insurance and you're set. Tell them you know how to read a plan-o-gram and you're in.

I'm sorry I don't have a solution but I'll be in here hoping someone else does.
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Old 03-27-2014, 09:51 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
48 posts, read 91,979 times
Reputation: 31
Quote:
You need a long term career plan. What do you want to do?
You're absolutely correct. I am scouting out career counselors at the moment--hopefully he/she can suggest something that doesn't take years of vocational training or schooling to attain in the short run but in the long run I would not mind this.

Quote:
You either must have some STEM skills, medicine, construction trade, mechanic, some kind of technical skills, accountant, actuary, professional assassin. Or you will have to do sales, or retail. Actually are a girl or guy. Have you thought about military?

Are you willing to go back to school? You said you want to do IT. Get a retail job, and go back to school for IT.
The military has crossed my mind before-- however I have to do my research first. The immediate benefits are clear, but I have to consider what would I do after leaving the military once all is said and done.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't go back to school. I've completed my 4-year bachelors degree and towards the end decided I wouldn't want to go to grad school. Going backwards towards a 2-year Associate degree crossed my mind for something IT related like Computer Information Systems, but for right now I'm just looking for work again.

The only reason IT comes to mind is because I'm into building and tinkering with PCs as a hobby but that doesn't count as real experience in a professional environment. Also, with a 4-year degree, 3 years of business experience, and if I get a certification like Comp TIA A+, wouldn't I be able to work my way into a help desk or desktop technician role starting out???

And yes, the only way I'd be able to work in retail again would be if I went back to school, otherwise they wouldn't consider me unless it was in a management position.
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Old 03-27-2014, 10:23 PM
 
17,877 posts, read 15,719,596 times
Reputation: 11649
Quote:
Originally Posted by HyperVigilent View Post
You're absolutely correct. I am scouting out career counselors at the moment--hopefully he/she can suggest something that doesn't take years of vocational training or schooling to attain in the short run but in the long run I would not mind this.



The military has crossed my mind before-- however I have to do my research first. The immediate benefits are clear, but I have to consider what would I do after leaving the military once all is said and done.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't go back to school. I've completed my 4-year bachelors degree and towards the end decided I wouldn't want to go to grad school. Going backwards towards a 2-year Associate degree crossed my mind for something IT related like Computer Information Systems, but for right now I'm just looking for work again.

The only reason IT comes to mind is because I'm into building and tinkering with PCs as a hobby but that doesn't count as real experience in a professional environment. Also, with a 4-year degree, 3 years of business experience, and if I get a certification like Comp TIA A+, wouldn't I be able to work my way into a help desk or desktop technician role starting out???

And yes, the only way I'd be able to work in retail again would be if I went back to school, otherwise they wouldn't consider me unless it was in a management position.
What did you graduate with? What major? Like I said, if not STEM, then you will end up with sales and retail. Or you can do some kind of trade apprentice ship, something in the medical field, like medical billing, or physicians assistant, paramedic, which require schooling.
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Old 03-28-2014, 07:02 AM
 
251 posts, read 339,276 times
Reputation: 468
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133 View Post
Like I said, if not STEM, then you will end up with sales and retail.
so true (and sad)

even jobs that aren't called "sales" are just glorified sales jobs in most cases
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Old 03-28-2014, 07:10 AM
 
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,940 posts, read 36,703,214 times
Reputation: 40634
Quote:
Originally Posted by HyperVigilent View Post
You're absolutely correct. I am scouting out career counselors at the moment--hopefully he/she can suggest something that doesn't take years of vocational training or schooling to attain in the short run but in the long run I would not mind this.

Suggest something? That doesn't answer the question. You're 30 now... what do you WANT to do? I mean, I know I'm lucky, I know what I wanted to do at 16 and now in my 40s it hasn't changed (and I'm doing it). But by 30 you should know, without the suggestions of a stranger, what you want to do. What is it?
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Old 03-28-2014, 08:24 AM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
48 posts, read 91,979 times
Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally posted by timberline742Suggest something? That doesn't answer the question. You're 30 now... what do you WANT to do? I mean, I know I'm lucky, I know what I wanted to do at 16 and now in my 40s it hasn't changed (and I'm doing it). But by 30 you should know, without the suggestions of a stranger, what you want to do. What is it?
You want true honesty, ever since I was 16, I always wanted to be a comic book artist. I've tried to break into the industry but haven't been successful.
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Old 03-28-2014, 08:31 AM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
48 posts, read 91,979 times
Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133 View Post
Like I said, if not STEM, then you will end up with sales and retail.
I agree with all of your other suggestions, accept STEM. There's and over supply of STEM in the US, the marketing campaign would suggest otherwise.

Quote:
Originally posted by timberline742Suggest something? That doesn't answer the question. You're 30 now... what do you WANT to do? I mean, I know I'm lucky, I know what I wanted to do at 16 and now in my 40s it hasn't changed (and I'm doing it). But by 30 you should know, without the suggestions of a stranger, what you want to do. What is it?
Also, what's wrong with asking for help from strangers(e.g, people on this board or a career counselor) ? My friends and family don't have a monopoly on good ideas. Really what's the problem with that? I've been at a career since getting my BA in psychology for a few years now and have acknowledged is not working out.... And it's time for a change.
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