r/sales • u/alwaysbelearning123 • 1d ago
Sales Careers Seriously Concerned- Cannot Land A Job
I’ve never experienced such a long period between jobs. 6 months…This post at this point is to vent.
Zero idea if others are also going through this, but I have over 9+ years of experience and nothing to show for it.
No idea why I can’t land a job. I getting some traction, networking, interviewing etc. But I haven’t landed anything.
It makes no sense. I got into tech sales thinking I’d eventually land a sweet job at a top tier company only to job hop every couple years between terrible startups.
I eventually want to start my own biz and just need the cash flow, this is ridiculous.
Genuinely keep any back handed comments out of the comments section “you’re not good at sales” or anything doom related.
I’m literally looking for a way back into the workforce.
This makes no sense at all.
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 1d ago
It’s entirely self inflicted as a nation, but we’re in a 2008 era job market with a cost of living crisis on top. I’m not surprised you’re having a hard time. In fact, I’m surprised that people are expecting to be employed quickly after a layoff in this shit market. No, it’s not just you. It’s damn near everyone. Lean on your network for referrals, see where people landed that you may want to get into, and start selling yourself to hiring managers asap.
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u/Glengarry_Leads 1d ago
good take. how did you come up with that 2008 job era market tho? You looked at some econ data? I would like to see it for myself too
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 1d ago edited 1d ago
Maybe slightly hyperbolic, but not far off. Data lags, so we’ll have to wait to see research papers giving real figures, but the current administration won’t be tallying them up. They never do, especially since people who don’t qualify for unemployment because they’re out of work too long or working gig jobs don’t count as unemployed. 2008 hit every industry, tech included, but this economy is stagnant with tech getting hit disproportionately hard. There have been over half a million layoffs in just this one sector and thanks to a delayed tax bill fuckup from Trump’s first term, US companies can no longer for the first time since the 1950’s cite R&D expenses as a tax write off. It’s literally one of the biggest factors that grew tech and other industry IP in the US for the last 7 decades. Here’s an article about it: https://qz.com/tech-layoffs-tax-code-trump-section-174-microsoft-meta-1851783502
Tariffs on the whole world (not Russia though), a Middle East war, drastically increasing R&D costs, and the fact nobody can make a hiring decision not knowing what insanity will come from the White House and its enablers tomorrow (which will change to new insanity the next day anyway), and companies across most US industries are just looking to not spend and wait out the next few years instead. It’s impossible to plan anything for the long term, and since they were going to do layoffs anyway they’ll take that McKinsey report money to instead say they have an “AI strategy” which doesn’t really mean anything. Except they hope to get something out of unproven tech that isn’t delivering an ability to truly replace people, and do layoffs anyway. So yeah, the job market is understandably really bad, and when this AI bubble pops it’ll be awful. The best we can hope for is that it just slowly deflates, because none of them can ever live up to their insane valuations. Shit is fucked, and we did it to ourselves as a country.
Edit: oh, and taking out a ton of debt to spend on AI investments is making the US economy look good on paper but without this AI bubble we’d be in a much better position. We’re in a recession, even if it may not look like it on paper. And inflation is up higher than it was at the end of Biden’s term thanks to aforementioned tariffs and taking 15% of the world’s oil supply offline overnight. It’ll take 5 years to rebuild that infrastructure even if this conflict ended tomorrow.
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u/jroberts67 Web Design and Marketing 1d ago
I've been there. From reading some of the comments here, it's easy to get a salaried sales job, especially a high paying one. It absolutely is not and the competition is fierce. I'd take the path and open your own business.
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u/alwaysbelearning123 1d ago
I need money to make money. I need some funds asap.
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u/jroberts67 Web Design and Marketing 1d ago
I'm not at all telling you to run the type of business I'm running, which is web design and also selling AI agents like AI receptions, but it's an example of a business that takes zero money to start. Zero.
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u/CamaroKidz28 1d ago
That area seems as saturated and spammy sounding as SEO does these days
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u/jroberts67 Web Design and Marketing 1d ago
I've been at this since 2013. Every year, without fail, was going to be my last year according to the internet experts who tell me that websites are completely saturated. My agency closed 3 clients today. The only thing that beats it was the experts telling me Wix would put me out of business.
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u/CamaroKidz28 1d ago
Oh I believe there's a market for it, there are just so many people in the space that make it sound like spam. Constantly bombarded with it these days, it went from the SEO spam emails to VAs. Has to make it tough for people who are legit.
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u/Dry_Corner6431 1d ago
how do you find clients? is your company widely recognized or is it cold calling? How many businesses are there that dont already have a web design and marketing firm already that they work with. That leaves new companies... and how many of those are there?
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u/jroberts67 Web Design and Marketing 1d ago
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u/zoidberg3000 1d ago
If you know anyone in hospitality, get a temporary job at a hotel or restaurant with a referral. Most of the time they need people in PM so you’ll still be able to apply and interview.
My wife is still in the industry and will gladly hire more temporary workers during season when they need extra coverage.
If you’re out of UE, any money is money.
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u/Dry_Corner6431 1d ago
opening your own business means nothing if you need to pay rent this month. it takes a while to get your business off the ground right? Besides there is capital needed
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u/inthenight098 1d ago
Try not to get down on yourself. It’s hard everywhere. I’ve got 15 yrs in big tech- Oracle, Cisco, AWS… not getting call backs from applications. Took a shitty startup job just to have a job. I’m under 1yr in that role and I hate it. I don’t believe in the product or the company. I’m in Silicon Valley and with corporate layoffs the market is flooded with talent and not many openings.
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u/Plisken_Snake 1d ago
If you are getting interviews but not landing the job you are likely not answering the questions well enough
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u/Goldierock 1d ago
People are often thrust into unemployment and are not prepared or ready to interview. Use your network to get the interview and bypass the system but once you get the interview, you need to be prepared. Practice and prepping is something that everyone should be doing more for every interview. Use Ai too, it is a great partner.
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u/alwaysbelearning123 1d ago
Could be
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u/VenezuelannPapii 1d ago edited 1d ago
5 Years in sales here. Job market is brutal, as are the markets. I had to pivot, in Fintech now. (DO NOT BE AFRAID TO PIVOT TO A NEW MARKET/NICHE, ESPECIALLY IF ITS A GOOD PAY BUMP)
64 applications in two weeks, directly from company websites. Not linkedIn, Not indeed. It may work for some, it did not for me. (my coworker messaged the CEO, got the job, stand out, find a way)
Step 1) Use AI , just do it. Give it your achievements, quotas hit, it doesn’t matter. Buff it up and ask it to then reduce it to relevance only. Things that make it past the AI screener.
Step 2) Find the job description, ask it to help you PREP for the interview. I’m talking Claude Opus whatever tf, highest settings.
Step 3) Have a good phone interview with the recruiter, you’ll know you did well if he/she preps you for the next phase.
Repeat Step 2) with the information provided by Recruiter
Step 4) Legit practice by yourself for like 1 hour, thats it. You’ll do great on the interview. If they ask you why you, fucking sell yourself man. Say you are willing to get out your comfort zone, you’re willing to be coachable, you’ll attend local BNI meetings. Fucking lie. it doesn’t matter get the job.
Step 5) If all else fails, use nepotism or your network to your advantage. Preferably do this first.
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u/Babybleu42 1d ago
Ok to all of the except fuck BNI. What a waste of time.
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u/VenezuelannPapii 22h ago
I genuinely agree with this, BNI couldn’t be more of a waste of time or local chamber of commerce but these are things recruiters and hiring managers drool over
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u/Friendly_Sweet_1897 22h ago
Good stuff here bro. Appreciate it. What are your thoughts on references? Pretty mission critical in order for interviewers to verify your past roles, quotas, etc?
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u/VenezuelannPapii 22h ago
References are incredibly important. Burn no bridges. It is very important to have references that will vouch for you, your work ethic and over all your integrity!
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u/Plisken_Snake 1d ago
I will also add unless you had multiple short stints that could also be a red flag.
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u/Professional-Drag580 1d ago
get a p&c insurance license and you’ll get hired in no time. a lot of allstate agencies are hiring right now. i’m on pace to make $100k plus my second year in
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u/alwaysbelearning123 1d ago
I’m licensed lol what’s your base pay?
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u/Professional-Drag580 1d ago
low base $30k but very aggressive commissions that scale up to 15% quickly
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u/No-Outcome1038 1d ago
Going on two years without a sales job with 12 years of software sales. Went to president’s club 8 out of 12 years. Last three companies I was at I was laid off.
1st layoff - when life started opening up during Covid I was laid off because I wasn’t near the office even though I was hired as a remote employee. All sales and AMs were laid off if they didn’t live within a two hour radius by train
2nd layoff - company was trying to stay alive and laid off 50% of sales and closed up shop 14 months later.
3rd layoff - expanded way too fast. Number wasn’t hitting their threshold. 35 of us were laid off when the new CEO was firmly in place.
I’m lost.
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u/VirgilAbloh123 1d ago
Use your network your next job is in your network somewhere not an online job board
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u/Remote_Young_3146 1d ago
Fucking feel you dude… I have 8 years in B2B Fintech and SaaS sales and have also been hopping start up to start up; I’ve realized it’s one shit show to another after making the move around 3 times in the past 2 years.
Already see the end in the one I just started last month, kinda feel like I should just uber/lyft as I evaluate wtf is going on if anything happens 🤣💀; I guess all we can do is keep it pushin big dog, pray it gets better 🙏🏼
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u/jroberts67 Web Design and Marketing 1d ago
My last Uber driver was an engineer. Said he graduated 5 years ago, landed a quick job, got laid off and zero interviews ever since.
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u/claiiremoon 1d ago
Keep your chin up! You're a salesman, just keep it pushing, knock on more doors, and you'll get something! What else can you do? Give up? Also; have you tried car dealerships? They're always hiring
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u/CriticalAd3277 1d ago
Use your network. Leverage former colleagues and industry friends. It’s your best option.
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u/Valuable_Support_193 20h ago
Im in the same boat. 14 years in my field, got let go last year and it's been 12 months without meaningful employment opportunities.
At this point I decided to just follow my dreams. Fuck it. At a certain point I decided that if I'm going to spend a full time job's amount of time putting on a monkey suit and dancing for employer's for free applying to jobs, I might as well put on my own suit and go and do what I actually want to do with my life.
Go start a business or do art or move to another country or something. Nows the time because life is short and no one wants to hire you anyway, unfortunately (not a dig at you or me, it's just true). Get into construction sales as 100% commission at a local company, stack up like 30k, and then do whatever you want to do.
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u/Substantial-Emu-6116 11h ago
Construction sales is quick money. Land a job where they set appointments for you to close. I’m doing this in the bathroom industry and it’s pretty good. I probably can’t break 250k but it’s better money than I’ve ever had and it’s opening some doors for me to just do whatever I want eventually.
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u/jumbodiamond1 1d ago
I have over 25 years experience, been at current position for 9 years and I can’t even land an upgraded gig. Been through 4-5 rounds of interviews and been passed up. So many people looking, you have to check all the boxes and you still may lose out.
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u/Hot-Patience-6159 1d ago
I’m hiring. Not in tech, but in construction and building materials. Our reps make $100k to $300k a year or so. DM if you’re interested
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u/Sol-Atlas 8h ago
I emphasize with your situation. Was laid off Sept 2025. Took Q4 off for a mental reset then went back on the job search starting Jan 2026. Couldn’t find a job until June 2026.
Super happy where I am now. Things might look shitty, but keep at it. You might end up in a better situation than what you initially anticipated.
Also, cold reaching out to people on the team you’re applying for would help. I did this and the person ended up vouching for me in the interview process which helped me get the job.
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u/abeplantain736 6h ago
How do you usually reach out to the people and are you using a platform like apollo or just linkedin??
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u/DeeJayDelicious 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm in the same boat bro.
It's coming up on 6 months too and it's not for a lack of effort or even (surface level) opportunities.
8/10 times, the companies never deliver and just interview people for lulz.
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u/Eastern-Fox8170 1d ago
I think this is a global experience right now. Currently in SEA and job market here is absolutely bad. You can get first round interviews yeah, then they end up dissolving the role or hear about them having layoffs
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u/Ok_Conclusion5019 1d ago
I feel you I’m getting a good amount of interviews but haven’t even made it to any final rounds. I’m closing them, think I’m interviewing well etc but no dice
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u/whu-ya-got 1d ago
It does feel like a strange market. I’ve submitted a couple of resumes to other adjacent companies in my pretty niche industry (I’m still working) and I haven’t heard from ANY. When in years past I was getting at least monthly inmails from recruiters
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u/Impressive-Cook-2804 1d ago
9+ years in tech sales, so what were the quota attainment numbers? That's the first thing any sales hiring manager checks. Years of experience on their own don't say much.
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u/alwaysbelearning123 1d ago
I hit a lot of the time. But then…
Territories got cut or reassigned, quotas doubled because “vibes” and lay got cut..
So I had to jump ship. Nothing I could do about it!
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u/Glengarry_Leads 1d ago
just lie dude lol
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u/CupApprehensive6695 1d ago
Hey DM me. Were a small and growing MSP looking to hire a first sales guy. Probably not what you're looking for but if you think it's worth a call hit me up.
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u/ApplePrimary2985 1d ago
oh dude I went 12 months, first time in my life, various consulting gigs in between, a lot of bait and switch employment stints. This economy is wrecked. Baby boomers are entirely disconnected. It may not get better for a long time, like 2 years... I'd highly recommend you plan on that horizon.
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u/CatButtHoleYo 1d ago
I have no problem landing a job. Work with 3rd party recruiters. Fluff up your resume.
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u/talkhours 1d ago
Location? City?
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u/alwaysbelearning123 21h ago edited 21h ago
Orlando, looking to go back to ATL. What do you recommend
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u/Super_Ad_1226 1d ago
Could you specify what country you are in because I’m in the uk and that’s how it is
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u/Ok-Grapefruit9053 23h ago
in the meantime, you could always bartend or serve at a restaurant. sales skills definitely make it easier to take home big tips in that industry. no, you won’t make as much as a W2 Sales job. but it’s always my back up when/if I get laid off and can’t find work.
it’s a turbulent market rn and a lot of companies have their heads up their ass about hiring. I’m seeing this from the inside of a tech start up right now. we are passing on awesome candidates and making offers to candidates that (I think) are subpar at best. makes no sense. I assume their salary/equity/ramp asks (or lack thereof) have something to do with it. be willing to take the lower end of the salary range to start. can always try to negotiate a raise later.
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u/chalupa_lover Telecom 23h ago
Are you looking for specific types of sales jobs or industries? Or are you open to anything?
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u/ThrownFarAway98 22h ago
I see stuff like this and can’t help but feel that there’s so much nuance that we’re all missing. Yet everyone comes to the conclusion that “the job market…”
Is it where you live?
The company types?
A specific role?
Are you industry specific or agnostic?
Are you sector specific or agnostic?
Are you willing to relocate?
Are you okay with being on-site or have other preferences?
Not really talking at you, OP. Just something I’ve observed with similar post. More info could help.
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u/tanmerican 22h ago
This is crazy to see it from both sides. I have 4 clients actively looking for sales people who are bombarded by endless ChatGPT applications and zero experience waitstaff resumes. SMB owners just want someone who can get results and maintain a pipeline. In this economy it’s a real investment they are afraid to get wrong. They’re also most likely to be the only producer in the company, and are impressed by someone who can actually generate business.
The larger businesses let accountants and penny pinchers destroy sales culture.
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u/Consistent_Rhubarb_5 21h ago
Cold call and door to door. If you are in sales though, I am sure you have already been pushing it.
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u/Mother_Fkn_Crackkk 18h ago
I took a step back to a role I was over qualified for and worked my way back up. I was up front from the beginning I was not staying in that role my plan was to get promoted.
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u/No-Telephone-6549 8h ago
Just say you’re still at the company on your resume. You’re not gonna land interview. Figure out how to land more interviews first and figure the rest out later.
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u/OkBasis1581 1d ago
I was out of work for 7 mos last fall into spring. 12+ years sales experience, I'm a top rep in multiple positions and have great numbers.
1 I highly recommend using AI for resumes, make sure you ask for it to cater to job description and make it pass through filters.
2 resume should have sales wins and numbers. You'd be shocked at how many sales people don't do this
3 apply through someone you know if possible (as reference). People hire people!
4 apply directly on their job page, not LinkedIn stuff
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u/MalcolminMiddlefan 1d ago
The foreigners are taking up all the jobs here in the states
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u/eworks555 19h ago
I don't understand these posts. How are you guys struggling to land sales opportunities when that's what drives every single business? Even I know some high paying sales commission opportunities that I can tell you. But are you straight up looking for a salaried job or like put ur skills in the market and start earning commission on every lead you get a client? Bc if that's the case I'm happy to point you towards some tech sales opportunities you can basically do remote. 3 clients a month gets you enough to pass on. Everything else on top is a bonus for me.
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u/Anxious-Necessary565 1d ago
The market's a mess right now, not you, 9 years of hopping between dumpster fire startups would burn anyone out