Introduction: Where I'm at and where I'd like to go. Part II: What I've tried so far.

 When I was fired, I was honestly scared shitless. The last time I had been let go from a job I was still single and had 6 months of expenses saved up. Now I was married, had a mortgage, and had maybe 6 weeks of expenses saved up. I signed up for Uber and Lyft, and started applying to all manner of jobs. I got three call backs right away, and two more companies responded by asking me to take online assessments. Only one of these turned into an interview with the hiring manager. It was a video interview for a job in another state (that I wanted to move to). One of the worst interviews I ever had. I don't know if it was me, or if they had already decided who they wanted to hire, but here was zero energy in our conversation. Unsurprisingly, I got the rejection email the next morning.

Figuring it might come in handy, I took this opportunity to get a tech certification. I studied for a week and then passed an AWS exam. My original intent was to then try to get more of them, but that plan didn't pan out for a number of reasons.

In any case, I started reaching out for help. Starting with Reddit. I got some advice, but one poster in particular offered to do a one-on-one chat with me about how I should go about looking for a job in SaaS sales or even tech sales generally. We talked for about 2 hours, and he certainly had a lot of advice for me. At the conclusion of which he offered to introduce me to any of his contacts in the industry to help me either get pointed in the right direction, or maybe even get in front of some hiring managers. That never materialized. I can't say that I'm mad about it at all. He offer to help was free of charge; he didn't owe me a thing. 

Next up was another cold job application for a customer success position. Over the course of a month I matriculated through their hiring process, getting to the final round of interviews. After the first two rounds, I thought I was a lock to get an offer. During the final interview with two more senior members of their accounts division, I felt that I had flunked a few of their questions. To be fair to me these were questions I had never been asked in an interview before and questions I had not come across when researching potential interview questions. It was either that or they found something in my reference check they didn't like. About a week after the rejection I applied for a SDR position, had a phone screening with the same recruiter as the first time around who said he would present me as a candidate to the hiring manager. I ended up getting rejected for that too. When I pressed for some feedback, I got a generic response. Two subsequent attempts over the past six months were also rejected. Those times without a phone screening. 

Throughout April I kept applying to jobs. I eventually started including generic IT positions. I ended up getting hired for two of them. One fell through because the contract the company was banking on didn't get picked up, but the other one is the job I'm working at right now. Despite not being what I wanted, I took the job because a) I needed a full time gig that paid me enough money b) I figured it was a foot in the door into tech and hopefully I could use the experience to transition into the sales side. Unfortunately I screwed myself during the interview process by downplaying all of my sales accomplishments (in order to look more technical or service oriented) and the company I work for has only one client: the US federal government. There's no real "sales" position to be had. I mean there is in a way, but it's not the same as a B2B SaaS environment. 

For the entire time since starting this job I've been applying to SaaS sales positions. I've been asking for feedback from various sources. Reddit, LinkedIn, I even contacted a career coach who wanted $360 for 4 tutoring sessions and a resume review. My lowest point however, was applying to a "sales internship" program. I thought for sure they would accept me, but after the initial phone screening in which I was told their focus was on placing recent college grads (it was June when we spoke), I never heard anything back. I followed up about a month ago and still didn't hear anything back. Another door I guess I should consider closed. I've had a few other interviews, but they were mostly a repeat of what I've already mentioned above, just with different characters involved. 

I think what has frustrated me the most about this whole process is how utterly confusing this whole thing is. I've had discussions with various people about what I should do, strategies I should employ. And they're almost split 50/50. Half of them tell me I should try for SDR/BDR roles and then move up into AE/Account Manager/Customer Success type roles. Others tell me I have too much experience for these roles and should look at the latter types of positions instead of the former. One recruiter even told me that people with multiple years of prior sales experience "don't thrive in SDR roles" which is why they rejected my application. 

I don't know, I'm kind of just at a crossroads and looking for insight. If I'm going to be making a move that requires going back to an entry level role (with entry level pay) better to do that sooner than later because the pay discrepancy may be too much in a year or two. In any case, if anyone can chime in with their thoughts, I'd love to hear them.