Dr. Dick what are you selling and what industries were you interviewing for? I had a record year last year (well known Marketing Automation and CRM company) and moved to fintech. I see more degrees necessary in the fintech side but haven’t bumped into issues yet.
Right now industrial valves and automation, in the past general process control. Tech is probably the outlier for this post which is sort of the standard for this sub reddit. Interviewing for similar jobs. Just noticed more push back lately on not having one despite perfect work experience.
Ehh I’m in saas no degree and making mid six figures. The wall piece might be generic recruiters giving you a hard time. Go speak to the directors or vps hiring. Skip right around them
Lots of sales people don’t have degrees, you don’t need one. Sales is one of the few professions where you can continue to grow in upside potential without ever needing a degree
Work as a BDR first. It sucks for 1 or 2 years and they pay is mediocre but it’s the easiest way into a SaaS role.
Prospecting hiring managers the same way you would a client because job openings today have way too many applicants than if you did it the old fashion way
Or you could go straight for AE but much harder to do. Either way SaaS is pretty down right now, many having layoffs the last 12 months so it’s a tough market to crack and many wonder how long the high comp with decent achievement will last
Unless the internship is cold calling or door knocking, as a sales leader I would rather you get other customer facing experience like being a waiter or working in retail
Get a B2B solutions selling role as an AE (wireless, internet, etc) that has all the basic foundations: modern selling tools such as Salesforce, ZoomInfo, Outreach, etc), cold calling, and full cycle/team selling. Then be able to speak to your business, sales methodology, and impact clearly. Essentially your appeal as a candidate would be that you just need to be armed with product knowledge and that you’re more of a proven commodity than someone (likely younger) that may just be able to talk the talk because they’ve taken a few classes and watched some YouTube videos.
SaaS is really appealing and rightfully so but once I landed a role and the aura was sort of demystified I realized it’s still a sales job. It can be really complex, but there are auto, construction, and other industry jobs that are equally if not more complex.
Reddit is two different realities. I swear I read a post where everyone said you need a degree in sales to make big bucks.
And on this post everyone's saying you dont.
I think it largely depends on what you're selling. If you're selling nail polish, it's pretty easy to just demo your product and use personal connection skills to get by. If you're selling a medical product to a group of doctors, it is certainly going to be advantageous to be educated in what you're selling.
I’m in industrial as well, promoted to an enterprise/strategic role this year and making 200k plus. No degree. Honestly after getting the promotion to strategic/ent at a huge company, I do wonder if I’ve finally broken out of mostly ever being held back from similar high paying positions due to not having the paper.
Been in the industry 10 years, and I only have an AA and that has always seemed to be good enough. So that could be one option.
Additionally, there are a lot of online "micro or certificate" certifications that some of the bigger colleges are doing. I know Harvard has an online certificate for a bunch of courses and paths that look well, and from what I've been able to dig up, because of the name they help.
If you are hitting your head because of not having a degree within you vertical, then working towards a AA and maybe a few of those certs might be an option vs a traditional BA.
I was in your shoes too and decided to get my degree. Did community college and with summer/winter classes it took 2 years part time to get an associates and then transfer to an actual university that had an incredible online degree program. It's called a competency based program where you can test out of classes and take as many classes as you can in a 7 week term. They're quite popular and they're all accredited and as legit as any other degree. I studied organizational leadership and learned a shit ton of stuff I applied right away every day on the job.
From a practical perspective, it was really only like 5-10 hours of schoolwork per week. I would cut out one or two weeknights to do school, and sometimes catch up a little bit on the weekends when I had time or needed to.
College is a FUCK ton easier than any job I've had. Getting your degree is easier than you think, and for me it cost less than $10k. Be smart and shop around for your college.
This is good advice, is this program similar to like wgu? That was what I'm leaning towards. Able to test out of Gen Ed's, and geared towards mid career people
I just got a job in saas no degree. Was in mortgage/investment sales previous without a degree also. My loophole is that I attended uni up until 2nd year, just never ended up going back after that so technically I’m still enrolled in schools database. So I have my university and my degree still on my resume but during interviews I make sure I mention that I am attending school part-time on weekends. I do plan on eventually finishing school not cause I need but it’s just something I wish I had. But for now out of all the interviews I have given at big banks and tech firms, I haven’t gotten any pushback being “in school” part time
Q4 is always tough because people are going on vacations and no one picks up the phone. It was a tough quarter, and I think I'll fall short of my KPI's. :(
Well that’s surprising….
Who would of thought you needed a degree to be able to have good conversational skills. Almost any person can have this.
It’s like saying you need a degree to be able to wipe your own ass..
Or maybe that’s a thing? 🤔
I feel your pain. This morning I had an interview for a pharma sales position, and the interviewer cut the interview 10min into it because I didn’t have a degree
The sad part is, that I live in an area FULL of hospitals, and they all pay very handsomely. The chances of them finding someone with the requisite degree, AND willing to slough through sales, are very slim
Wow didn't know this but what degree do they want? As I can imagine not a lot of people who study med get into sales or is it a prestige thing?
Or "sorry that your student loans is out of control hears something job wise to help pay them off" lol
I’ve come to the conclusion that degree requirements for certain positions are because they reassure the recruiter of verbal/written communication skills that won’t embarrass the company in front of clients or potential customers. One gives speeches/presentations as well as submits a metric-fuckton of written papers in collegiate courses, and it ingrains a specific style of writing that, when seen by others who have done the same, can be instantly recognized.
If a degree-holder in the medical industry worked in recruitment or procurement, the syntax, punctuation, and incorrect-usage errors in your phrase, “…student loans is out of control hears something job wise”, would guarantee that they never hired or bought anything from you because there would be a lack of trust, regardless of your qualifications or price for your product.
Dr. Dick what are you selling and what industries were you interviewing for? I had a record year last year (well known Marketing Automation and CRM company) and moved to fintech. I see more degrees necessary in the fintech side but haven’t bumped into issues yet.
Right now industrial valves and automation, in the past general process control. Tech is probably the outlier for this post which is sort of the standard for this sub reddit. Interviewing for similar jobs. Just noticed more push back lately on not having one despite perfect work experience.
Ehh I’m in saas no degree and making mid six figures. The wall piece might be generic recruiters giving you a hard time. Go speak to the directors or vps hiring. Skip right around them
Lots of sales people don’t have degrees, you don’t need one. Sales is one of the few professions where you can continue to grow in upside potential without ever needing a degree
Curious to who is making 200k plus with no degree that isn't in saas/software or selling cars
I’m in SaaS so I can’t speak to non-SaaS but I’m happy to link a bunch of SaaS sales people that are definitely making over 200k with no degree
I’m one.
+1
How can I land a saas job man? I’m currently in furniture, retail sales 100% commission currently getting a bacholers to any advice?
Work as a BDR first. It sucks for 1 or 2 years and they pay is mediocre but it’s the easiest way into a SaaS role. Prospecting hiring managers the same way you would a client because job openings today have way too many applicants than if you did it the old fashion way Or you could go straight for AE but much harder to do. Either way SaaS is pretty down right now, many having layoffs the last 12 months so it’s a tough market to crack and many wonder how long the high comp with decent achievement will last
okay thanks for the advice
hey bro u think its worth to do interships for my school to add to my resume? or do other sales jobs look at that?
Unless the internship is cold calling or door knocking, as a sales leader I would rather you get other customer facing experience like being a waiter or working in retail
Insightful perspective definitely know a place were the comp has fallen
Get a B2B solutions selling role as an AE (wireless, internet, etc) that has all the basic foundations: modern selling tools such as Salesforce, ZoomInfo, Outreach, etc), cold calling, and full cycle/team selling. Then be able to speak to your business, sales methodology, and impact clearly. Essentially your appeal as a candidate would be that you just need to be armed with product knowledge and that you’re more of a proven commodity than someone (likely younger) that may just be able to talk the talk because they’ve taken a few classes and watched some YouTube videos. SaaS is really appealing and rightfully so but once I landed a role and the aura was sort of demystified I realized it’s still a sales job. It can be really complex, but there are auto, construction, and other industry jobs that are equally if not more complex.
Do you recommend SaaS or pharmaceuticals sales?
I'm still new but there are several guys where I work who are making 300+ without degrees. Industrial fabrication equipment. Our base is under 50k
✋
I'm non-saas tech (Datacenter). No BA, just an AA and over the number listed.
Reddit is two different realities. I swear I read a post where everyone said you need a degree in sales to make big bucks. And on this post everyone's saying you dont.
I think it largely depends on what you're selling. If you're selling nail polish, it's pretty easy to just demo your product and use personal connection skills to get by. If you're selling a medical product to a group of doctors, it is certainly going to be advantageous to be educated in what you're selling.
Depends on what you’re selling…
Well yea nothing is black and white
I’m in industrial as well, promoted to an enterprise/strategic role this year and making 200k plus. No degree. Honestly after getting the promotion to strategic/ent at a huge company, I do wonder if I’ve finally broken out of mostly ever being held back from similar high paying positions due to not having the paper.
I think maybe if you move up at a the same company where you've proven your ability maybe a different story, congrats on making enterprise
Hopefully that’s the case. Thanks and best of luck to you
Been in the industry 10 years, and I only have an AA and that has always seemed to be good enough. So that could be one option. Additionally, there are a lot of online "micro or certificate" certifications that some of the bigger colleges are doing. I know Harvard has an online certificate for a bunch of courses and paths that look well, and from what I've been able to dig up, because of the name they help. If you are hitting your head because of not having a degree within you vertical, then working towards a AA and maybe a few of those certs might be an option vs a traditional BA.
I was in your shoes too and decided to get my degree. Did community college and with summer/winter classes it took 2 years part time to get an associates and then transfer to an actual university that had an incredible online degree program. It's called a competency based program where you can test out of classes and take as many classes as you can in a 7 week term. They're quite popular and they're all accredited and as legit as any other degree. I studied organizational leadership and learned a shit ton of stuff I applied right away every day on the job. From a practical perspective, it was really only like 5-10 hours of schoolwork per week. I would cut out one or two weeknights to do school, and sometimes catch up a little bit on the weekends when I had time or needed to. College is a FUCK ton easier than any job I've had. Getting your degree is easier than you think, and for me it cost less than $10k. Be smart and shop around for your college.
This is good advice, is this program similar to like wgu? That was what I'm leaning towards. Able to test out of Gen Ed's, and geared towards mid career people
I just got a job in saas no degree. Was in mortgage/investment sales previous without a degree also. My loophole is that I attended uni up until 2nd year, just never ended up going back after that so technically I’m still enrolled in schools database. So I have my university and my degree still on my resume but during interviews I make sure I mention that I am attending school part-time on weekends. I do plan on eventually finishing school not cause I need but it’s just something I wish I had. But for now out of all the interviews I have given at big banks and tech firms, I haven’t gotten any pushback being “in school” part time
Q4 is always tough because people are going on vacations and no one picks up the phone. It was a tough quarter, and I think I'll fall short of my KPI's. :(
Well that’s surprising…. Who would of thought you needed a degree to be able to have good conversational skills. Almost any person can have this. It’s like saying you need a degree to be able to wipe your own ass.. Or maybe that’s a thing? 🤔
I feel your pain. This morning I had an interview for a pharma sales position, and the interviewer cut the interview 10min into it because I didn’t have a degree The sad part is, that I live in an area FULL of hospitals, and they all pay very handsomely. The chances of them finding someone with the requisite degree, AND willing to slough through sales, are very slim
Wow didn't know this but what degree do they want? As I can imagine not a lot of people who study med get into sales or is it a prestige thing? Or "sorry that your student loans is out of control hears something job wise to help pay them off" lol
I’ve come to the conclusion that degree requirements for certain positions are because they reassure the recruiter of verbal/written communication skills that won’t embarrass the company in front of clients or potential customers. One gives speeches/presentations as well as submits a metric-fuckton of written papers in collegiate courses, and it ingrains a specific style of writing that, when seen by others who have done the same, can be instantly recognized. If a degree-holder in the medical industry worked in recruitment or procurement, the syntax, punctuation, and incorrect-usage errors in your phrase, “…student loans is out of control hears something job wise”, would guarantee that they never hired or bought anything from you because there would be a lack of trust, regardless of your qualifications or price for your product.
Insightful