How to Get a Tech Sales Job with JobStep

Irfan Meah, was at a local poker league when he received an unexpected invitation. Upon noticing Irfan’s natural talent for connecting with people at the event, the league owner offered him a sales job.

From there, Irfan’s interest in sales grew. First, he took the job and sold casino events. Then, he moved to a company that sells printers to large businesses. And when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Irfan left his company to bring his sales skills into tech, one of the most resilient and biggest industries today.

There was just one problem: while he had the expertise, the competition was high in the tech sales market.

Isabelle L., an advertising sales professional hoping to pivot into tech sales, echoes Irfan’s sentiment, saying that she spent about a year looking for a job in the field to no avail.

To boost their chances of getting hired, Irfan and Isabelle sought the help of JobStep, an online career services platform that guarantees users at least five job interviews in six weeks—or they get their money back.

An Overview of JobStep Career Services Platform

Indeed recommends that job seekers apply to between 10 and 15 jobs every week to increase their chances of landing a job. Unfortunately, this translates to around five to 10 hours per week spent scouring job boards, sending applications, following up with hiring managers, and writing cover letters—a tedious routine that can take a toll on your mental health.

JobStep realized that the job market is “broken”. As more businesses use automation tools to streamline their hiring processes, candidates have a more difficult time getting their resumes past the applicant tracking systems (ATS) and onto recruiters’ desks. This is where JobStep’s six-week career program comes in handy.

JobStep believes that you, as a job seeker, should only worry about preparing yourself for an interview and sharpening your skills. So, it offers a full-range service that includes the following:

• A 1:1 session with a JobStep coach to assess your interests, skills, and aspirations
• Writing your cover letter and creating a resume optimized to beat the ATS bots
• Searching for jobs that match your skills and interests
• Applying to high-match jobs on your behalf

You’ll only step in for the interviews.

JobStep’s goal is to set you up for at least five job interviews in six weeks. Otherwise, you’ll receive a full or partial refund depending on how many interviews you end up getting within that timeframe.

4 Steps to a Tech Sales Job with JobStep

Tech sales professionals serve as the bloodline of tech companies. Sure, great digital products may gain traction in the market. But without a team of sales pros constantly generating and nurturing buyers, none of the biggest tech companies you know today would last.

Considering the impact they create, tech sales professionals are well-compensated. Case in point, sales engineers and software sales reps are among the highest-paying sales jobs, raking in as much as $141,000 to $185,000 annually. And that excludes bonuses and commission, which may differ based on location, job scope, company, and experience.

To top it off, tech sales has a low barrier to entry, meaning you don’t need a formal education to break into the field. As JobStep founder Eleanor Meegoda shares, “As a tech salesperson, you definitely don’t need an engineering background. You don’t need to code. Instead, you need to be curious. You need to be willing to play with the software and figure out how it works and solves customers’ problems. You don’t need to be technical—you need to be tech-savvy.”

Take Irfan, for example. Despite being a graduate in communication studies, Irfan still managed to start a career in tech sales. Here’s a guide on how you can do it, too, with JobStep.

1. Map Out a Career Game Plan

Before starting with the job search, JobStep strives to remain authentic to your professional branding and career goals. Naturally, this begins with gaining an understanding of what you want out of your career and what your strengths are. And that’s why your first step at JobStep is to fill out an onboarding form that asks about your skills, interests, job expectations, non-negotiables, ideal compensation, work history, and accomplishments to date.

Irfan describes, “I liked that I had questionnaires to fill out with any information about me, the challenges I had at work, and three separate stories from my job that would benefit my profile.”

Once you’ve provided the necessary information, JobStep pairs you with a career coach who will identify your translatable experiences and strategize how to showcase these in your resume and cover letter.

2. Get Your ATS-Friendly Resume On Top of the Pile

Companies across the globe are increasingly becoming reliant on ATS to take charge of filtering candidates. This innovative software can comb through hundreds of applications in a sprint and scan specific keywords on resumes that match job descriptions.

While quick, the ATS can miss out on the best candidates. According to Harvard Business Review, ATS software rejects over 80 percent of highly-qualified applicants, primarily due to resumes that do not match the target keywords or resumes that show wide employment gaps.

JobStep helps you avoid being part of that statistic by ensuring that your resume follows an ATS-friendly format. Using AI technology, JobStep optimizes your resume so it effectively tells your story, core skills, and strengths and helps you pass the dreaded ATS and catch the attention of hiring managers.

3. Receive a Curated List of Best Fit Tech Sales Jobs

Data from Indeed shows that there are over 18,000 tech sales job vacancies in the United States at the time of writing. And if you are planning to search for remote positions across the globe, the figure can easily triple.

With thousands of job openings, sorting through them can be overwhelming and time-consuming. JobStep takes care of the research process by weeding out irrelevant job options for you. It carefully curates a pipeline of job opportunities that closely match the information you gave in your assessment. By the end of each week, you’ll receive a list of high-match jobs for you to choose from. Once you’ve identified your top picks, JobStep applies on your behalf. Irfan shares, “JobStep created a list where I was allowed to choose what kind of jobs I wanted. I didn’t mind starting somewhere low and working my way up, so I went for entry-level SDR roles.”

Throughout the six-week process, JobStep guarantees you’ll receive at least five invitations to interview. As for Irfan and Isabelle, they ended up receiving way more than they expected. Irfan adds, “I think I probably had over 20 job interviews in the six weeks that we were working together.” Isabelle says, “I interviewed with about 17 tech and fintech companies.”

4. Get Personalized Tips to Ace Your Job Interviews

As JobStep secures interviews for you, your primary task is to prepare for them. After all, a single conversation with a hiring manager can impact your career direction.

While you are encouraged to polish your core skills on your own time, JobStep doubles down its efforts by providing a personalized coaching experience to help you nail your interviews. Your JobStep coach will give you tips and tactics to effectively answer interview questions. They will provide you with communication prompts that you can use to respond to hiring managers, too.

If you are struggling with impostor syndrome—which is common in the tech industry—your coach will also be there to help you overcome it so you can step into the interview room with confidence.

Irfan credits JobStep’s coaching method and their partnership with Talk Hiring for getting him to the next level of his career. He shares, “JobStep helped me with my interview skills. JobStep partners with Talk Hiring, an AI software, which I used for mock interviews. You can speak to the AI and see how the conversation goes.”

Isabelle adds that JobStep was instrumental in helping her find the confidence to go through interviews and realize that she can perform the job required. “JobStep helped me become more confident interviewing and more competent in applying for jobs that I would’ve thought was out of my league if I were to apply on my own,” she shares.

“They helped me realize that I have many skills from my past jobs that are transferable to other fields and taught me how to market those skills.”

As you land a job offer, JobStep helps you get your desired compensation package by coaching you on how to negotiate. Doing so makes sure that you get the best offer for the job you love.

JobStep: Your Gateway to a Tech Sales Career

Whether you are just beginning to venture into tech sales, vying for a higher position, or seeking a change of environment, JobStep is there to help you every step of the way.

Isabelle describes her JobStep experience as smooth and easy. She recalls, “I was actively applying to jobs but I wasn’t getting many interviews. I also found it hard to find the time and energy to seek out jobs while working a full-time job…After using JobStep, it felt good to have someone take care of the hard parts of job seeking and applying on my behalf.”

Beyond fulfilling its promise of five interviews within six weeks, the platform helps boost the confidence of JobStep members. It shows them that they are indeed competitive applicants—they just need someone who can help showcase their value-add to hiring managers.

“[JobStep] made sure that I got the best job out there, and that’s how I ended up working at Dun & Bradstreet as a sales development representative (SDR),” shares Irfan. “My teammates love me, and my manager thinks I should be a manager soon…Eleanor and her team did a great job.”

Amid his successful experience with JobStep, Irfan cautions that it’s still important that you do your part and build your online presence outside the program. Attend networking parties and meet like-minded people, learn from the experts through conferences, and be active on LinkedIn to start curating your network.

He adds, “To thrive in tech sales, you need to have that grind mentality.”

Do you have what it takes to be in tech sales? It only costs $399 to unlock new opportunities with JobStep. For our Career Karma readers, you’re in luck! You will receive a $49 discount if you sign up for JobStep through Career Karma today.

Still on the fence? Take it from Isabelle: “If you’re having trouble with your job search or are looking to change fields, JobStep is a great resource for you as they will help you find what you’re looking for…They make the whole process completely painless.”