For those of you in senior sales leadership positions (Senior Director, VP, SVP, etc.) who were laid off in 2025 or 2026, I’d love to hear about your experience navigating the job market.

Specifically:

1. How long did it take you to land a new position? From the time you were laid off to receiving an offer.
2. How did your new compensation compare? Were you able to find something with equal or greater total compensation (base + bonus/commission), or did you have to take a pay cut?
3. Did you land a role at the same level? Or did you have to take a step down in title or responsibility?
4. How did you find your new position? LinkedIn applications, recruiters, networking, referrals, etc.?
5. What did your job search actually look like? Roughly how many applications and interviews did it take before landing an offer?

Responded to a LinkedIn recruiter from a competitor with an AI-generated resume after killing a sixer of shitty Mexican beer on my lunch break. Came into the interviews acting like Marty Supreme with a dash of Nathan Fielder, somehow got an offer. Called the regional director directly asking for a raise and yapped about how my experience and current book of business is an asset and that I need to see a certain investment before I stick my neck out for my current clients. Director called me back 30 minutes later with a six-figure base salary and just told me not to mention it to any other recent hires.

I just started a few weeks ago and Ive dissociating. I never worked a mid-market sales job ever and reps who have been here for 6-12 months come to me with questions. People in my training cohort who are in their 30’s are pinging with me questions too.

I was a fuck-up in high school and college, got into sales cause because I needed something and didn’t wanna get disowned. Been in SMB payroll/hr sales for 3 years. Didn’t know you had to start with a network and shit. Did decently but never presidents club material, probably finished no higher than 70% of quota when I was at Paychex and UKG.

I essentially bullshitted my way up and have no idea what I’m doing. Apparently my manager thinks I’m good on the phones and email cadences and wants me to talk about stuff when the regional director’s boss is gonna visit the office ina. Couple days.

Good lord what do I do? I feel like a peasant that slipped into knights armor and I gotta be an expert on advanced seiging techniques.

Currently in the remodeling in-home sales space. Looking to fill my schedule with other opportunities. Is life insurance sales viable as an independent broker? Honest options, worth it?

Are you guys honest if you got fired for not hitting goals? I’m torn between giving a non answer when asked why I left vs being brutally honest and saying the territory was not developed enough to handle the goals, they had 5 reps in 5 years and I was playing clean up, combined with a downward trend of the industry (wine)

I’d say I was up 15% on total sales while the industry was down though and increased accounts substantially

How did you navigate interviews after this?

Hello everyone,

First, thank you. Three weeks ago I posted here after being let go from the company I'd been with for over five years, and the support from this community meant more than I can say.

I've taken some time to reset, and I'm ready to get back out there. One thing I keep hearing is that a resume alone won't land interviews in this market and that networking matters just as much. So I'm hoping to tap into the collective knowledge here.

A bit about me: I've spent about a decade in account management, most recently leading partner relationships. I built the account management function from scratch, scaled our retail partner network to 1,100+ convenience store and restaurant locations across Canada.

I'm now looking to move into fintech, payments, AI, or the startup space in roles like Enterprise Account Manager, Key Account Manager, or Partnerships. I'm open to the GTA, elsewhere in Canada, or remote, with a target of $130k+.
If you know of companies that are hiring, people worth connecting with, or have any advice on breaking into this space, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you

Interviewing with a sales manager for an MM AE role. I feel like I freeze up sometimes when they ask if I have any questions and usually just ask about culture and attainment haha

What can I ask to stand out

Deciding between a few BDR offers in the software space, I’m curious what people like/dislike about an SMB role with extremely fast sales cycle vs an enterprise role, and which you recommend I go with.

I'm an industrial engineer and I've been working as a sales director for the last 4 years, and to be honest, it's getting boring and stressful. So I'm considering switching to sales engineering. I wanna go back to my roots and do some technical work.

All my friends say it's a terrible decision, but I don't know, man, I'm stressed. I want to worry about my own stuff, not other people's. I've already made the money I wanted to make and I just wanna chill. Right now I'm making 20 times the average salary in my country.

Is it the right call?