Career changer needs advice.

May 29, 2008 5:07 PM

I left my last position in outside sales after 3 years and it wasn't a great fit for me. I could do it but it left me drained and exhausted at the end of the day. Now what?

I want to get into product marketing but I'm afraid I'm being pigeonholed as a salesperson. Does anyone have any insight/personal experience in successfully transitioning out of sales and into another industry? I'm 2 months into my job hunt and I have had a couple of interviews but nothings panned out yet. Am I doomed to sales forever?

If it matters, I'm 28, have a BA and recently relocated to the SE USA.

posted by calitocarolina to Work & Money (3 answers total)

It's going to be easier to make that transition from the inside. Take a sales job and network internally to line yourself up for the lateral move to marketing. Or, look at smaller companies that might need one person handling both roles. That will give you some experience to build on.
posted by COD at 5:43 PM on May 29, 2008

Marketing jobs are extremely hard to break in to and while many sales people think they would be great at marketing very few of them are. COD's suggestion is really your best bet.

One hint: Sometimes outside sales support roles are better to move into product marketing than direct sales.
posted by Octoparrot at 7:57 PM on May 29, 2008

My brother worked in sales for several years and then went back to applying for jobs he'd gotten his degree in. He had to take a pay cut, but he found a decent company that helped pay for the MBA that he then got on the side and parlayed into an even better job at that company.

I just wanted to say, good luck to you, and kudos for getting out now.
posted by onlyconnect at 2:33 PM on May 30, 2008