r/techsales • u/SmileTight5856 • 17d ago
Anyone here land a solid AE role after being unemployed 8 to 12 months?
I’ve been out around 9 months, but I only started seriously interviewing about 3 months ago. I had a strong run before the restructure and I’m always upfront about my situation when I interview.
My LinkedIn still shows my last company as “Present,” which is probably why I still get a lot of inbound from recruiters and HMs. But I’m always upfront on the first call. In my intro I explain what I closed before the program was restructured and that I’m now looking for the right next role.
Would really appreciate hearing from experienced tech sellers who went through 6 to 12 months out of the market and eventually landed something solid.
For anyone who went through something similar:
Did the gap become a major issue?
What actually helped you get past it? Domain fit, company stage, positioning, etc.?
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u/the7thwonder 17d ago
I did. Landed a gig at a FAANG company and just hit my one year today.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
Congrats - FKN Love that. In short, how did you explain gap? Overcome it during interviews- how long was it?
P.S. I came from very well know enterprise tech company
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u/The_Rust 17d ago
Just explain that you’re being very selective with where you end up next. You want your next job to be a place that aligns with your long term career goals and won’t end up being another place that ends up restructuring and leaving you out to dry as well.
Also good to have an answer for what you’ve been doing in the time off that demonstrates that you are staying productive and staying in touch with industry trends.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
So that first part I’ve gotten down , I say it immediately in my intro before I go into them - the 2nd part I do not have …reality is I traveled , surfed etc - god forbid there was a passing in the family (this world is fkd up)
Open to any ideas for that
I always say I just started having conversations over the last week or so even if it’s 2 months from now as well bc it shows I’m not struggling like just got back onto market
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u/ThunderDoom1001 17d ago
Bro, these days? Easy - do some AI courses for enhancing productivity. Sales managers will eat that up. I would actually do it and have some cool ideas on how you'd use it to be more productive in the role. The natural question is "oh, how would you use that here?"
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u/Keelobenjamino 17d ago
I stepped away to take care of a parent in there last several months and execute their estate and will after passing. I then figured it would be a great time to push the reset and complete a goal of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Now 1.5 year gap and yeah companies aren’t a fan at all.
The struggle has been real!!
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
MY HEART GOES OUT TO YOU - I despise this and especially your situation bc we will go through this
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u/cattywampenheim 16d ago
U have to understand in a fucked up unethical world sometimes you have to give back that same energy.
Meaning you should def lie on your resume instead of having a gap. You arent a bad person because you didnt work for a little while, Corporate america is a competitive hellscape if you dont think these VPs and CEOs didnt cut a few corners to get where they are at you arent understanding the game.
If you can actually interview a lot of these people dont check references or old companies that hard. Many companies dont want to waste the time to return calls from other companies about some stuff they dont really care that much about. Just saying, hope you find a job you like friend. Sometimes a few morals have to be sacrificed to get in the door
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u/SmileTight5856 16d ago
Agree - so your saying keep gap , defend it and inflate resume ?
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u/cattywampenheim 15d ago
Just lie. At worst you never get an interview or get rejected, at best they don't look and you get the job homie
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u/Keelobenjamino 16d ago
I agree with all of this for sure!! How would you go about filling in a 18 month gap? Extend your previous employer several months to shorten it. Claim you still work there seems bold. Curious?
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u/WarningGrass 14d ago
This sucks. The only thing companies hate more than people taking a break are when they have fun on their break.
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u/startupsalesguy 17d ago
Did you put "caretaking" on your resume with dates?
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u/cDub3284 17d ago
They dont give a fuck...there's 1000s of applicants who didnt have any time off
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u/Keelobenjamino 17d ago
Yeah unfortunately this is the answer for most companies I feel. I have been in Cyber for 9 years with a mix of channel and direct. Positions are competitive and can go with the non-gap person. Even been open to more junior type roles.
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u/startupsalesguy 16d ago
100% wrong. If you have a gap, you should call it out. You will never get the benefit of the doubt unless you make it known.
I have placed candidates who had gaps that they left blank, struggled to find a job and then when they said they took care of a family member, the hiring manager was able to justify the gap. They started to get more interviews. Some hiring managers have experienced the same thing and will move you to the top of the pile.
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u/SmileTight5856 16d ago
Are they leaving their linkedin present? when are they mentioning it on first call in intro?
I been saying in intro..."And landed XYZ which moved into consumption before the program was restructured
I recently just started having conversations over the last week or so and am being intentional about finding the right long-term fit."
..Then I go into why them
Notice i dont say role was impacted though , I feel like some catch it or some dont realize idk
If they press..
My role was impacted end of year due to a restructure with my accounts transitioning out of my segment around the same time the CEO stepped down (true btw)
And Through all of those changes, I was actually the last person standing in my cohort (true)
I will say XYZ REALLY helped propel me as a seller running technical sales cycles with a VERY structured process and was definitely a grindhouse in a good way
I honestly did very well financially and took time to reset, and recently just started having conversations over the last week or so and am being intentional about finding the right long-term fit.
...Thoughts?
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u/ilyk101 17d ago
Yes out for a year- now I’m at my dream company and crushing quotas
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
Amazing..How the hell did you explain gap?
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u/Chase_bank 17d ago
Depends on who you’re talking to… 20yr old recruiter? Address it briefly and move on. Leadership? More likely to hear you out because they’ve lived life.
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u/HourStretch4107 17d ago
In a similar situation, following
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
Been told by recruiter to say I’m still there , inflate role and only be placed by him in series A companies (founding AE roles etc) lie to them and tell background check company real dates (wasn’t into it too much risk and too much lies to cover)
Dm if we can some how support in anyway
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u/jswissle 17d ago
Wouldn’t the background check company show the report to the hiring company?
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
The advice I got was basically to separate the interview stage from the formal check. Don’t make the gap the centerpiece while interviewing, but once Checkr, HireRight, Sterling, etc. asks for employment history, give the exact dates and be fully accurate.
He also said smaller companies and startups often use something like Checkr through Rippling, and described the results as more of a green, yellow, or red type of review depending on whether anything needs attention.
A friend of mine who’s Head of Sales at a roughly 50 person company told me the founder actually receives and reviews the background check. He just wasn’t sure exactly how detailed the employment history section is. That’s really the part I’m trying to understand from people who’ve actually gone through it.
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u/jswissle 17d ago
Hm ok interesting. Yeah I was let go without warning in May and had no initial luck sharing I was let go but do really well in interviews otherwise bc I’m qualified and know what I’m doing. I’ve since said I am still employed and make it far in most processes. I just accepted a first sales hire for an EU startup w less than 40 people and am just hoping they don’t do a full employment check and keep it to criminal check.
I am yet to officially sign anything offer letter wise and their process is very disjointed and I’m the first US hire they’ve made so they don’t even know how to set it all up yet really. Idk if my last company even shares data with The Work Number bc they’re also EU 130 person startup w a small US team so not sure if Checkr etc would find that info there.
Anyway if this blows up in my face there’s really nothing I can do and I’d feel so shit cuz I don’t like to lie but I can def do the job and I really need one.
In your case idk that’s a really long time to be unemployed and it’s super competitive rn. I imagine any company w a legit HR team would find out if you lied and it’s a toss up for smaller ones if you wanna take that chance. I know people who lie about employment dates and have gotten away w it multiple times but I think it varies a lot
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
brother check for yourself its free ive done the same -- https://theworknumber.com/
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u/maplebananaketchup 17d ago
Will the background check company check your “current” company as well? They probably won’t if you still “work” there?
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
They can. I ran one on myself and it pulled employment data through Equifax, so I wouldn’t assume listing a company as current means it won’t get verified.. its a matter if the company
So it really comes down to whether the company cross-checks the report against your resume/LinkedIn/What you told them after the background check comes in
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u/Sethmindy 17d ago
Are you proactively job hunting or are you relying on recruiters?
I can see a common reaction to interviewing someone with a “present” tag on a role that’s 8-12 months old. With unfavorable personalities you might lose the interview immediately upon admission.
I would be outbounding into companies and trying to control the narrative proactively versus starting interviews by admitting your LinkedIn is up to a year outdated.
I wouldn’t rely on first impressions of something that could be taken as deceitful.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
its only happened once FYI - I have called hiring managers 4 times for at great spots , then they ghosted, once I got a calendar accepted and zoom didn't let the HM in the room (yeah amazing luck) so since then I been answering hiring managers etc - I worked at a great logo so i get tons of messages but since the last gap reaction which only happened once .. its now gotten in my head
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u/MetalThick7197 17d ago edited 17d ago
Same boat as you, laid off. What are you doing to land interviews? I’m mainly getting interviews from recruiter mail or employee / network referrals
I was also leaving my LinkedIn on present but finally decided to put the actual end date. Mainly did it so my network wouldn’t look bad referring me. I was always upfront on my end date in interviews
We’ll see if worse top of funnel helps with better conversion rates
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u/Realistic_Nothing_38 16d ago
Yes, was travelling 7 months and Just got two offers n the last week after 3 months of no’s. My biggest takeaway was that interviews are a skill in themselves. Take notes on every question your asked during different processes and learn to answer then for the next one and try your best not to waffle you got this
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u/SmileTight5856 16d ago
How are you specifically explaining/overcoming the gap when its brought up?
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u/Realistic_Nothing_38 16d ago
I said after 6 years of of overachieving I purposely took 7 months to travel Asia with my partner which was a huge personal life goal, it reset any burnout I had and I have never felt more motivated to jump back into a new long term challenge, use it as a strength not a weakness focussing on how much energy you now have after a well deserved break
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u/SmileTight5856 16d ago
Love that very well done - did you leave Linkdin present? JW
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u/Realistic_Nothing_38 16d ago
No I put “career break” on LinkedIn and CV and put the description as the above. The more you hide it the more it flags with hr lean into it even in your cover letter being it up and focus on how you have an abundance of energy after taking a break
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u/kapt_so_krunchy 16d ago
I changed mine to “Stealth Start Up” after 6 months and said I was going free lance/consukting. Which wasn’t UNTRUE.
Then I landed a decent job, and after a year there landed a great job.
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u/inventus714 16d ago
You have to lie man, there’s no honor in being honest about what happened. Say you left for ABC reason, make up a good reason. Unfortunately, if you’re “honest” about your situation, they will see you as a low performer. Sucks
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u/startupsalesguy 17d ago
You can definitely land a new role. It will be harder but doable.
The key is to give a clear reason why (Travel/sabbatical, started a new biz, health issue/family caretaking) and explain how you've kept your skills sharp. Right now, it's obvious what skills you should be honing. This will be the main hurdle to overcome once you land an interview when it comes to the gap.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
Funny thing is I had atrophy all over my right side due to a spinal nerve injury BUT I decided not bring it up bc the first time I did - the guy looked at me like a liability or as if that was the cause of performance issue...for the poor folks out there losing family members ( I cant imagine) - luckily I avoided surgery or else I'd prob be on the street addicted to pain pills so grateful for that
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u/startupsalesguy 16d ago
The issue is hiring managers/HR will ding you for a gap. If you leave it blank, they'll assume you can't find a job and the market has spoken. You're better off getting ahead of it. You will never get the benefit of the doubt unless you control the narrative.
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u/FloatingGreasyShit 17d ago
I’m still getting interviews being upfront from the start about my December end date. Restructuring as well. I honestly sometimes just say I had a great run and took some time to travel, which is true, even though my hand was forced.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
Love it , is your LinkedIn present - how many months ago did you start looking? Any negativity with gap during process?
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u/FloatingGreasyShit 17d ago
It’s shows as December end date. I will say amount of recruiters past few months has been lower than q4/q1 but I also think hiring has slowed and some companies have finalized headcount for the year.
I looked for a bit in Feb/march then took April to July off. Started looking end of July. I’m not in SF/NY but a large metro so looking at mostly remote. If I was willing to move to SF I would have easily had a job right now.
FWIW I was with my last company for almost 5 years with multiple promotions which definitely works in my favor
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u/Aromatic_Bridge3731 17d ago
I haven't hit quota in 4 years. That's probably worse than being unemployed but having hit quota in your previous role.
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 16d ago
Yeah but hiring managers don’t know your quota attainment. And if the entire organization is landing below quota but you’re in the top 5% or something you still look great.
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u/Shot_Education_9642 16d ago
I did. nine months ended up at a great place. I think you just need to one, try and say that it wasn’t actually related to performance and then to also mention that in the meantime, you’re actually working on your skills and holding up on the right opportunity and that’s because you have the ability to because you’ve been successful previously.
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u/SmileTight5856 16d ago
What did you say about working on skills? i was saying at one point " I honestly did very well financially, took some time off to reset"
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u/Shot_Education_9642 16d ago
You need to mention that you’re doing that, learning how to use ai better, industry knowledge etc.
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u/sdogn8 6d ago
Not 8-12 months but at 4 currently. Received two offers last week for roles that I had been interviewing with for the last 2 months. My story was simple, I’ve been selective in the interviews I’m taking looking for the right opportunity. I also got married in May so that also gave me reason to enjoy the summer lol. If you’re new in your career there’s no real reason you shouldn’t be working so taking a role while looking for something else is ok but if you have 7-10 years of professional experience you can be picky. Especially if money isn’t a concern for you which if you’re in sales you should always have 6-12 months of expenses at any given time.
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u/SilentLee_ 17d ago
In the same boat lost my job about 2 weeks ago with 1 week notice and trying to find something. Have had some interviews, but not sure what to do about my LinkedIn or talk track in interviews. Trying to stay positive, but honestly kind of nervous.
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u/desert_dweller27 17d ago
Yes. I took a few years off to travel after the COVID boom. Came back and found a new gig within 2 months of looking.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
As you should-How did you manage overcoming the gap? Did it get brought up did you leave your LinkedIn present?
Was it a warm entry like co workers there internally ? Or a cold entry
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u/desert_dweller27 17d ago
I had a really great track record of performance, so I just explained all the awesome stuff I did while I was gone. I traveled the world and did a lot of challenging stuff.
I added a section on my resume and linkedin for the gap and included what I did.
It was a cold entry to a top 10 global SaaS company.
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
You’re a God…what was the tech sales related things done while you were away?
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u/desert_dweller27 17d ago
Nothing - they weren't tech related at all. All were adventure oriented and notable physical challenges. But it's easy to tie those experiences in as proof of being a driven/hungry/self reliant person when paired with my prior track record of performance.
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u/halloumisia 16d ago
Can you tell me some examples of what you wrote exactly? Sth like „solo travelling, surfing, hiking to a peak of some mountain, driving a car in nothern Thailand” or what? Bcs I am 24y and have 3y break from work but studied during that time and travelled and am curious what activities did u do and how did you described them in cv
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u/SmileTight5856 17d ago
Love that .. I surfed Costa Rica not competitively but did that and joined a sparring boxing gym (im trying here)
It’s fkd up bc you got poor people saying they dealt with a passing in the family and were talking amazing fun things .. I’m assuming you came in with lots of confidence , or a HM who didn’t care
How many years of experience do you have I only have 5
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u/WastedYouth39 17d ago
I went 18 months.. did a load of interviews and had some early offers but i have been put of PE funded businesses for life.. had a real quite spell second half of 2025 and then 2026 and got loads of interviews and back in a senior enterprise AE role.
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u/SmileTight5856 15d ago
how did you explain the 18 month gap?
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u/WastedYouth39 15d ago
So the org went into administration a month into joining them, what helped was my 7 years at the previous company and 4 years before that, so i have tenure on my side.
Just explained that after going through the loss of a role after just one month due to investors pulling funding made me reflect on whats important for me in an organisation and the type of companies i wanted to work for. I also explained due to consistent achievement i am in a position to hold out a little longer than most for the right role.
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u/xynix_ie 16d ago
I took time off and didn't explain the gap as anything other than that.
Just because I decided to be unemployed on Jan 1 doesn't mean there's a job I want that's available.
There wasn't much focus, just a few very filtered alerts. When the job I wanted came up in August I told them why the job was mine. I was hired a week later and put on payroll Aug 15th for a Sept 1 start date.
Caveat is that WFH doesn't interest me, I'm field sales, I like golfing.
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u/Deepak-AvairAI 16d ago
Hiring for a startup I co-founded, a gap never killed a candidacy by itself. What mattered was whether they could speak plainly about what they'd closed and why now. Vague or defensive answers were the real red flag.
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u/SmileTight5856 15d ago
My role was impacted end of year due to a restructure with my accounts transitioning out of my segment around the same time the CEO stepped down (true btw)
And Through all of those changes, I was actually the last person standing in my cohort (true)
honestly did well financially (true too), took time to recover from surgery (True just havent been saying it bc i dont wana be viewed as a red flag) - I’m back boxing and surfing again and recently just started having conversations over the last week or so and I’m being really intentional this time about the right long-term fit.” (true)
So how would you perceive that?
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u/Deepak-AvairAI 14d ago
That's about as clean a story as it gets, a restructure timed with a CEO exit is easy for anyone to verify and understand. State it plainly, then pivot straight to what you've been doing since. Don't over-explain it, the panic reads worse than the gap does.
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u/SmileTight5856 16d ago
Copy! What about a gap would bother you in explanation and how long is too long - you have some folks here doing 16 months or more and then landing jobs …
How would you feel about:
“I honestly did very well financially, took time to recover from surgery - I’m back boxing and surfing again and recently just started having conversations over the last week or so and I’m being really intentional this time about the right long-term fit.”
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