4/1/1: 4 Random Thoughts from me, 1 tools to help Sales Engineers, 1 quote for motivation

4/1/1 Quick but Impactful Tips To Enjoy Interviewing

November 25, 2021

By Ramzi Marjaba

4/1/1 Weekly

4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote

The new year is on the horizon. Many people bring out their paper and pen and write down their resolution. Or maybe they just commit them to memory in their own brain to be forgotten in a few weeks. One resolution seems constant in my audience, and that is to find a job as an SE, or find a better job as an SE.

If you’re still on the fence about why you should want to be an SE, here’s a video about the 8 reasons I think Sales Engineering is the best job in the whole wide world:

If you already know you want to be an SE, or if you’re currently an SE but you’re looking for a new challenge, I have many videos and even a course about the interview process, what people are expecting. I’ve talked to hiring managers about this, and I’ve given my own opinions. I’ve never had a Principle Sales Engineer come in and discuss their perspective. Well, now we have. My guest this week is Michael (Mike) Atkinson, and he’s a Principle Sales Engineer who has interviewed a couple of hundred people for roles. He shares some great success stories and a couple of bad interview experiences.

Here’s the interview with Mike

For this 4/1/1, here are some advice about interviews, and how you can enjoy them.

4 Random Thoughts From Me:

1- Be yourself, or at least not far from it. The best version of yourself if you will. If you pretend to be someone else and you get the job, then revert to being yourself, then the chances are either you or your employer will not be happy.

2- Sometimes you won’t win every interview. You might kill it with the SE Manager(s), with fellow SEs, and then get to a salesperson and not do so great. That’s ok. Not everyone is going to like you, the same way you won’t like everyone. Now, depending on that individual’s power or influence, you may or may not get the job. During my interviews for the first SE roles, the Director of Sales wanted someone with “Experience”. The problem is I did better in all interviews than anyone with experience, so they had to come back to me in the end. Took over a month to hear back after that interview, but I still got the job, mainly because I followed up with the recruiter and manager.

3- Your skill levels are not binary. It’s not that you know something or you don’t. It’s how much you know something. So when you’re writing your skills on your resume, make sure they are not in bullet format since you cannot qualify how much you know and how much you don’t know.

4- The interview process is a sales cycle. Practice your sales skills. Find out why the employers are hiring, and why now. Did they lose somebody, if so why? Are they growing, great? What are they looking for, and what is the problem they are looking to solve. Then help them solve their problem

1 Tool:

Shameless plug here:

The Road to Sales Engineering.

If you are looking to get into Sales Engineering or looking to move from your current role and feel like you’re stuck, this course can help. I will show you how to fix your resume and Linkedin profile, who to target while applying, how to stack the deck in your favor, how you should prepare for interviews and answer questions, how to demo, and finally how to negotiate a salary that works for you. If this sounds interesting to you but you have more questions, know that I’m here, and unless an email goes to spam, I will respond to your emails.