You can get a sales job with no sales experience
Sales is one of the few well-paid careers with a genuine front door. Most software
companies run a dedicated entry rung — the SDR or BDR seat — and staff it
deliberately with people who have never sold before, because they would rather
train the method than untrain someone else's habits.
What they screen for instead is coachability, clear writing, and whether you stay
composed in a conversation that isn't going well. Retail, hospitality, recruiting,
teaching and customer support all translate unusually well, because they're all
high-volume conversation jobs with a target attached. If that's your background,
say so directly rather than apologising for not having sold software.
What the entry rung actually involves
An SDR or BDR generates and qualifies pipeline: researching accounts, sending
outbound email and LinkedIn messages, making calls, and booking qualified meetings
that an Account Executive then runs. You're measured on meetings booked or pipeline
accepted, not on closed revenue — which is the point, because closing is a
different skill you learn next.
Compensation is typically split around 70/30 between base and variable. Only a
minority of postings publish numbers at all, which is exactly why it's worth
sorting by salary to surface the ones that do and using them as your benchmark
when a recruiter asks for expectations.
What to look for in a first sales job
Three things separate a good first sales job from an expensive detour. First, a
defined promotion path with evidence behind it — ask how many SDRs were promoted in
the last twelve months and how many AE seats opened, because the ratio tells you
far more than the stated policy. Second, a manager who has carried a quota
themselves. Third, a product that people already buy; being the first SDR at a
company still looking for product-market fit means you'll be blamed for a problem
that isn't yours.
Be wary of commission-only postings and anything vague about what you'd be selling.
You'll see few of those here, because this board only reads official company job
boards — recruiter reposts and lead-generation listings never enter the index in
the first place. The how it works page explains what else gets
filtered out and why.
From here, most people look at tech sales roles,
which is where the majority of structured entry programmes sit, or filter for
remote sales jobs — the entry rung has the highest
share of remote listings on the board.
Searching this yourself
This page is a saved view of the main board. If you want to narrow it further —
by seniority, by country, by how recently the role was posted — open the same
search on the full job board and use the filter panel.
Every filter you set is reflected in the URL, so you can bookmark or share the
exact search you built.
If you'd rather not check back, turn this search into an email
alert. You'll get one message a day, only when something new matches, and
only after you confirm your address. More on how the board is assembled is on
the how it works page.