According to some estimates, more than half of IT jobs don’t need coding knowledge. However, there is still a widely held misconception that being technical is necessary to be a competitive candidate for some of the world’s top tech companies. That is just not the case.
Given the labor shortages that many businesses are experiencing right now, it’s important to dispel this myth by looking at some of the many enterprise-oriented entry-level positions that companies are actively recruiting for. We looked at careers that don’t take years of college but may be obtained with only a few months spent on a business certification or doing relevant venture work for this article.
With this knowledge, we hope that more individuals who want to break into lucrative technology occupations will see a route into the ever-growing field.
Consultant for Increasing Sales
SDR or BDR (Enterprise Improvement Consultant) is a commonly used moniker in IT that refers to its lowest-level salesman. This person is usually the first point of contact for any buyer considering purchasing a product or service from a technology firm. Their primary responsibility is to understand the client’s enterprise want, determine whether or not their firm’s product can resolve the client’s problem, and determine whether or not it’s appropriate for them to speak to a senior gross salesperson.
Depending on the company, this individual is calling inbound leads or prospects who have indicated an interest in the product by entering their e-mail address or phone number. They’re performing outbound prospecting through LinkedIn, phone, or e-mail to find possible new prospects.
Advice on How to Get a Job: While this position typically requires 0-1 year of expertise, you’ll need to persuade a future employer that you’re organized enough to deal with speaking with a variety of people in a single day and that you’ve got the tenacity to reach out to dozens of customers each day via telephone and e-mail to generate business opportunities for the company. That means that strong communication is the most important skill for this job.
Wages range from $40,000 to $70,000, plus a charge.
Buyer Success Manager
Position Description: The term of Customer Success Supervisor (or Customer Success Specialist) has only been around for approximately 6-7 years, and the scope of the position varies greatly depending on the company you choose to work for. However, the work is assigned to the sales department in many businesses. Sometimes, this post-sales activity is best described as a buyer assistance function with revenue goals attached.
While a standard customer service function entails troubleshooting customer issues, the Buyer Success function goes further. It acts as a product expert within the company, ensuring that the client gets the most out of the product. This typically entails upselling prospects on additional product options to drive incremental revenue for the company. As the job title implies, this position exists to guarantee that prospects are lucrative and stay with the company in the long term, hence increasing the overall financial value that the company may expect to get from that specific buyer.
Advice on How to Get a Job: Many businesses hire entry-level employees for this position, but one important skill to have to speak with a hiring manager is quickly learning the ins and outs of new products. You don’t have to be a technical guru, but you should strive to be a natural at learning new technologies, platforms, and applications. Before any interview, familiarize yourself with the company’s website to learn about all of the product alternatives and try out the product if a sample model is available.
Wages range from $50,000 to $70,000.
Specialist in Buyer Assistance
Like a Customer Success Supervisor, a Buyer Assist person is generally the person inside the company who becomes the product expert, learning each feature of the product, how it works, and what common difficulties people may have while using the product. The primary distinction is that, whereas a Buyer Success representative must consider how the client uses the product to benefit their business and encourage them to use specific features of the product to complete their tasks, the Buyer Assist function is there to assist the client resolve any real-time issues they may be having with the product. This may include identifying flaws in the product or just demonstrating to the customer how to utilize certain aspects of the product correctly to avoid difficulties.
While this position has traditionally been more technical, many companies now hire individuals who are inherently empathic and excellent listeners over technical advisors. Companies can help you learn the ins and outs of a product, but teaching empathy is difficult.
Advice on How to Get a Job: Even at the entry level, most employers will want to show a track record of dealing with difficult situations. As a result, people with retail experience often become excellent members of a company’s customer service team. Prepare to tell an employer how you’ll de-escalate a stressful conversation with a difficult customer and how you’ll spend time learning about their needs and finding a solution.
Wages range from $45,000 to $55,000.
Specialist in Operations
Position Description: This job title is a catch-all title that companies use to describe everything from a logistical function for a very specific division in an organization doing several outlined duties daily to a broad project-based function that tackles many organizational challenges for a corporation, all the way up to the group’s Chief Operations Officer. When we looked at job descriptions, we noticed that “logistics,” “monitoring,” and “coordination” were the most prevalent work traits across all companies and occupations.
Another popular job title for operations-heavy jobs in many technology businesses is “Mission Supervisor.” While the scope of work for a Mission Supervisor varies by business, the ability to take a high-end undertaking and break it down into all of the tasks required to complete it successfully is a common responsibility for everyone in this position.
Advice on How to Get a Job: While many people consider themselves organized, even if you have no formal operations work experience, you should discuss with the hiring supervisor what specific tools and processes you’ll use to stay on top of dozens of different tasks with multiple deadlines to ensure that they’re all completed on time.
Wages range from $40,000 to $65,000.
Supervisor of Digital Marketing and Advertising
Paid Media Specialist, Adverts Specialist, Social Media Supervisor, Acquisition Supervisor, and other job titles are all associated with advertising and marketing positions. Regardless of the job title, the digital advertising and marketing supervisor will frequently use a combination of online instruments to make prospects aware that a product or service exists and to entice them to provide their contact information to the company, and even to make a purchase order, depending on the company’s gross sales cycle.
The day-to-day of the job, including what instruments you’ll need to learn and what channels you’ll use to attract customers (social media, search marketing, content material marketing, and so on.) will be determined by the type of product your company is selling and where potential customers of this product spend their time.
Advice on How to Get a Job: If you’re looking for an entry-level marketing job, try to position yourself as an expert in one kind of selling and look for companies that advertise their products via the channel that you’re most comfortable with. Do you have a natural talent for gaining social media followers? Are you skilled at writing and developing content that motivates others to act? Have you ever experimented with Facebook and Google’s advertising equipment for personal efforts or business concepts? You’ll impress most hiring managers if you spend some time learning what channels and marketing strategies are effective for a company depending on the kind of product they’re seeking to sell and demonstrating a strong awareness of who their customer is.
Wages range from $50,000 to $70,000.
While technical fluency is required for many occupations today, both within and outside the technology sector, you shouldn’t have to spend years learning technical skills to break into the tech industry. Many of the roles listed above require people and communication skills to begin with. If you can successfully persuade a hiring supervisor that you have a track record of strong communication to get things done and that you can quickly learn programs and instruments, you’ll be competitive for many of them, even at the entry level.
