Although financial security is not the end-all-be-all when choosing a career, it inevitably becomes a concern down the road. For Hannah Burgess, this became evident when she became a mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At age 21, Hannah was already working long hours as a nanny, with a second child on the way. While on the job, she saw the comfortable lifestyle the family she was working for had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe parents had this amazing aura of confidence and charisma that you can\u2019t help but admire,\u201d she said. Desperate to keep a roof over her family\u2019s head, Hannah asked the couple one question: \u201cWhat do you do for a living?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer compelled Hannah to go home that day eager to learn more about sales careers. \u201cI wanted to know how to get into sales and what the best industry was for that,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After hours of reading, she saw hundreds of opportunities. Yet she found the most promising jobs in one industry: tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no shortage of perks to choosing a career in tech sales, otherwise known as Software as a Service (SaaS)<\/a>. Finances Online forecasted the value of the global SaaS market<\/a> will reach $623 billion by 2023, growing at 18 percent per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As it surmised, SaaS is \u201cone of the best things that ever happened to computing, sending many businesses scrambling to get a hold of such systems.\u201d The huge demand for software sales has pushed it to become one of the most lucrative jobs<\/a> in the market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The earnings<\/a> for entry-level software sales positions hovers between $60,000 and $80,000. This is nearly double the average of median wages across the job board in the United States. Those higher up the ladder earn an average base salary of around $77,000 plus commissions, racking up to nearly $140,000. Despite the appealing figures, software sales roles are tough to fill.<\/a> In 2019, sales<\/a> was the second most in-demand career yet the third most difficult to hire for. Its lack of sway could be due to bad perceptions many people still have about sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the top of the list is the pervasive image of a telemarketer who interrupts your dinner, an automobile huckster, or an overactive door-to-door knocker. Those stereotypes make salespeople look like takers. The modern software salesperson<\/a> is much different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also doesn\u2019t help that universities offering sales-focused degree programs are scant. And the few universities offering sales education often fail to go beyond theoretical concepts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To fill the skills gap, a dynamic educational model entered the market: bootcamps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bootcamps<\/a> established their presence in the early 2010s in a bid to bypass gaps in the traditional university model. During its early years, bootcamps mainly covered web development and software engineering. It wasn\u2019t until later that the bootcamp model expanded to fields beyond coding. In 2018, sales veteran Josh Jordan founded Prehired<\/a>. He initially sought to help salespeople from other industries who, despite putting in 40-hour workweeks, still teetered on the edge of financial fallout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over time, that goal evolved into a more inclusive target. As their current mission statement goes, Prehired seeks to \u201chelp regular folks break into software sales in 12 weeks, on average\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prehired’s reach then extended to those without prior sales experience and holders of a high school diploma or a GED. The low barrier to entry hinged on the idea that a college degree does not equate to career-readiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, competence trumps credentials. The approach aligned with top tech companies<\/a> which, in recent years, have also shifted to skills-based hiring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prehired also accommodates low-earning applicants through Income Share Agreement (ISA) loans. So, it pours in the time and resources to train members and they only spend a dime after<\/em> securing financial stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, Prehired would be the first to recognize that this sounds too good to be true. Even Hannah, when she first came across the program on social media, said: \u201cIt looked like a scam.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n But for a single mother of two with only a GED to show for, Hannah knew that the opportunity was too good to pass up. So, she did the work. Hannah spent weeks researching Prehired. Only then did she book an interview with Prehired to make her tech \u201cdebut\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She wasn\u2019t the only one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fitness and defense instructor Jared Miller had the same reservations. At the time, he was looking for a career that would offer more room for growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, Prehired popped up on his Facebook feed. \u201cInitially, it was just a name for me. And the whole thing, in general, was scary because I\u2019d have to put some kind of investment on my end.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, like Hannah, he did the work. He reached out to the Prehired team and started asking questions. For him, it was Prehired\u2019s ISA that lowered his guard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a vastly different approach from other programs that demanded payment upfront,\u201d said Jared. \u201cIt was like Prehired saying, \u2018Hey, we want you to succeed because that\u2019s our whole business model.\u2019 And that\u2019s what made it an obvious choice for me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Zeena Greene\u2019s entry to Prehired was even more gradual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She first came across Prehired in 2017\u2014back when it was just beginning. At the time, however, the cost of the program didn\u2019t fit into her budget. \u201cIt was a good option. But it just wasn\u2019t the right time for me personally,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the years, Prehired stayed at the back of her mind. It wasn\u2019t until later that it, once again, took the front seat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The second encounter with Prehired happened after Zeena received an email announcing its introduction of the ISA. To her, the loan option couldn\u2019t have come at a better time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was working a temp position at that time. The financial instability in my life was glaring,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I came across Prehired again, it had grown so beautifully. It had so much to offer than it did in the beginning. So, I decided to take a chance and change my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prehired goes beyond the textbook definition of a bootcamp. More than being a bootcamp, it\u2019s a lifetime membership community. Big words? Maybe. But Prehired lives up to the hype by operating under a continuous learning model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Herein lies Prehired\u2019s defining feature. Do bootcamps provide students with relevant knowledge? Yes. But for Prehired, such programs must integrate theory, practice, and ongoing learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Prehired adopted a new learning framework: the 3 E\u2019s\u2013Education, Exposure, and Experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prehired\u2019s first program, Science-Based Sales\u00ae Foundations, covers tech sales fundamentals. These include industry syntax, sales systems and strategies, customer relationship management (CRMs), and the intricacies of crafting and closing deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To someone with no sales background, the course may seem jarring. As such, every member is matched with a mentor during the learning process. Prehired mentors serve as the catalysts for improvement. They expose members to a variety of methods that they could use in the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, mentors promote accountability, not dependency. So, the work still lies in the members themselves. If anything, the mentors serve as the breath of fresh air when members feel like banging their heads against their screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Members also have access to a large network of peer members, career advisors, and connectors. In Prehired, having community members as future colleagues, employers, and even friends is not unheard of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, bootcamps last up to three months. After this, students are somehow expected to hit the ground running. Most offer career services post-course but few do it well. Prehired belongs to the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Hannah, despite only completing 40 percent of the first program, she had already been tapped by four companies who saw the Prehired name listed in her LinkedIn profile. The calls, for her, were a testament to how Prehired can be a springboard to financial and career security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The community\u2019s reputation among hiring managers was not built overnight. It grew out of Prehired\u2019s intensive training structure where members go through the real-world selling process to land jobs. They reach out to potential employers the way a sales professional would. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This set-up replaces the arduous and hit-or-miss process of job hunting where students, even though they know the tools of the trade, have no idea how to use these to their advantage. On the other end, it gives hiring managers an idea of how Prehired members prospect, which they\u2019ll be doing if they\u2019re hired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jared experienced the impact of this training firsthand. During his job search, he received an invitation for an interview from one of the companies he applied for. The hiring manager at the time opened the interview with an unusual line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He told Jared that the company does not hire people without years of experience. \u201cBut I was so impressed with your outreach that I still wanted you to come in for an interview.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Jared didn\u2019t get the job, he got through to the final stage of the interview process\u2014an impressive feat for someone who was outside the company\u2019s standard hiring profile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps, Prehired\u2019s approach can be summed up through Hannah\u2019s words. \u201cPrehired teaches us how to reach out to people in a way that\u2019s different, catches their attention, and keeps<\/em> it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Only a week after finishing her coursework, Hannah went to the interviews she secured halfway through the training. She came back with three solid offers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She eventually chose the SaaS startup, Reimbi. There she worked as a Sales Development Representative. It was a role she never would have envisioned herself in before Prehired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After gaining significant experience in the industry, Hannah was recruited as Prehired\u2019s Admissions Advisor, drawing a full circle since she broke into the industry. Months later, she got promoted to a Partnership Manager role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Zeena, success came when she landed the role of a Business Development Representative at the SaaS customer experience platform, BirdEye. And Jared? He got his career growth wish. He took an offer from 7 Figure Automation, where he became an Account Manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Prehired Circle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How Prehired Is Creating a Culture of Learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Prehired Education and Exposure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Prehired Experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Lifetime Commitment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n