SaaS is a popular software delivery system in which companies create products for online distribution. They provide access to third-party users to their products by using a subscription model. The best example of SaaS products are Netflix, Dropbox, Grammarly, the Google Drive Suite, etc - they're all software you typically don't need to install, offer some kind of service (i.e. 'software as a service' and are typically 'paid' for monthly/yearly if you're using paid versions of the tool (i.e. you don't own the tool if you use it, like a downloaded application).
This type of software distribution has become so normalized that it’s hard to think it used to be different a couple of decades ago. In the past, if you wanted to buy software applications, you were given a CD that included the installation system. Then, you would install it, use it, and wait for the next update to be released. You would only pay for it once until you had to get an updated software version.
SaaS freed users from having to install software, maintain it, troubleshoot it, and update it. With SaaS, the applications are updated and maintained automatically, and it’s all taken care of by the software provider.
Being part of the SaaS industry is highly valuable these days and comes with great compensation and a positive job outlook. However, competition is also high, and you need to be able to stand out from other candidates. Learn how to do it with the following resume templates.
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A sales manager is a leading role in which you must ensure sales operations are running smoothly. Sales managers are expected to close large deals for companies. Some of their duties include gathering contact information and creating prospects lists, reports, and sales predictions. They must also develop strategies for generating revenues and oversee the sales team.
To become a SaaS manager, you need a bachelor’s degree and more than three years of experience in sales. You must also have extensive experience in a SaaS environment. Some SaaS managers are required to have skills such as HTML, CSS, and Photoshop. They should also be familiar with Salesforce and Microsoft World.
Sales management is a highly important position in a SaaS company and has a direct impact on business revenues. That’s why it is crucial to include metrics and statistics about your performance in previous organizations or projects. Try to emphasize positive outcomes.
As a sales manager, you might have to direct and manage part of the sales team. You will be responsible for designing a successful strategy and creating sales standards. Therefore, demonstrating your managerial skills can set you a step further from other competitors.
A SaaS growth specialist’s role is to evaluate the company’s growth pace and provide strategies to improve its expansion. When a user buys a SaaS subscription, they go through the following funnels:
-Acquisition
-Activation
-Retention
-Referral
-Revenue
The SaaS growth specialist must analyze interesting metrics in every stage of the user journey and provide clients with actionable insights. These reports will then be used for developing effective growth strategies. A SaaS growth specialist also oversees competitors’ activities to find useful trends in the market.
In your SaaS growth resume, it is important to demonstrate your impact on the bottom line. Your work as a SaaS growth specialist is reflected in the company’s evolution, so this will help recruiters understand your value. You can use metrics to complement your speech.
A SaaS growth specialist has different ways to measure an organization’s evolution, including activation rate, average revenue per user, and Expansion MRR Rate. You should include these keywords in your SaaS growth resume to highlight your analysis skills.
Business-to-Business, also known as B2B, is the process of selling a product to another company. There are thousands of SaaS companies out there whose end prospects aren’t individual customers but other organizations. Some of the most popular B2B SaaS products out there are Slack, ClickUp, MailChimp, and Shopify.
As a B2B sales specialist in a SaaS company, you will be responsible for creating strategies to acquire new clients, close deals, retain talent, and develop metrics, reports, and forecast analyses. To become a SaaS B2B sales specialist, you must have a bachelor’s degree in a technical field and sales experience. This first point is crucial because, in order to sell the product, you need to understand it deeply.
You may have experience in many other fields, but it’s important to keep your resume simple and specialized. If you want your resume to get past the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), you need to use SaaS-related keywords and specialize your resume in SaaS B2B sales.
If you want to impress recruiters, try including proven sales outcomes records. This will provide you with reliability, transparency, and trustworthiness. That’s why it is crucial to keep track of your sales to provide these insights.
Your role in this position is similar to other account executives, except that the products you are selling are SaaS products. Your job will be to reach out to potential clients, develop relationships with them, educate them about the products your company sells and how they could be of use to the client, and encourage them to buy the products. Unlike sales executives, account executives will try to maintain relationships with clients even after their purchase and are more interested in creating long-term relationships. Your resume must show a strong sales background and experience creating lasting business relationships.
Sales approaches across different industries are very different. Because of this, recruiters are eager to see applicants who have experience selling in the SaaS industry and understand the products and clients. So concentrate on including these jobs in your experience section.
Account executives are sales professionals so being able to show recruiters your successes in sales using actual figures would be very impactful. For example, this applicant earned ‘over $1M in 2021 alone.’
An account executive is usually someone who must have a bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or Sales or equivalent experience in the field. However, when it comes to SaaS, you should have a combination of sales and technical skills. Understanding how the product works is crucial, so some companies will hire candidates with bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science or Information Technology.
To become an account executive in a SaaS company, you must have certain skills such as communication, negotiation, customer service, sales, etc. It would also be useful to have some basic understanding of Salesforce and cloud services.
Dealing with clients isn’t easy. There will always be bad days, confusion, and rude prospects. As an account executive, you must know how to deal with these challenges, so recruiters are looking for great communicators and resilient candidates. You can use your resume to demonstrate your problem-solving skills and stand out from competitors.
The SaaS industry is constantly evolving, so the work environment requires you to work under pressure. You will become a life-long learner once you enter this field. In your resume, you should demonstrate your ability to work at a fast pace.
The process of selling a SaaS product on a large scale usually involves two people: the Sales Development Representative (SDR) and the account executive. The SDR gathers prospects’ contact information and sets up a meeting with them to develop initial interest.
Once they are intrigued by the product and interested to know more, they will meet with the account executive who is responsible for closing the deal. The account executive will clarify all types of doubts that prospects may have and provide them with a software demo. They will call or meet with the prospects regularly to ensure they close the deal.
As a SaaS account executive, you will probably move at a fast pace, so it’s important to have excellent time management skills. Try to demonstrate your organizational skills by explaining previous projects and how you were able to follow a particular timeframe.
As we mentioned earlier, there’s something called Applicant Tracking System (ATS) in the HR industry. This is a tool that recruiters use for assessing and scanning thousands of resumes. It basically automates their evaluation process, so they can focus on more relevant tasks, such as interviewing. Now, account executives in the SaaS industry aren’t exempt from ATS. That’s why you must build an ATS-friendly resume. These tools use keywords to scan resumes, so they will disregard non-related ones. If you want your account executive resume to pass this filter, try to include SaaS and sales-related keywords.
As a hiring manager who has recruited for SaaS roles at companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk, I know what it takes to create a compelling resume that stands out. In this article, we'll share insider tips to help you craft a resume that showcases your skills and experience in the best possible light. Whether you're applying for a sales, marketing, or customer success role, these tips will help you get noticed by top SaaS companies.
Hiring managers want to see that you understand the unique challenges and opportunities of the SaaS industry. Show that you're well-versed in key concepts like:
For example, instead of simply listing 'sales' as a skill, you could say:
When applying for jobs in the SaaS industry, your resume summary is an optional section that can help provide additional context about your background and highlight key skills that are relevant to the role you're targeting. While a summary isn't required, it can be particularly useful if you're making a career change or have a lot of experience to summarize. However, avoid using an objective statement, as these are outdated and not effective.
When crafting your SaaS resume summary, focus on showcasing your most relevant qualifications and experiences without repeating information that's already included in other sections of your resume. Use industry-specific keywords and mention your target job title to optimize your resume for applicant tracking systems (ATS). Keep your summary concise, ideally no more than one paragraph, and avoid using bullet points or directly mentioning soft skills.
Your work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you show hiring managers what you've accomplished and the impact you've had. For SaaS roles, this section is especially important to demonstrate your ability to drive results, collaborate with others, and use relevant tools.
Here are some key tips to make your work experience section stand out:
The education section of your SaaS resume should be concise and highlight your most relevant qualifications. It's an opportunity to show hiring managers that you have the necessary educational background and training to excel in the role. Here are some tips to help you craft an effective education section.
Action verbs are grammatical tools to help you enhance the information in your resume. By using the right action verbs, you will be able to explain your role and experience accurately and precisely. We have curated some of the best action verbs you can use for your SaaS resume. Check them below.
For more related action verbs, visit Sales Action Verbs.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
There are many careers in the SaaS field, so it’s not easy to summarize all the skills needed to work in a SaaS company. However, in most of them, you should be familiar with the product development and sales lifecycle. Therefore, skills like programming, marketing, sales, and business management are part of the SaaS work field.
You can include the above skills in a dedicated Skills section on your resume, or weave them in your experience. Here's how you might create your dedicated skills section:
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on SaaS job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
