stop applying for sdr jobs

end of last week, adia ran a training on assumptions and inferences. the idea is simple. when you see a signal, don't stop at the obvious. you have to go deeper. signals mean nothing on their own.

most reps see a company raise money and think "oh, they're growing, they probably need my tool." someone gets promoted? "cool, new title, let me pitch them." that's surface level. just because you saw a signal doesn't mean you know them. you have to make an assumption and go a little deeper to understand their perspective. once you do that, once you show someone you actually get where they're coming from, that's when signals become powerful.

so i wanted to take that same framework and point it at something different this week. not prospecting. job searching. because the sdrs who are looking for roles right now are seeing signals everywhere and most of them don't know what to do with them.

instead of the usual dm story format, i'm breaking my own structure. nothing beats a good pattern interrupt.

Kondo: Superhuman for Linkedin DMs has paid to be mentioned at the end of this issue. Thanks, Mitchell, for your support.

if you saw my post earlier today, you know the move. this is where i break it down further.

a signal on its own doesn't tell you much. you have to observe, assume, and infer. here's what that looks like.

signal: ae to sdr ratio is skewed toward aes

observation: pipeline is bottlenecked. they're short on people generating meetings.

assumption: they know they need more coverage but haven't filled the gap yet.

inference: they need someone who can step in and start generating pipeline immediately.

signal: company just announced a fundraise

observation: they just got capital and they're going to spend it. new money means aggressive growth targets.

assumption: they're probably about to hire 3-5 new sdrs. the current team will be stretched thin onboarding them.

inference: they need someone who can hit the ground running.

signal: new vp of sales or head of sales

observation: leadership just changed. the previous leader probably didn't deliver, or they're expanding and need to open up new teams.

assumption: the new leader has a mandate to fix things or build something new. they're going to audit everything.

inference: they'll want sdrs who are measurable, coachable, and process-driven.

signal: batch of sdrs promoted to ae in one quarter

observation: they value internal mobility, but those promoted sdrs were the top performers.

assumption: the sdr bench is thin. the manager is coaching new aes and running sdr ops at the same time.

inference: they need someone self-sufficient who can carry weight and maybe even help train.

signal: hiring new aes but not backfilling sdrs

observation: three to five new ae hires and zero new sdr postings.

assumption: they think the current sdrs can feed more aes. those sdrs are about to be slammed.

inference: they are going to need more pipeline to support those aes.

signal: company just launched a new product

observation: new personas, new objections, new conversation flow. no playbooks exist yet.

assumption: messaging will evolve based on what sdrs learn on the front lines.

inference: experienced sdrs who think on their feet will be invaluable.

i know this is not the typical forage finds format (and honestly this content could be formatted better). but this strategy deserves more than a dm story. and if i'm going to teach you something different, i might as well do it differently. hope the breakdown was helpful.

if you're going to be sending a bunch of these dms to hiring managers, kondo keeps your linkedin threads organized so nothing gets buried. you can use this link to try it for 2 months free. this is a great way to support me directly. :)

Connor McDonough. we've been friends for a while and have been lately chatting about vibe coding. he recently built a slack automation that gives him signals on which companies to outbound. vibe coded it with chatgpt and got it working in an afternoon. i've been telling him he needs to give claude code a try, and i think he'll come around.

he's in the job search right now, and watching him work through this with the same rigor and curiosity he brings to everything else is exactly the energy i wanted to highlight this week. go give connor some love. and if you know someone who's hiring, reach out to him.

honesty is a pattern interrupt.

these days everybody opens with "i just want to pick your brain" or "i'm just curious." no you're not. you want their time. just say that. people respect directness way more than a soft open that fools nobody.

some ant colonies can recognize up to 20 different types of "dialects" within the same species.

for the job seekers out there, kondo is worth a look. when you're dming hiring managers and recruiters on linkedin, the last thing you want is to lose a thread because it got buried in your linkedin inbox.

it's one less thing to worry about when you're already juggling applications, outreach, and follow-ups.

here's a link to try it for 2 months free.

if you want to skip the formalities and just go for it, here are some people actively hiring and looking for real outbound.

matt campbell at advertise purple is hiring bdrs. if you want to work in industries that are actually growing, affiliate, tiktok shop, ecommerce, this is your lane. skip the job description. dm him, email him, cold call him. show up and show out. go check out his most recent posts if you want tips on what hes looking for.

hannah kerrigan at always hired represents roles across a bunch of companies right now. she has openings on her board and loves getting cold called for them. if you're serious about the outbound approach, this is the move. check out their board here: https://alwayshired.com/job-board

i wrote most of this issue with claude. the strategy came from a post i wrote about job searching earlier today.

if you found this helpful or you know someone looking for an sdr role, please share it with them. it would mean a lot. here's a link to subscribe :)

if you respond to this, it goes to my personal inbox. seriously, send me questions or ideas you think should be in this newsletter. let's chat.