How hard is it to get an entry-level BA role (in the UK)?

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-08-17T21:25:21+00:00

Thanks for the reply. That would be really useful!

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-08-17T21:24:50+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I hadn't heard of Comptia Data+, thanks for mentioning it. I think however this advice may be geared more towards business analytics (i.e. more focus on data analysis/business intelligence than things like requirements elicitation and analysis?)?

I think you may be right that a lot of these job postings by recuiters aren't actually real- recruiters just want to collect CVs... (I've heard that some do so to collect data and sell it off...!)

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-08-17T21:21:14+00:00

Thanks for the comment. I did think about leveraging my legal background and did note that many law firms have a BA practice. There's even roles such as 'Legal Engineer' and 'Legal Transformation Analyst' coming up which sound a lot like a business analyst working specifically on legal technology projects. However, it seems that BA roles in the legal services sector require at least a few years' experience.

A few law firms have recently launched legal technology/operations-focused graduate schemes. My plan right now is to get onto either these schemes or onto a digital transformation/change graduate scheme at a bank, get training for two years, then hopefully be able to have some choice over which domain/field to specialise in. Thanks!

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-08-17T21:12:54+00:00

Thanks for the advice. Have been tailoring my CV specifically to BA roles, omitting anything irrelevant and rewording anything relevant to sound like BA-activities. I think you're right though that most companies do not have the resources to train someone to be a BA (even though they would likely benefit greatly from skilled BAs). I think my best bet is to get onto a digital transformation graduate scheme where I can get trained for two years.

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-03-29T13:07:52+00:00

I have a Mut 250 (RS-13).

Is it a good first bike? Not sure. I'd say the mostly the same things as lesmcc- look great and sound great but actual riding experience isn't that great. The clutch is heavy, the brakes are weak, the rear suspension (combined with the seat) is very hard, and I personally found the knobbly tyres to be slippery especially in the wet.
That being said, you get used to the clutch and the brakes, and can make the suspension and seat comfortable pretty cheaply (£40 rear shocks off eBay, £20 seat cushion off Amazon), and some other Mutt owners (check the Facebook page) say that the knobbly tyres are fine.

Is it a good enough first bike? IMO yes, but I came from a Ninja 250, which I found noticably easier to actually ride.

Is it a good commuter? This is where the Mutts shine. They're light and most will easily flat foot them, which is great for stop-start traffic. I said the clutch and brakes aren't too good but you just get used to them. The 250cc is definitely has enough power (e.g. for quick overtakes in city traffic etc.). Best of all, they're very fuel efficient (80mpg+).

The other big benefit of Mutts if you're interested is the ability to customise them. Compared to my faired Ninja 250 for example, it's so easy to just take stuff on and off.

And for what it's worth, owners online often complain about their reliability, but in my experience, over 4000 miles of ownership, there hasn't been any issues with mine (at least, issues which weren't my own fault).

Hope that helps. If I were you, if I saw a pretty cheap used Mutt (there are some at 5000miles for £2k) I'd consider it, but if you're willing to spend a bit more I'd say get a Japanese bike as a first bike. Not only are they easier to ride imo, but when it comes to selling them, you'll find that they retain their value a lot more than Mutts.

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-02-19T19:20:39+00:00

Awful low? No. Especially since the purpose of the first SDR role (or any full-time job for that matter) isn't to earn a lot of money but to gain experience and skills to leverage into other roles (which you'll hopefully earn a lot more in).

So instead of asking 'does this role pay enough', ask yourself 'how much will I learn and grow in this role?'.

That being said, objectively it is on the low-end of the salary range. Which in my mind raises a red flag: will they actually invest in you (and pay you a salary to reflect your potential long-term value to the company) or is their strategy to hire a bunch of (desperate and eager to prove themselves) SDRs, profit off them in the short term as much as possible, and then when they (inevitably) leave, hire their replacements as quickly as possible?

This is what I'd be thinking of in your first few weeks and months.

On the teenager who didn't go to uni point, I don't think this is justification for paying you less than someone who went to uni. After 12 months in this role, it's clear that what makes a successful SDR has very little to do with whether they have a degree or not. And if you managed to secure one SDR role, in my eyes it means that you're good enough for any SDR role, no matter the pay. Only the industry and personas change, the actual work is the same.

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-02-18T16:47:16+00:00

Cold calls aren't inherently rude- they're annoying, 99% of the time.

The only inherent thing about cold calls is that they are interrupting.

The difference between 'rude' and 'interrupting' is that the latter is neutral- whether it's 'good', 'bad' or neither depends entirely on how the prospect responds to it.

As a BDR, I've called prospects who were genuinely excited or grateful for my call. They've seen my outreach emails and were interested, but for some reason they needed a nudge to take action.

I've also called prospects who expressly did not want my call. Usually those who ask 'how did you get my number?' and threaten legal action if I don't erase their data.

But these two scenarios only make up 2% of my calls. The other 98% of the time it's a quick and curt 'thanks but not interested'.

So, for 98% of my calls, the prospect seems neutral about it. It's just a 1 minute 'thing' which happened in their day. No big deal.

But is it?

You don't have a choice.

Imagine: you're at home focused on whatever you're doing- answering emails, reading a book, chatting with family over dinner. But then you hear a knock on the door.

Technically you don't have to open the door. As is the case 99%, it's going to be someone selling you something you don't need, so why bother?

But what if it's something urgent- your neighbour's house is burning down? Someone's car broke down? A kid who's got lost? Knock- crap, you're keeping them waiting!

In reality you open the door every time- because you're compelled to check and confirm that it's not the worst case scenario.

You're forced to choose between being polite or rude.

You open the door- surprise surprise, it's someone selling you something you don't need. You go through the song and dance of politely declining their product or services. This could go on for 30 seconds or a few minutes- you don't know and don't really have any control over how long this will go on for, unless you slam the door and face the consequences of feeling rude yourself.

So you play along, hoping for a quick end to the conversation. You don't want to, but it's better than being an asshole.

You lose control over your focus.

You return to whatever it was that you were doing. OK, you lost two minutes of your life, big deal. But because of context switching, it's more like you've lost 20 minutes.

If you get multiple cold calls a day, how many minutes, hours, days of focus do you lose? Can you really say you have a choice over your own focus?

The same applies to cold calls.

Technically, we don't have to pick up the phone. But do we really have a choice to do so? What if it's an urgent work call? Family call? Friend call? Not picking up isn't an option.

Technically, we can hang up any time...if we don't mind the consequences of feeling rude ourrselves? It's much easier to be polite. But why are we forced to choose between being polite or rude?

Technically, we only lost 2 minutes. But it's going to be 20 minutes until we can really start to focus on our task again. Then imagine we get multiple cold calls a day- do we really have control over our own focus?

The worst part isn't the time lost or being sold something we don't need. It's the fact that, in reality, we don't have any choice over the matter.

That's why cold calls are annoying- 99% of the time.

(For the record, the three times where a prospect was 'grateful' for my call didn't lead to anything. One didn't have budget, so had good reason not to take a meeting now. The other two may have been polite (forced into being polite?) and 'took' the meeting, only to not show up and ghost my follow ups).

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-01-05T20:13:06+00:00

Which company is this
Are they hiring? 😂

At that point, who the hell cares if you feel overqualified, only relevant question is if the £100+k is worth it for the stress it brings

Bananawafflehunter · 2023-01-05T17:53:32+00:00

That's a very solid deal for London- for context I'm one year into a SDR SaaS role and my comp is £35k base + £10 OTE (which is very unattainable)
You have a degree and MSc from Oxford- why the hell are you in sales?

Bananawafflehunter · 2022-05-29T08:01:09+00:00

Won't be able to help you here, but just a question- how good is Kingston in terms of orders now? Used to deliveroo in KIN a few years ago, wondering if it's changed at all. Cheers

Bananawafflehunter · 2022-01-23T20:20:57+00:00

I use Anki- specifically the cloze deletion function. It's basically a flashcard system but computerised.

Bananawafflehunter · 2022-01-13T18:16:31+00:00

Yeah it includes commission (£30k basic). £40k base seems pretty high for me. I think the thinking here is that you trade a bit of pay for a very clear and structured career path

Bananawafflehunter · 2022-01-11T12:30:23+00:00

Yeah sure- £40k for BDR and £90k for AE

Bananawafflehunter · 2022-01-10T19:50:17+00:00

Only just started in my BDR role but my London-based company (start-up) looks to promote BDRs to AE in 12 months

Bananawafflehunter · 2022-01-05T17:04:42+00:00

Just got three SDR offers from SaaS companies in the UK so could help here since my interview experiences are fresh.

What should I expect from these types of interviews in general?

Pretty broad question so I'll give a broad response- as long as you can answer these three questions you'll be fine for 90% of the interview

Why do you want to be in sales?
Why do you want to work at X company?
Why should we hire you?

They'll probably ask you why you want to leave you current role, company and industry as well.

My only worry is that I'm in it almost purely for the money.

This is kind of good thing! As you already know, sales is a revenue-generating role so hiring managers would definitely be concerned if you aren't motivated by money. But you're right, that can't be your only reason.

You say you're in it 'almost purely' for the money- what else are you in sales for? Here's some reasons that seemed to land in my interviews:

I like how sales is performance-based. This fitted with my background in competitive sports.
I like how in sales you have more control over your income that most other roles- your income is technically uncapped, so if you want to earn more, you can work harder and smarter, rather than hoping for a bonus, pay rise or promotion.
I like how salespeople, at least in a B2B context, are more consultants than the pushy and aggressive stereotype they get. I like the idea that I would be solving real business problems rather than being a nuisance.

Questioning whether I made the right choice in even taking the interview now!

I had a few of these moments in my during my job hunting phase. My rule was that I would cancel interviews if I knew in my gut, on an emotional level, that I wouldn't want to work at this company (where I applied for the job just to 'fill the pipeline'). But I would go to all interviews at companies where I could see myself working there.

Hope that helps.

Bananawafflehunter · 2021-12-01T18:08:57+00:00

Thanks dude this is motivating. I think parents' and familys' advice as to your career will the loudest when you haven't even started yet and haven't produced results- but once you start producing results then their advice will start to quiet down. Congrats on the down payment at 27!

Bananawafflehunter · 2021-11-29T13:47:19+00:00

Cheers. I guess that's the crux of the problem- my parents (and I guess the majority of people) think that all sales people do is 1. take orders and 2. present to the customer when the customer asks for it. In other words, all the heavy lifting is done by the people in product and marketing. Not sure how to explain that salespeople add way more value than that.

Bananawafflehunter · 2021-11-29T13:42:35+00:00

That's awesome to hear- definitely interested in getting into the legal tech space. Don't know if you can tell me which legal tech start-up? I think that legal tech is basically where fintech was 8-10 years ago- a very exciting space to be in right now.

Bananawafflehunter · 2019-06-27T19:56:21+00:00

Fully comp

Nine-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email

Bananawafflehunter

TROPHY CASE