How to Get an SDR Job in the UK with No Sales Experience (Graduate Guide)

The good news about SDR roles is that almost none of them require prior sales experience. The role exists specifically to train people into sales. The bad news is that everyone applying for them knows this, which means the competition is high and the standards for what makes a good candidate are more specific than they might appear.

What companies are actually looking for

Drive and resilience are the headline qualities, but those words get used so often they've stopped meaning much. What employers are really looking for is evidence that you've been motivated to pursue something difficult and kept going when it got hard. Sport, part-time work, a side project: the specific activity matters less than the quality of your account of it.

Understand what an SDR actually does

Graduates who walk into SDR interviews without understanding the mechanics of the role (what outbound prospecting looks like, what a typical day involves, how quota is structured) stand out immediately, and not in a good way. Spend time learning the basics before you start applying.

Target the right companies

SDR roles vary enormously. An SDR at a well-funded Series B SaaS company with structured training and clear AE progression is a very different proposition to an SDR role at a company with no clear enablement function and opaque promotion criteria. Do the research to tell the difference.

Get help from a specialist recruiter

A recruiter who places into SaaS sales regularly will be able to tell you which companies have strong SDR programmes, which are hiring, and where you'd be most competitive given your background. That access is worth a lot more than most graduates realise.